What Is the American Legion?

The American Legion is THE largest veterans' organization in the world, with a membership of over 2,900,000 members in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and 4 foreign countries.

Founded in 1919, The American Legion has been a moving force for fair treatment of this nation's veterans, their families, and especially the disabled veterans.

All members of The American Legion are honorably discharged men and women who have served their country on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States during World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Enduring Freedom either at military bases in the United States or overseas.

The American Legion was the author of the G.I. Bill of Rights, which has benefited millions of ex-service personnel since its passage in 1944.

The American Legion was a significant contributor to the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the Vietnam Womens Memorial; the Korean Veterans Memorial; the World War II Memorial; and the renovation of the World War I Memorial in Washington D.C.

The American Legion conducts programs designed to benefit the youth of our nation. Notable among these programs are: American Legion Baseball, American Legion Boys State, the American Legion High School Oratorical Contest, the American Legion School Awards program, and the American Legion Americanism and Government Test.

The American Legion founded Boys State in 1935. Since that time the American Legion Boys State program has remained a premier youth program in the nation.

The American Legion, Department of Ohio, which .conducts Buckeye.Boys State, is one of the five largest Departments in The American Legion organization with a membership of over 105,000 members in 598 American Legion Posts throughout the state.

The Department of Ohio is a major contributor and sponsor to the Veterans Affairs hospitals in the state, the Dayton National Cemetery, the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, Ohio Special Olympics, the Ohio Veterans' Home, and the "Gifts for Yanks" program for veterans in Ohio VA hospitals.

The veterans who comprise the membership of the American Legion are someone whom at one point in their life wrote a blank check made payable to: the United States of America for an amount of "up to and including my life".