History
In 1899, a Post began in Denver, Colorado. There are two other Posts which claim to be the first, but the VFW national organization recognizes the Denver Post as being first; it is now officially "VFW Post 1, John S. Stewart Post".
The VFW name was created on September 17, 1914 at a conference at the Schenley Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The new organization was a merger of two prior veterans organizations, both beginning in 1899: the American Veterans of Foreign Service and the National Society of the Army of the Philippines. The former was formed for veterans of the Spanish–American War, while the latter was formed for veterans of the Philippine–American War.
On May 28, 1936, by an act of the United States Congress, the VFW became a government-chartered non-profit organization. As such, it receives no funding from United States tax receipts and is supported by charitable donations.
Read more about this topic: Veterans Of Foreign Wars
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and say, the being he has thus deeply injured is his inferior.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the history of guilt is written, parents who refuse their children money will be right up there in the Top Ten.”
—Erma Brombeck (20th century)