American Legion Department of Ohio

---Mission The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow service-members and veterans.Hundreds of local American Legion programs and activities strengthen the nation one community at a time. American Legion Baseball is one of the nation’s most successful amateur athletic programs, educating young people about the importance of sportsmanship, citizenship and fitness. The Operation Comfort Warriors program supports recovering wounded warriors and their families, providing them with “comfort items” and the kind of support that makes a hospital feel a little bit more like home. The Legion also raises millions of dollars in donations at the local, state and national levels to help veterans and their families during times of need and to provide college scholarship opportunities. The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvement in the legislation process from local districts to Capitol Hill. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation’s veterans community, backed by resolutions passed by volunteer leadership. ---History The American Legion was born at a caucus of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F) in Paris, France. This caucus was the result of a proposal by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. to a group of representatives of A.E.F. divisions and service units. Roosevelt’s vision resulted in the founding Paris caucus of March 17-19, 1919, and subsequent organizational caucus held May 8-10, 1919, in St. Louis, MO. His unwavering service during these vital times won him the affectionate title, “Father of The American Legion.” As the weary, homesick delegates assembled for that first Paris caucus, they brought with them the raw materials with which to build an association of veterans whose primary devotion was to God and Country. In the minds of those veterans of the A.E.F. were a number of lofty ideals, uppermost among them: Creation of a fraternity based upon the firm comradeship born of wartime service and dedicated to fair and equitable treatment for all veterans, particularly the disabled, and the widows and orphans whose loved ones paid the ultimate price for freedom; Maintaining national security for America, including a universal military training program for the prevention of future world conflicts; and Promotion of patriotism and the combating of materialistic and totalitarian ideologies that recognize neither the honor nor the integrity of the individual. It was at this Paris caucus that The American Legion received its name. The honor of naming the new organization went to Maurice K. Gordon, then a Major in the 36th Division and later a Judge in Kentucky. A controversy had developed concerning the name, and it was Gordon who made the successful motioon to label the fledgling group “The American Legion.” Even though The American Legion was formed overseas, organizers realized members of the armed services had no choice whether they served in the United States or overseas. Accordingly, it was decided that membership in The American Legion should be open to all who served honorably in the armed forces in World War I. (Eligibility requirements for membership have since been revised to open membership in the Legion to veterans who served honorably in the armed forces of the United States in WWII, The Korean War, the Vietnam War, Lebanon and Grenada, Panama, and the Persian Gulf.)