Shortly
after the meeting in Kansas City, many of the founders
of AMVETS were among those invited to a dinner
meeting at the White House by Eleanor Roosevelt.
The new organization elected Elmo W. Keel (fourth
from right), leader of the George Washington
University veterans group, as its first national
commander. |
When in 1942
America’s
veterans began returning wounded from the second great
war, they were determined
that the benefits and protections promised them should
be available in the post-war period for others like themselves,
as well as for the survivors of those who had made the
supreme sacrifice. It would be several years, though,
before the ideas behind this conviction really jelled
and this
new generation of patriots got together with their buddies
to form a national organization of World War II veterans.
Flanked
by AMVETS leaders, President Truman signs Public
Law 216, the organization’s charter legislation,
which was sponsored by Rep. Francis Walters from Pennsylvania
(third from left). |
The beginning was desultory, if not predictable. A few
loosely organized veterans clubs were formed at colleges
and universities initially; then the movement mushroomed
into more than 75 separate groups scattered across 30 states.
Collier’s, a leading magazine of the day, noted, “They
didn't signify anything worth a second thought to state
and federal politicians, to labor unions, corporations,
or even to other veterans organizations.”
The returnees, for their part, complained among themselves
about adjustments to civilian life and the indignities
thrust upon them as veterans—not to mention the way
their elders and political leaders were running the country.
To compound matters, discharges were swelling their ranks
at a rate of 30,000 to 40,000 a month. Soon, the 12 million
soldiers, sailors, marines and coast guardsmen serving
in the war would also be, in the words of Collier’s, “12,000,000
in search of a leader.”
The reference, which headlined a feature story on the
various groups in the magazine's 1944 Veterans Day issue,
had more than a bit of truth to it. Despite impressive
numbers, these new organizations still seemed to be groping
for something elusive—something they hadn't yet put
together in their own minds. Whatever it was, though, had
to be in tune with the interests and needs of this new
generation of veterans.
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| AMVETS’ involvement
with World War II shrines extends from a
memorial carillon it installed at the Normandy
American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach (top
left) to the memorial wall (top
right) it funded at the USS Arizona Memorial,
where the names of 1,177 who died aboard
the gallant battleship (left) on
Dec. 7, 1941, are inscribed (top).
Twenty-two years after this wall was dedicated
in 1962,
the
organization replaced it with a more weather-resistant
one. |
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Clearly, with all these people returning from the war,
some sort of organized assistance on a national basis was
called for. As one young vet put it when a question was
raised about what the future would think of their activities, “Hell,
we are the future!”
And “the future” wanted its own organization.
One of the groups, a club formed by veterans attending
George Washington University and those employed by the
federal government, took the lead. The American Veterans
of World War II, Inc., as the organizers called themselves,
began contacting other groups around the country. Each
group was invited to send two delegates to a conference
in Kansas City, Mo., “to discuss [the] federation
of the existing veterans groups which have come out of
this war.”
Nine
of the groups accepted and, on Dec. 9, 1944, some 70 representatives
gathered at the Hotel Muehlebach in
Kansas City. Reporting on the historic conference, retired
Army Gen. H.C. Holdridge offered this upbeat, if not
wordy, assessment: “Notwithstanding a natural initial divergence
of views on minor issues, the delegates manifested a gratifying
unanimity of opinion on the fundamental aims and objectives
which they wished to further, and on the organization to
be established to carry such objectives to a I successful
conclusion.”
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| World
War II ace Pappy Boyington (top) tries
on his hat as a new AMVETS member, which
Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy (left) also
became. |
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At
the conclusion of the two-day meeting, the groups merged
into what
United Press
International described as “the
only organization exclusively for discharged veterans of
this war.” They adopted the name American Veterans
of World War II—shortened to rather quickly by newspaper
headline writers to AMVETS—and the motto “We
Fought Together, Now Let’s Build Together.”
And
build they did—starting with a constitution
and bylaws that spelled out more than a dozen aims and
purposes that spelled out more than a dozen aims and purposes.
AMVETS, for example, would promote world peace, preserve
the American way of life and assist returning veterans
in the transition from military to civilian life.
Within three
years of that historic meeting, President Truman
would sign Public Law 216. On July 23, 1947, AMVETS
became the first World War II organization to be
charted by Congress. More importantly, the legislation
gave the
group legal status equal to that of its more established
counterparts. Putting the matter in perspective,
the president mused, “Were I a veteran of this war, I would prefer
a veteran of World War II looking after my affairs than
a veteran of some other war.”
Additional
information on the AMVETS organization today, its programs
and services
can be found at our
history.
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