Background Information

 on the

Disabled American Veterans

     Treaties are signed and the battles of nations end, but the personal battles of those disabled in war only begin when the guns fall silent.  These men and women must struggle to regain health, reshape lives shattered by disability, learn new trades or professions, and rejoin the civilian world.  At each step, they need help to help themselves.

     For three quarters of a century now, that aid has come from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a nonprofit organization of more than one million veterans disabled during time of war or armed conflict.

     Formed in 1920 and chartered by Congress in 1932, the million-member DAV is the official voice of America's service-connected disabled veterans - a strong, insistent voice that represents all of America's 2.1 million disabled veterans, their families and survivors.  Its nationwide network of services -- free of charge to all veterans and members of their families -- is totally supported by membership dues and contributions from the American public.  Not a government agency, the DAV's national organization receives no government funds.