The U.S. Naval Asylum in Philadelphia was the first federal facility to provide institutional care for disabled and elderly Veterans. In 1811, Congress directed the Navy Department to establish such a home for the benefit of “disabled and decrepit Navy officers, seamen, and marines.” Funding was to come from the pot of money collected under an earlier law authorizing the deduction of 20 cents from the monthly pay of all sailors and Marines for the construction of naval hospitals. More than a decade would pass before workers broke ground on the building.
William Strickland, the noted Philadelphia engineer and supervising architect for the federal government, designed the structure in the popular Greek Revival style, which symbolized democracy to Americans. Construction started in 1827 but proceeded slowly due to funding problems. In 1834—some 23 years after the original act passed Congress—the Naval Asylum finally opened its doors to beneficiaries.
A senior naval officer summed up the purpose of the asylum in almost poetic terms when he wrote in an 1858 report: “It is fitting that a beneficent government should thus reward faithful services with the necessary comforts of life and provide for the wants of the last hours of these veteran servants of our country.”
The capacious building could accommodate up to 400 people in its 180 rooms, although some of this space was used as a naval hospital for the treatment of men on the active force. The rooms for beneficiaries filled at a slow pace, starting with five arrivals in 1834 and increasing to over 100 by 1845. Overall, some 541 men resided at the Naval Asylum in the years between its opening and the end of the Civil War in 1865.
The regulations governing admission changed several times during this period, but applicants were generally required to have served between 15 and 20 years. However, exceptions were sometimes granted. The 1834 regulations, for instance waived the service requirement for men who were disabled and had distinguished themselves by their heroism in battle or “other highly meritorious conduct in the public naval service.” Once admitted, residents could also be dismissed for drunkenness and other misdeeds. They could leave of their own accord, too.
Apparently satisfied with the services provided by the Naval Asylum, Congress in 1851 approved the opening of a second residency for Veterans in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Soldiers’ Home, as it came to be called, was reserved for men who had served in the Mexican War or in the Regular Army. After the Civil War, the government adopted this model of domiciliary care on a more ambitious scale through the establishment of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
The National Home consisted of a network of residential communities in different parts of the country that offered room, board, and medical care to Union Veterans in need of assistance. The Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, meanwhile, after changing its name to the Naval Home in 1889, continued to operate well into the twentieth century until it closed in 1976 and relocated to Gulfport, Mississippi.
By Olivia Holly-Johnson
VSFS Intern, Veterans Benefits Administration
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History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 80: LUKE/DEKA Prosthetic Arm
In the 19th century, the federal government left the manufacture and distribution of prosthetic limbs for disabled Veterans to private enterprise. The experience of fighting two world wars in the first half of the 20th century led to a reversal in this policy.
In the interwar era, first the Veterans Bureau and then the Veterans Administration assumed responsibility for providing replacement limbs and medical care to Veterans.
In recent decades, another federal agency, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), has joined VA as a supporter of cutting-edge research into artificial limb technology. DARPA’s efforts were spurred by the spike in traumatic injuries resulting from the emergence of improvised explosive devices as the insurgent’s weapon of choice in Iraq in 2003-04.
Out of that effort came the LUKE/DEKA prosthetic limb, named after the main character from "Star Wars."
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 79: VA Study of Former Prisoners of War
American prisoners of war from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam faced starvation, torture, forced labor, and other abuses at the hands of their captors. For those that returned home, their experiences in captivity often had long-lasting impacts on their physical and mental health. Over the decades, the U.S. government sought to address their specific needs through legislation conferring special benefits on former prisoners of war.
In 1978, five years after the United States withdrew the last of its combat troops from South Vietnam, Congress mandated VA carry out a thorough study of the disability and medical needs of former prisoners of war. In consultation with the Secretary of Defense, VA completed the study in 14 months and published its findings in early 1980. Like previous investigations in the 1950s, the study confirmed that former prisoners of war had higher rates of service-connected disabilities.
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 78: French Cross at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn
In the waning days of World War I, French sailors from three visiting allied warships marched through New York in a Liberty Loan Parade. The timing was unfortunate as the second wave of the influenza pandemic was spreading in the U.S. By January, 25 of French sailors died from the virus.
These men were later buried at the Cypress Hills National Cemetery and later a 12-foot granite cross monument, the French Cross, was dedicated in 1920 on Armistice Day. This event later influenced changes to burial laws that opened up availability of allied service members and U.S. citizens who served in foreign armies in the war against Germany and Austrian empires.
