History of VA in 100 Objects

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.

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the nation. However, for paraplegic Veterans after World War II it was impossible with the current equipment and wheelchairs at the time. While VA offered these Veterans a healthy dose of physical and occupational therapy as well as vocational training, patients craved something more. They wanted to return to the sports, like basketball, that they had grown up playing. Their wheelchairs, which were incredibly bulky and commonly weighed over 100 pounds limited play.

However, the revolutionary wheelchair design created in the late 1930s solved that problem. Their chairs featured lightweight aircraft tubing, rear wheels that were easy to propel, and front casters for pivoting. Weighing in at around 45 pounds, the sleek wheelchairs were ideal for sports, especially basketball with its smooth and flat playing surface. The mobility of paraplegic Veterans drastically increased as they mastered the use of the chair, and they soon began to roll themselves into VA hospital gyms to shoot baskets and play pickup games. 

After World War I, claims for disability from discharged soldiers poured into the offices of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, the federal agency responsible for evaluating them. By mid-1921, the bureau had awarded some amount of compensation to 337,000 Veterans. But another 258,000 had been denied benefits. Some of the men turned away were suffering from tuberculosis or neuropsychiatric disorders. These Veterans were often rebuffed not because bureau officials doubted the validity or seriousness of their ailments, but for a different reason: they could not prove their conditions were service connected.

Due to the delayed nature of the diseases, which could appear after service was completed, Massachusetts Senator David Walsh and VSOs pursued legislation to assist Veterans with their claims. Eventually this led to the first presumptive conditions for Veteran benefits.

The mounted plaque stands in front of the headstones at Mobile National Cemetery in Alabama. The dark, cast-aluminum tablet draws a stark contrast to the sea of pearly marble beyond. Across its face in white lettering runs the sorrowful first stanza of Theodore O’Hara’ elegiac poem, “Bivouac of the Dead,” beginning with the verse “The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat / The Soldier’s last tattoo; / No more on life's parade shall meet / That brave and fallen few.” Tablets bearing passages from O’Hara’s poem can be found in dozens of VA national cemeteries across the country. Originally written to honor the Kentucky volunteers who died in the Mexican War (1846-48), the poem now serves as a literary memorial to all lives lost in service to the nation.

When U.S. Army General Omar N. Bradley became head of VA at the end of World War II, he was determined to improve the quality of care across the agency’s hospital system. His commitment to providing better patient services extended to the stores and canteen service found in VA hospitals. Veterans and advocacy organizations complained that the concessions operated by third-party vendors often charged inflated prices and delivered substandard services. 

After VA conducted an internal investigation that validated Veterans’ concerns, Bradley took the issue to Congress. His desire to find a better solution for Veterans led to the establishment of the Veterans Canteen Service.

Just after New Year’s Day in 1962, World War II Army Veteran Benjamin B. Belfer sent a letter to his U.S. Senator, Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, suggesting a simple yet powerful way for the government to honor deceased service members. The tradition was for family members to receive the folded American flag that had been draped over the Veteran’s casket during the funeral service. Belfer proposed presenting the next of kin with a memorial certificate signed by the president of the United States in addition to the burial flag. The certificate, he wrote, would be “a keepsake that will never be forgotten by the family and relatives and friends of the departed Veteran.”

After receiving Belfer’s letter Humphrey wasted no time in sharing his idea with the head of the Veterans Administration, John S. Gleason, Jr. Gleason also saw the value in the proposal and in mid-February his staff worked on creating a design for the certificate and wording. On March 6, the certificate was shown to President John F. Kennedy, Jr.. The following day, Kennedy sent Gleason a short note expressing his wholehearted approval. “I think it is an excellent idea, and I believe that the certificate is tastefully and appropriately done,” he wrote, adding that the issuing of certificates should begin “as quickly as possible.”

On July 4, 1948, the Central Blind Rehabilitation Center at the Edward Hines, Jr., VA Hospital in Illinois admitted its first trainee. The Hines Center ushered in a new era of care for blinded Veterans. Yet, its opening was nearly three decades in the making.

Formalized federal care for blinded Veterans dates back to 1917, with the opening of Army General Hospital #7. Later the need to provide rehabilitative services to vision-impaired Veterans returned after World War II.

In 1948, VA opened the Central Blind Rehabilitation Center at the Hines VA Hospital outside of Chicago, Illinois. It's location was chosen because of the large Medical Rehabilitation department already in place was well-suited to provide oversight.

On the south side of St. Augustine National Cemetery in Florida, there are three squat pyramids and a single taller obelisk. The Dade Pyramids and Monument, as they are known, mark the resting place of the U.S. soldiers who died in the opening engagement of the Second Seminole War (1835-42). The memorial honors lives lost while also serving as a grim reminder of the brutal conflict that erupted when the Federal government tried to evict the Seminole people from their tribal lands in central Florida.

After the Vietnam War, the nation was eager to put the divisive and unpopular conflict behind it. However, the 3.4 million Veterans who served in the Vietnam theater did not have that luxury. One of those Veterans was Max Cleland who lost his legs in the war. He made it a mission to advocate for his fellow Veterans, who struggled with the aftereffects of the war. Eventually, this led to Cleland turning to politics and at 34 being appointed as the youngest Administrator for the Veterans Administration.

During his tenure at VA, Cleland delivered on his goal of providing readily accessible mental health and readjustment counseling designed expressly for Vietnam Veterans. In 1979, VA launched an initiative called Operation Outreach to establish community-based Vet Centers across the country. In one year there were 91 Vet Centers. Today there are over 300.

The federal government in the Civil War arranged to care for returning soldiers too weakened by their wounds, the lingering effects of disease, or the hardships of military life. In the decades after the war, the government established the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

The Board of Managers for the National Home added such amenities as chapels, libraries, theaters, and playing fields. Great care also went into the shaping of the physical environment. The board employed landscaping architects to design the grounds of each branch to create an attractive, idyllic setting for residents and visitors alike. Influenced by the picturesque landscape movement, they adorned the National Home campuses with man-made ponds and lakes, ornate flower gardens, elaborate plantings of shrubs and trees, winding trails, and other features to beautify the properties.

At the VA Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, Miller Cottage stands as a mostly forgotten reminder of women’s fight for inclusion in the benefits and health care system for Veterans. This long, multi-story brick building with a white-columned portico originated as a barracks built specifically to house female Veterans on the grounds of what was then called the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS). The establishment of the residence represented a rare victory for the female Veterans of the First World War in their quest to obtain government support for all uniformed women who served and sacrificed during that conflict.

On July 21, 1905, one of the USS Bennington's boilers exploded, killing 49 sailors. Almost immediately after the accident, surviving crew and fellow sailors donated funds to build a monument at the grave site for their fallen comrades. This burial ground would later become Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.