History of VA in 100 Objects

In 1776, the fledging American government passed the first national law compensating soldiers and sailors disabled in the Revolution, but it was slower to make any provisions for widow's pension claims.

Among VA’s many achievements in the research and design of prosthetic limbs, the Seattle Foot ranks as one of the most revolutionary.

Nine individuals in U.S. history have obtained the five-star general officer rank, all but one directly on account of their World War II service. Only one of this select group, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, is interred in a VA national cemetery.

On July 21, 1930, President Herbert C. Hoover signed Executive Order 5398 establishing the Veterans’ Administration (VA), the forerunner of today’s Department of Veterans Affairs. Soon Adminstrator Frank Hines had created a new Veterans' Administration seal to go with the new agency.

In 1882, the Pension Bureau hired 770 new clerks, doubling the size of its work force. The additional manpower was necessary to keep up with the explosive growth of the pension system after the Civil War. Work soon began on constructing a new Pension Bureau building to serve as the headquarters and home for the enlarged work force.

To accommodate the growing number of African American Veterans in the south following World War I, the Veterans Bureau opened the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital in 1923 reserved exclusively for their use. Originally called the “Hospital for Sick and Injured Colored World War Veterans,” the installation was staffed entirely by Black doctors and nurses.

A Togus time capsule filled with objects and historical materials provides a snapshot of a particular time and place. This capsule was found on the Togus National Cemetery in Maine while masons were working on a monument.

Beer halls and beer gardens were familiar to Civil War Veterans who resided at branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS). The administrators limited consumption in these beer halls by selling beer tokens or tickets that were exchanged for beer. The compromise was welcomed by administrators and Veterans alike.

On January 3, 1946, President Harry Truman established the forerunner of today’s Veterans Health Administration when he signed Public Law 79-293, creating the Department of Medicine and Surgery within the Veterans Administration.

More than 15,000 Revolutionary War Veterans qualified for a pension. Veteran Joseph Winter was one of the unlucky few who did not. Winter lived in a settlement near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania before the war, where he supported his family as a weaver. As he grew older, his vision deteriorated and he could no longer perform the work required by his chosen trade. With no pension, Winter became homeless.

National cemeteries played a role in the repatriation process for servicemembers who died outside of the United States during the two world wars.

In 1960, a VA research team led by surgeon William Chardack inserted what he described as a “battery-operated gadget about twice as big as a spool of Scotch tape and much the same shape” under the skin of a patient suffering from a complete heart block. The gadget was the first cardiac pacemaker.