Page "National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers" Paragraph 1

The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the Civil War.

Initially, the Asylum, later called the Home, was planned to have three branches: in the northeast, in the central area north of the Ohio River and in what was then still considered the northwest, the present upper Midwest.

The Board of Managers, charged with governance of the Home, added seven more branches between 1870 and 1907 as broader eligibility requirements allowed more veterans to apply for admission.

The impact of World War I, producing a new veteran population of over five million men and women, brought dramatic changes to the National Home and all over governmental agencies responsible for veteran's benefits.

The creation of the Veterans Administration in 1930 consolidated all veteran's programs into a single Federal agency.

World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom further increased the responsibility of the nation to care for those who have served their country.