Amvets

As one of America’s foremost veterans’ service organizations, AMVETS (or American Veterans) has a proud history of assisting veterans and sponsoring numerous programs that serve our country and its citizens.

The Department of Virginia exists to serve the veterans of America's armed forces who live and work in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Through the services rendered at both our state level and on the local level through our posts, AMVETS of Virginia is here to serve you, the honored veteran.

For further information, please contact the Department of Virginia Executive Director by email at amvetsva@Gmail.com or by phone at 540-550-3339.

AMVETS does not discriminate based on period or place of service.

AMVETS Family

Who We Are

The Department of Virginia exists to serve the veterans of America's armed forces who live and work in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Through the services rendered at both our state level and on the local level through our posts, AMVETS of Virginia is here to serve you, the honored veteran.

Virginia AMVETS – The First 70 Years

The first charter issued to a post in the Commonwealth of Virginia was on 14 September 1945.  Located in the city of Portsmouth, it was known as New Gosport Post #1.  The first twelve Virginians to sign up as AMVETS were H.A. Garrett (USMC), Daniel Webb (USN), S.E. Smith (USN), Larry W. Pierce (USN), Ransom F. Howe (USCG), Sam Militello (USCG), H.E. Warner (USN), Charles E. Anderson (USCG), Norman L. Wells (USN), Wilson M. Sitley (USN), John Edward Gilleland (USN), and Edward M. Coutta (branch unknown).

Nearly eighty posts have been issued charters in Virginia since 1945. Unfortunately, the only records that exist are copies of charter requests.  Some of these requests noted the date that the charter was issued.  No known record exists regarding the number of years that a post was viable or the reason for its failure. At best we can speculate that, at least in the early years following World War II, service members on active duty rushed to form posts of the new fraternity that was built just for them.  As members left the service and went their individual ways, the charters went adrift along with their membership.  We probably can assume that the same circumstances occurred following the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

We know today, whatever the reason, not one of the posts chartered in the 1940’s exists today.  These original posts were

Many more posts were chartered in Virginia in the 1950’s.  All of these posts have disappeared for unknown reasons.

Not listed by date are many posts which applied for charters, but the date of application is unknown.  These included Post 3 Warwick, Post 3 Portsmouth, Post 9 Norfolk, Post 12 Springfield, Post 14 Portsmouth, Post 15 Hampton, Post 15 Norfolk City, Post 16 Portsmouth (twice), Post 17 Newport News, Post 18 Galax (twice), Post 18 Orange, Post 19 Virginia Beach, and Post 20 Warwick.  Most of these requests were made during the 1940’s and 1950’s based upon the design of the charter request.

Seven more posts were chartered during the 1960’s.  With the exception of Post 30 in Hampton, they proved to be no more durable than those chartered previously.  Post 30 in Hampton, chartered in 1965, is our oldest existing post.  The posts chartered in this decade were

Eleven posts were chartered during the 1970’s of which none remain today.  These posts were

Although Virginia had held Department charters in years past, it seemed that none could survive.  By 1980, however, the posts seemed more solid, and a charter was sought.  Post 30 in Hampton, which had been operating under National Headquarters for years, was the cornerstone for the new organization along with Post 40 in Roanoke and Post 35 in Henry County (now known as Collinsville.)  Chartered during the 1980’s were

During the 1990’s only three new posts were chartered.  These were Post 3 Fredericksburg, Post 69 Virginia Beach and Post 12 Jonesville.  Post 3 and Post 69 remain viable, but Post 12 Jonesville’s charter was suspended in 1994.  Post 89 Salem voted in the spring of 1994 to cease operation as a post.  The members of Post 89 Salem transferred their membership to Post 40 Roanoke.  The charter for     Post 36 Weber City was suspended in 1991.  Post 92 Roanoke County ceased operating within two years of its charter.  As of the 1994 Department Of Virginia convention only ten posts were active.  They were

Of these ten posts, seven remain viable in 2015.  Since the beginning of this millennium, Post 2 Woodbridge, Post 82 Alexandria, and Post 13 Colonial Beach had their charters suspended for failure to revalidate.  Since the beginning of 2001 the Department of Virginia chartered eight new posts.  These posts are

The charter for Post 804 Hopewell was suspended in early 2015 for failure to revalidate.  The charter for Post 67 Honaker was also suspended for failure to revalidate in 2016.  Post 50 Pulaski ceased operations and surrendered their charter at the end of June 2017.  As of July 2017, the Department of Virginia has 12 active posts.

We need a commitment from every AMVET and every Post to continue to work hard for our organization if we are to continue to enjoy success.  We need to build a cadre of service-oriented people at every post and to select talented individuals from our membership to lead us forward in the next seventy years.