American Legion Department of New York
About American Legion Department of New York
The American Legion, the nation’s largest wartime veterans organization, is devoted to mutual helpfulness, and is committed to:
- mentoring youth and sponsoring wholesome programs in our communities,
advocating patriotism and honor, - promoting strong national security,
- continued devotion to our fellow servicemembers and veterans.
Hundreds of local American Legion programs and activities strengthen the nation one community at a time. American Legion Baseball is one of the nation’s most successful amateur athletic programs, educating young people about the importance of sportsmanship, citizenship and fitness. The Heroes to Hometowns program connects local Legionnaires with recovering wounded warriors and their families, providing a variety of support activities. The Legion raises millions of dollars in donations at the local, state and national levels to help veterans and their families and to provide college scholarship opportunities.
The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvement in the legislative process from local districts to Capitol Hill. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation’s veterans community, backed by resolutions passed by volunteer leadership.
The American Legion’s success depends entirely on active membership, participation and volunteerism. The organization belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives.
Membership Eligibility
To be eligible for membership in The American Legion, you must have been honorably discharged from the U.S. military and served at least one day on active duty in the following periods:
- 4/6/17 – 11/11/18 World War I
- 12/7/41 – 12/31/46 World War II
- 6/25/50 – 1/31/55 Korean War
- 2/28/61 – 5/7/75 Vietnam War
- 8/24/82 – 7/31/84 Lebanon and Grenada
- 12/20/89 – 1/31/90 Panama
- 8/2/90 – present (until cessation of hostilities as determined by the U.S. Government). Persian Gulf
- 12/7/41 – present (new open eligibility period approved in 2019, hostilities as determined by the U.S. Government
Other
You are also eligible for membership if:
- Your basic training time was on federal activation orders and during the above periods.
- You were federally activated subsequent to and during any of the periods given above.
- Your activations were for training or for missions; check the title and subsection of your activation orders.
Under eligibility guidelines for Legion membership, the term “active duty” as used in our national constitution includes “active duty for training.”
However, our guideline further defines National Guardsmen and reservists as eligible under services to federal activation orders Title 10, Subsection 672 or Subsection 12301, created following Desert Storm to replace Subsection 672. In other words, to determine eligibility for service members in the National Guard or reserves, the activation order is the authority line. Non-eligible activation orders are Title 32 for the National Guard and Title 10 Subsection 270 for the reserves.
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