Michigan Veterans Posts

About Veterans Organizations in Michigan

A deep look at the history, oldest posts, membership process, and notable veterans connected to Michigan.

History of Veterans Organizations in Michigan

Michigan's veteran identity is shaped by two intersecting forces: the manufacturing might of Detroit and the immense Great Lakes geography that has placed its citizens on every American battlefield since the War of 1812. The Wolverine State sent regiments to every major Civil War campaign, contributed heavily to the AEF in WWI, and produced an astonishing share of the WWII war machine through the auto industry's conversion to military production. By the time the American Legion was chartered nationally in 1919, Michigan veterans were ready to organize, and the Department of Michigan chartered its first wave of posts within months. Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, and the Upper Peninsula iron-and-copper towns of Marquette, Houghton, and Iron Mountain all chartered posts in the original wave.

Detroit's Black Bottom and Hamtramck neighborhoods, with their immigrant Polish, Italian, German, and African American communities, produced posts that reflected the city's working-class character. The flood of WWII veterans into Michigan after 1945 was extraordinary, partly because Detroit had drawn workers from across the country during the Arsenal of Democracy years and many of those workers' veteran sons returned to the same factory communities. Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, established in 1917 as one of the oldest military airfields in the United States, has been a constant presence in southeast Michigan veteran life. The Willow Run bomber plant in Ypsilanti, where Henry Ford's assembly line produced one B-24 Liberator every hour at peak, drew tens of thousands of workers and produced a postwar generation of veterans who settled in Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette in the U.P. operated from 1955 to 1995 and produced a strong U.P.

veteran community. Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda operated from 1923 to 1993, leaving Iosco County with a substantial veteran population. The Korean War generation made up an unusually large share of Michigan Legion membership, in part because the war coincided with the auto industry's peak postwar employment and many Korean veterans came home to assembly-line jobs and post-home affiliations. Vietnam, the Gulf War, and post-9/11 conflicts each added their layer to Michigan's veteran rolls.

Oldest and Most Historic Posts in Michigan

Detroit Post 1 of the American Legion was chartered in 1919 and remains a flagship of the department. Several other Detroit posts trace their origins to the original founding wave, including posts that served the Polish, Italian, and African American communities of the city's working-class east and west sides. Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo all chartered posts in 1919 and 1920. Many of those original posts still occupy buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Department of Michigan recognizes a number of Upper Peninsula posts that chartered in the original wave, including posts in Marquette, Houghton, Calumet, Iron Mountain, Ironwood, Sault Ste. Marie, and Escanaba. Several U.P. posts have unusual histories tied to mining, lumbering, and Lake Superior shipping veteran traditions.

The Cheboygan and Petoskey area posts, which serve northern Lower Peninsula resort towns with substantial year-round veteran populations, were also early-charter posts. The Pontiac, Royal Oak, Birmingham, and Mount Clemens posts in Oakland and Macomb counties grew rapidly with the postwar suburban boom but trace their charters to the original Legion wave. The Department of Michigan has worked to preserve original charter numbers even when consolidations have been necessary, recognizing that century-old charters carry institutional memory that newer posts cannot replicate.

VFW Posts in Michigan: A Closer Look

The Veterans of Foreign Wars in Michigan grew out of the small but dedicated community of Spanish-American War veterans organized in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing at the turn of the twentieth century. The Department of Michigan VFW expanded rapidly after WWI as overseas veterans of the AEF organized their own posts, and again after WWII when overseas service became the norm. Today the Department of Michigan VFW is one of the largest in the country, with strong networks in the Detroit metro, the Grand Rapids and West Michigan region, the Flint and Saginaw industrial corridor, and the Upper Peninsula. Michigan VFW posts are well known for their fish fries (a Friday-night tradition with deep regional roots), pasty sales (a U.P.

tradition tied to mining heritage), and bingo nights. The department has been a consistent leader in scholarship and welfare programs nationally and is particularly active in the Vietnam Veterans of America cooperative programs. Several Michigan VFW posts serve as community anchors in former auto-industry neighborhoods where the post home is among the last surviving institutions from the Big Three's heyday.

AMVETS, DAV, and Other Veterans Organizations in Michigan

AMVETS established a Michigan department after WWII and grew rapidly through the postwar years, particularly in the auto-industry communities where WWII veterans returned to factory jobs and active veteran social life. The Department of Michigan AMVETS today operates posts across the major metros and in many smaller communities, and its service-officer program is unusually robust given the size of the state's veteran population. Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is well organized statewide and operates an extensive transportation network serving the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit, the Battle Creek VA Medical Center, the Aleda E.

Lutz VA Medical Center in Saginaw, the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System, and the Iron Mountain VA Medical Center serving the U.P. and northern Wisconsin. The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency administers state veteran homes in Grand Rapids and Marquette and coordinates with veteran service organizations across the state. The cooperation among Legion, VFW, AMVETS, and DAV in Michigan is generally close, and the state's various veteran trust funds and grant programs supplement the federal benefit framework.

Michigan Veterans Posts by the Numbers

The Department of Michigan American Legion charters roughly 360 to 400 posts across all 83 counties, with total membership in the range of 50,000 to 60,000, making it one of the larger department membership totals in the country. The Auxiliary contributes another 18,000 to 22,000 members, and the Sons of the American Legion squadrons add several thousand more. Michigan VFW figures hover around 240 to 280 active posts and roughly 30,000 to 36,000 members. AMVETS in Michigan operates a substantial network.

Michigan's veteran population is estimated by the VA at approximately 530,000 to 580,000, one of the larger state veteran populations east of the Mississippi. The state has a notably high concentration of Korean War veterans relative to other states, a legacy of the auto industry's postwar employment boom drawing veterans into Michigan in the 1950s and keeping them rooted there for decades.

How to Join a Veterans Post in Michigan

Joining an American Legion post in Michigan requires honorable service in the U.S. Armed Forces during any period recognized under the LEGION Act of 2019. The Department of Michigan processes new applications either at the post level or through department headquarters in Lansing, where the state adjutant manages post charters, membership records, and statewide programs including Michigan Boys State (the Wolverine Boys State program). Annual dues at Michigan posts typically run between thirty-five and sixty dollars, with a portion forwarded to department and national.

Many posts offer paid-up-for-life memberships, especially attractive to retired auto workers and Korean War veterans who plan to remain in their hometowns. The Auxiliary welcomes spouses, mothers, daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of eligible veterans. The Sons of the American Legion is active across the state, and Michigan has historically had one of the largest Sons membership totals in the country. The Legion Riders program is highly active in Michigan, with chapters from Monroe to Houghton and a robust calendar of charity rides that takes advantage of the state's extensive lakeshore highway network.

Active-duty airmen at Selfridge Air National Guard Base and the various Reserve and Guard installations are eligible and frequently affiliate with nearby posts.

Notable Michigan Veterans in History

Michigan has produced an extraordinary number of distinguished service members and notable veterans. President Gerald R. Ford, born in Omaha but raised in Grand Rapids, served in the Navy during WWII aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey in the Pacific. General George Armstrong Custer of Monroe, Michigan, the controversial Civil War cavalry commander killed at Little Bighorn, remains the most famous of the state's nineteenth-century military figures.

Senator and longtime veteran advocate Carl Levin and his brother Representative Sander Levin both came from a Michigan family with deep service ties. Senator Robert P. Griffin served in the Army during WWII. Astronaut and Michigan native Jim McDivitt, who flew Gemini 4 and Apollo 9, was a Korean War combat pilot.

Charles Lindbergh, born in Detroit, was a famed aviator and Air Corps Reserve officer who became a controversial figure in WWII before flying combat missions in the Pacific as a civilian consultant. Medal of Honor recipients from Michigan span every American conflict, and Michigan's Iron Brigade of the Civil War (which included the 24th Michigan) is honored at Gettysburg with a prominent monument. The Michigan Veterans Memorial Park in Lansing, the Michigan Vietnam Memorial in Lansing, and the various lakeshore memorial sites reflect the state's deep commitment to honoring military service. Detroit's Veterans Memorial Building, opened in 1950, was for decades the largest war-veteran memorial structure in the country.

Frequently Asked Questions: Michigan Veterans Posts

Sources & Further Reading

• https://www.legion.org/
• https://michiganlegion.org/
• https://www.vfw.org/
• https://www.amvets.org/
• https://www.dav.org/
• https://www.va.gov/vetdata/
• https://www.michigan.gov/mvaa
• https://www.selfridge.ang.af.mil/
• https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Brigade