New Jersey Veterans Posts

About Veterans Organizations in New Jersey

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

History of Veterans Organizations in New Jersey

The New Jersey Department of The American Legion was chartered in 1919, and the state's Legion history reflects New Jersey's enormous military, industrial, and logistical contributions to American conflicts since the colonial period. New Jersey sent more than 150,000 men into uniform during World War I, drawing from the dense industrial cities of Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Trenton, and from the farming, fishing, and shore communities of the southern counties. The Department of New Jersey established its early headquarters and grew rapidly through the 1920s; today the Department headquarters is located in Trenton. New Jersey's industrial backbone made it a critical war-production state in both World Wars, and tens of thousands of veterans returned to find work at the Naval Air Engineering Station at Lakehurst (famous for the Hindenburg disaster but a major Navy lighter-than-air operations center for decades), at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County (the U.S.

Army's principal armaments research and development center), at Fort Dix in Burlington County (one of the largest training installations on the East Coast since World War I), and at McGuire Air Force Base, which became one of the principal airlift hubs of the Cold War. In 2009, Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst were merged into Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the only tri-service joint base in the U.S. Department of Defense and the largest joint base in the country by acreage. Earle Naval Weapons Station on the Monmouth County coast remains a major Navy ammunition logistics installation.

The Department's century of growth has been shaped by these installations and by the steady rotation of New Jersey National Guard units, including the 50th Armored Brigade Combat Team and various aviation and engineering units, through every major American conflict from World War I onward. Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and post-9/11 deployments have all reinforced post membership.

Oldest and Most Historic Posts in New Jersey

New Jersey's oldest American Legion posts include numerous 1919 charters in the dense industrial cities and shore communities. Newark Post 1 holds one of the earliest charters and has been continuously active for more than a century. Trenton Post 93, Jersey City Post 6, and Paterson Post 9 all hold pre-1925 charters and have served as anchors of their cities' veteran life through enormous demographic changes. Hoboken Post 107, Camden Post 22, and Atlantic City Post 26 are among the early charter posts and continue to operate.

Smaller-town posts in places like Princeton, Morristown, New Brunswick, and Toms River hold early-1920s charters. The shore communities of Asbury Park, Long Branch, and Wildwood have continuously active posts whose halls have been rebuilt or relocated after coastal storms over the years; Hurricane Sandy in 2012 inflicted major damage on multiple shore-county posts, several of which mounted multi-year recovery efforts. Northern New Jersey's older Legion halls often occupy distinctive Tudor or Colonial Revival buildings constructed in the 1920s building boom and listed on local historic registers. The Department's archives in Trenton preserve original charters and correspondence from the founding era.

Smaller-city posts in places like Bayonne, Elizabeth, Plainfield, Bloomfield, Perth Amboy, and Vineland hold pre-1925 charters and continue to serve as anchors of their communities. Many older New Jersey posts have continuously occupied their original meeting halls for a century and host scout troops, polling, youth sports leagues, and community fundraisers alongside their veteran membership programming. The Department's centennial history project documented continuous activity at more than three dozen New Jersey posts dating to the founding year of the Legion.

VFW Posts in New Jersey: A Closer Look

The Veterans of Foreign Wars came to New Jersey early, with the state hosting some of the original VFW posts that emerged from the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection veteran organizations. The Department of New Jersey VFW grew rapidly after World War I and remains one of the larger VFW Departments in the country today. Posts cluster particularly densely in the northern industrial corridor (Newark, Jersey City, Paterson) and around Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the Picatinny Arsenal, and Earle Naval Weapons Station. The Department headquarters operates in central New Jersey and runs robust Voice of Democracy and Patriot's Pen programs that send New Jersey winners to the national level regularly.

Department service officers coordinate with the East Orange VA Medical Center, the Lyons VA Medical Center, and the various community-based outpatient clinics across the state. New Jersey VFW posts have been particularly active in service-connected exposure advocacy, supporting veterans whose service at Fort Dix, McGuire, or in deployed environments produced lasting health consequences. The Department's annual encampment rotates among Atlantic City, Wildwood, and other shore-area host cities and consistently draws delegations from every county in the state. New Jersey VFW posts also coordinate with the major regional VA medical centers in East Orange and Lyons and with the broader New York and Philadelphia VA networks for specialty referrals.

AMVETS, DAV, and Other Veterans Organizations in New Jersey

AMVETS established a Department of New Jersey shortly after the organization's national founding in 1944, drawing on the enormous WWII veteran population returning to the state. AMVETS posts cluster in central and southern New Jersey and are particularly active in scholarship and Americanism programs. The Disabled American Veterans Department of New Jersey maintains chapters across the state, with major activity centered around the East Orange and Lyons VA medical centers. New Jersey DAV is one of the more robust DAV departments in the Northeast, with a service-officer network that handles thousands of claims annually for veterans across the state's twenty-one counties.

The Department coordinates with the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, headquartered in Trenton, and with the three state veterans homes operated by the state. New Jersey AMVETS and DAV chapters frequently co-host claims clinics with Legion and VFW posts in cities like Newark, Paterson, Trenton, and Camden, where the density of older veterans and complex deployment-related claims makes joint outreach particularly effective. New Jersey DAV's transportation network is one of the busiest in the Northeast, supporting veterans across the state's twenty-one counties.

New Jersey Veterans Posts by the Numbers

New Jersey is home to approximately 320,000 to 350,000 veterans, placing it among the larger states by total veteran population. The American Legion Department of New Jersey oversees several hundred chartered posts and a significant six-figure membership. The VFW Department maintains a comparable post network. New Jersey operates three state veterans homes (in Menlo Park, Paramus, and Vineland), with a fourth under development.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst remains the largest joint base in the country by acreage and produces a steady flow of new veterans, while Picatinny Arsenal and Earle Naval Weapons Station continue to employ thousands of military and civilian personnel. The East Orange and Lyons VA medical centers serve the state's veteran population, supplemented by community-based outpatient clinics. New Jersey's veteran population includes a large concentration of post-9/11 era service members, reflecting the state's heavy National Guard deployment history. The state's veteran-friendly tax provisions and proximity to major VA specialty care in New York and Philadelphia make New Jersey a long-term residence for many career military retirees.

How to Join a Veterans Post in New Jersey

Membership in a New Jersey American Legion post follows national eligibility rules, broadened by the LEGION Act of 2019. New Jersey posts emphasize community service, and many urban posts maintain particularly strong Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs that involve thousands of community members. The Sons of The American Legion is robust statewide, the Auxiliary runs Jersey Girls State, and the Department runs Jersey Boys State, both flagship leadership programs held annually on New Jersey college campuses. The American Legion Riders maintain very active chapters across the state, with major participation in Run for the Wall and other national rides.

Joining a New Jersey post typically involves a DD-214 review, modest annual dues, and an introduction at a regular meeting; many posts welcome dual membership across Legion, VFW, and AMVETS, and joint-base service members and retirees often hold concurrent memberships in multiple organizations. The Department's youth programs include shooting sports, oratorical contests, and Legion Baseball teams across the state, which have produced a long list of state and national champions. New Jersey Boys State and Jersey Girls State are particularly competitive, drawing thousands of high school junior applicants for limited slots each year. The Department also runs a robust homeless veteran outreach program in Newark, Camden, Trenton, and Atlantic City.

Notable New Jersey Veterans in History

New Jersey's veteran legacy is enormous and spans every American conflict. Senator Bill Bradley served in the Air Force Reserve in addition to his NBA career; Senator Frank Lautenberg served in the Army Signal Corps in Europe during World War II and authored the Lautenberg Amendment expanding GI Bill benefits. Senator Robert Menendez and Senator Cory Booker did not serve in uniform but have been Legion-friendly through their careers. General Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded coalition forces in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, was born in Trenton and graduated from Bordentown Military Institute before West Point.

New Jersey has produced numerous Medal of Honor recipients across conflicts including the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon, was born in Montclair and served as an Air Force fighter pilot in Korea before becoming an astronaut. The state's National Guard divisions, including the 50th Armored, have been continually deployed since 9/11, and post-9/11 veterans now form a growing share of New Jersey post membership. New Jersey also hosts a notably high concentration of female veterans whose service careers have shaped contemporary post leadership.

Senator Lautenberg's WWII signal corps service and his subsequent congressional veterans' advocacy made him a beloved Department figure for decades.

Frequently Asked Questions: New Jersey Veterans Posts

Sources & Further Reading

• https://www.njamericanlegion.org
• https://www.legion.org
• https://www.vfwnj.org
• https://www.nj.gov/military/veterans/
• https://www.va.gov/east-orange-health-care/