Jewish War Veterans

On the evening of March 15, 1896, a group of Jewish men who were union veterans of the Civil War met in New York City at the Lexington Avenue Opera House. That night, they formed the Hebrew Union Veterans Association in response to the false claims by some prominent Americans that Jews were not patriotic and did not fi ght in the Civil War.

The organization’s presence spread nationally, changing its name to the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, which today is the oldest active veterans’ organization in the United States. Those same Jewish Civil War veterans from Manhattan became the original members of Jewish War Veterans USA Post 1.

Today, the more than 100 members of Jewish War Veterans Post 1 include veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the War on Terrorism. One of its members was recalled to active duty in April 2015, and was assigned to Special Operations Command.

Jewish War Veterans USA Post 1 is active at the Manhattan VA Medical Center, where it runs a bingo game for patients, organizes Jewish religious services and hosts an annual Fleet Week reception for sailors and Marines. The mission of the Jewish War Veterans is to maintain true allegiance to the United States of America, to foster and perpetuate true Americanism, to combat whatever tends to impair the effi ciency and permanency of our free institutions, to uphold the fair name of the Jew and fi ght his or her battles wherever unjustly assailed, and to encourage the doctrine of universal liberty, equal rights, and full justice to all men and women.

On March 15, 2016, Post 1 commemorated its 120th birthday by unveiling a plaque at the site of the Lexington Avenue Opera House, now a DoubleTree Hotel.