DAV Auxiliary History

The first concrete step toward the formation of an organization to help the wounded and
disabled veteran came on Christmas Day, 1919, at a gathering of disabled veterans hosted by Judge Robert Marx, himself a seriously disabled and much decorated veteran of World War I. A few months later, Judge Marx called a meeting of more than 200 vocational trainees at the Ohio Mechanics Institute in Cincinnati.

This actually was the beginning of the DAV. The first national convention of the DAV was held in Detroit in July 1921. In 1922 the
necessity for an auxiliary to be composed of the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of war’s disabled and the gold star relatives of those who had given their lives in defense of their country, was recognized by the DAV leaders. These leaders fully realized that only those women closely associated with, and vitally interested in, the disabled’s problems would be in a position to help them and continue to devote their time and efforts to this service as long as the need demanded.

At the San Francisco National Convention in 1922, plans were perfected for the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary, Disabled American Veterans of the World War, now known officially as the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary and Mrs. John Paul Jones was chosen as the first national commander of the auxiliary. This organization, founded on a single impulse of an unselfish desire to render service to the disabled veterans and their dependents, to make every effort possible to rehabilitate them, to alleviate the sufferings of those who would never be able to take their place in the normal walks of life again and to provide for their families, spread rapidly throughout the country.

The first regular national convention of the auxiliary was held in Minneapolis, in June 1923. A permanent organization was then established. A national constitution and bylaws was adopted, and Mrs. Robert Renton of Walla Walla, Washington, was elected as the National Commander. By 1924 there were 20 active units, now there are more than 1,000