Today DAV celebrates 100 years of service to injured veterans and their families in America. Governor Gary Herbert has declared this day Disabled American Veterans Day in Utah. Join us in thanking our local Utah chapters for their continued support as we mark this momentous anniversary in DAV’s history.

Whereas, Disabled American Veterans (DAV) was founded by World War I veterans on September 25, 1920, and was charted by an Act of Congress on June 17, 1932;

Whereas, in 2020 DAV celebrates 100 years of serving veterans of the Armed Forces, their families and survivors, and communities;

Whereas DAV is dedicated to a single purpose; empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity;

Whereas, DAV accomplishes this by ensuring veterans and their families have access to the full range of benefits available to them by fighting for the interests of America’s injured heroes, and by educating the public about the needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life;

Whereas, DAV provides free, professional assistance to veterans and their families in obtaining benefits and services provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies;

Whereas, DAV also provides outreach concerning its programs and services to the American people generally, and to disabled veterans and their families specifically;

Whereas, DAV represents the interests of disabled veterans, their families, their widowed spouses and their orphans before the federal government, as well as state and local governments;

Whereas, DAV has fought tirelessly for equal access to critical VA caregiver benefits and services for severely disabled veterans of all generations, resulting in legislation to expand eligibility to those injured prior to September 11, 2001, as part of the VA MISSION Act;

Whereas, DAV co-presents the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic and National Disabled Veterans TEE Tournament; has organized the nationwide DAV Transportation Network to provide free transportation for veterans to VA medical appointments; operates in active Charitable Service Trust funding the needs of local providers assisting at-risk local veterans; has built an active volunteer corps offering thousands of hours of service to our veterans and communities; offers veterans, transitioning military members and spouses access to employers through its nationwide job fair program; provides emergency assistance to veterans in need through the DAV Disaster Relief Program; and operates the Jesse Brown Memorial youth Scholarship program to contribute to the lives of young Americans;

Whereas, DAV Department of Utah and the 8 chapters across our state demonstrate their unending commitment to ill and injured veterans of all generations and conflicts; and,

Whereas, the State of Utah is proud to honor the members of the Disabled American Veterans;

Now, Therefore, I, Gary R. Herbert, Governor of the State of Utah, do hereby recognize September 25, 2020, as

Disabled American Veterans Day in Utah