Post 1760 Calendar

The official date of the founding of the US Air Force is 18 September 1947. It was a momentous event that over six decades later has demonstrated the achievement of an Air Force second-to-none, yet the Air Force’s history and heritage goes back a lot further.

From the time that the US military purchased its first aircraft in 1909 up to 1947, the US Air Force did not exist as a separate and independent military service organization. It went through a series of designations: Aeronautical Section, Signal Corps (1909); Aviation Section, Signal Corps (1914); United States Army Air Service (1918); United States Army Air Corps (1926), United States Army Air Forces (1941).

WWII illustrated the value of airpower, and the need to change the basic organization of the US Military Forces. The result was the creation of a single Department of Defense with a strong Joint Chiefs of Staff with Army, Navy, and Air Force chiefs. In 1947 President Truman signed the National Security Act which established this new defense organization, and along with it the creation of the US Air Force as an independent service, equal to the US Army and US Navy. The official birthday of the US Air Force is 18 September 1947.

Through the years history has shown the wisdom and foresight of the creation of a separate Air Force. The US Air Force emerged quickly from its cradle and began to create its own history and heritage.

(2018) AIR FORCE BIRTHDAY. Retrieved from https://www.military.com/air-force-birthday

In 1899 13 Spanish-American War veterans gathered in a small tailor shop in Columbus, Ohio, to discuss how they could assist their fellow veterans and the dependents of their fallen comrades. Soon joined by American veterans from the Philippine Insurrection, their selfless desire to care for those who share a common bond forged by war laid the foundation for the multifaceted, powerhouse organization that is known worldwide as the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

The men who founded the VFW challenged the status quo, and helped to forever change how our nation cares for her veterans, service members and their families. Virtually every military and veteran quality of life program created in this century and last is due to the tenacity and perseverance of VFW members to ensure that a nation that creates veterans properly takes care of them when they return home.

And though the VFW has evolved over the years, it still operates with the same vision that birthed it back in 1899, which is to care for those who serve our nation in uniform. The VFW is an organization created by veterans, for veterans, and owes all that it has accomplished to its members: the lifeblood of our organization.

Now, as then, the VFW is proud to proclaim “No One Does Does For Veterans.” Happy Birthday, VFW!

(September 25, 2017). Happy Birthday, VFW! Retrieved from https://www.vfw.org/media-and-events/latest-releases/archives/2017/9/happy-birthday-vfw

The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775, by authorizing the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. All together, the Continental Navy numbered some fifty ships over the course of the war, with approximately twenty warships active at its maximum strength.

After the American War for Independence, Congress sold the surviving ships of the Continental Navy and released the seamen and officers. The Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress “to provide and maintain a navy.” Acting on this authority, Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates in 1794, and the War Department administered naval affairs from that year until Congress established the Department of the Navy on 30 April 1798.

Not to be confused with the Navy Birthday or the founding of the Navy Department is Navy Day. The Navy League sponsored the first national observance of Navy Day in 1922 designed to give recognition to the naval service. The Navy League of New York proposed that the official observance be on 27 October in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been born on that day.

In 1972 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized recognition of 13 October as the Navy’s birthday. In contrast to Navy Day, the Navy Birthday is intended as an internal activity for members of the active forces and reserves, as well as retirees and dependents. Since 1972 each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”

Retrieved from https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/commemorations-toolkits/navy-birthday/OriginsNavy.html