Pre 1920 The VFW’s roots go back to 1899, founded by veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine-American War, not the Mexican-American War (that was 1846–48, decades earlier and unrelated to VFW’s founding).
A bit of the history:
•Local veterans’ groups formed in Ohio and Colorado in 1899, then merged nationally in 1914 to become the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
•The name reflects its original purpose: unlike the GAR (Civil War vets) or other groups tied to a single conflict, VFW was for veterans who’d served in wars fought on foreign soil.
