Facts About United Service Organization

A touch of home for the U.S. military--that was the aim of Congress in creating the United Service Organizations (USO) in 1941 at the request of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who believed that private groups should handle the recreational needs of the country's fast-growing military. A touch of home and support for the military remain the USO's goals today.

Since its inception, the USO has served as a bridge between the American people and the nation's armed forces. A private nonprofit organization, the USO relies on donations and volunteers. Although it is not part of the U.S. government, it is endorsed by the Defense Department and the president, who has always served as the USO's honorary chair.

The USO began with a coalition of six civilian agencies--the National Catholic Community Services, National Jewish Welfare Board, National Travelers Aid Association, Salvation Army, Young Men's Christian Association, and Young Women's Christian Association. Their efforts solidified during World War II as the need for soldiers grew.

From 1940 to 1944, U.S. troop strength increased from 50,000 to 12 million, and the need for services increased proportionately. To meet the needs, USO centers were set up in more than 3,000 communities worldwide to provide soldiers a "home away from home," and sprang up in venues that included barns, castles, churches, log cabins, museums, and yacht clubs. Soldiers visited these locales to dance, see movies, seek counsel, and just relax.

During the 1940s more than 428,000 USO performances were presented at outposts and more than 7,000 entertainers traveled overseas. But by 1947, with the war having ended, support for the USO waned. In December of that year Pres. Harry Truman thanked the USO for fulfilling its mission with "signal distinction" and granted the USO "an honorable discharge" from active service. But a civilian advisory committee recommended that the USO either be reactivated or another civilian agency be created for the same function.

When the United States entered the Korean War in 1950, the USO regrouped and opened 24 clubs worldwide, its entertainers performing daily for troops in Korea. After the war, more than 1 million service members remained abroad, and the need for USO services continued. The necessity prompted the U.S. Defense Department to direct the USO to expand globally.

It was amid the turbulent 1960s that the USO first set up centers in combat zones. Bob Hope took his USO Christmas show to Vietnam for the first time in 1964, and the shows continued through the next decade. When the draft ended in the early 1970s, the need for the USO was reassessed. Prompted by a United Way report, the Defense Department conducted a review of the USO's global operations in 1974. The study concluded, "If there were no USO, another organization would have to be created ... Isolation of the military from civilian influences is not, we believe in the interest of this nation."

In peacetime the USO has helped service members become involved in their communities. For example, "The USO Virtues Project of USO Seoul and USO Camp Casey in Korea train service members who then volunteer to teach English in Korean elementary schools," said Donna St. John, the vice president for communications for USO World Headquarters. The USO has also helped troops make the transition to civilian life. In 1975 the organization made its own transition and moved its international headquarters from New York City to Washington, D.C.

In the early 1980s, the USO broadened its entertainment program and renewed its original mission to act as a liaison between the American people and the country's armed forces worldwide. With the Middle East wars of the early 1990s and millennium, U.S. troops were deployed in new areas, with little diversion or contact with home. The USO subsequently opened three centers in the Middle East and set up a Mobile Canteen program, whose volunteers drive refreshments, books, magazines, and videos to wherever troops are deployed.

Today the USO operates 123 centers, including 6 mobile canteens, with 73 located in the continental United States and 50 overseas. The organization relies on more than 33,500 volunteers, from its World Board of Governors who work at headquarters in Arlington, Va., to those who serve holiday dinners. These volunteers provide some 371,000 hours of service annually at a total contribution of more than $3 million. Globally, service members and their families visit USO centers more than 5 million times a year.

To help service personnel and their families acclimate to new environments, the USO offers services including counseling, housing assistance, and cultural seminars. The group also involves itself with community groups and businesses. Ms. St. John cited some recent examples, including a holiday gift drive--a partnership between the USO of northern Ohio and the local media--that benefited more than 3,000 military children, and USO centers at the Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta airports, which, according to the USO, are "the only two destination points in the United States for rest and recuperation flights from Iraq and Afghanistan," that partner with local businesses to host meals for soldiers who must travel during the holidays.

In a tribute to U.S. troops, the USO held a Patriotic Festival 2005: A Salute and Celebration of Our Military. The "welcome home" celebration, which was sponsored by Virginia-based groups and the USO of Hampton Roads, Va., was another example of how the USO continues to serve as a bridge between the American people and the nation's armed forces, "until everyone comes home."