![Soldiers Recovering Under Care of Nurse at Walter Reed Hospital Soldiers Recovering Under Care of Nurse at Walter Reed Hospital](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Soldiers%20Recovering%20Under%20Care%20of%20Nurse%20at%20Walter%20Reed%20Hospital.jpg?itok=r69TrNhH)
Under the watchful eye of a nurse, wounded soldiers recovered at Walter Reed Hospital. This picture is dated from 1918.
![Amputees from WWI Recovering at Walter Reed Amputees from WWI Recovering at Walter Reed](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/380px-WWI_amputees_at_Walter_Reed.jpg?itok=NLI85BMG)
This picture is dated from 1918, showing two WWI soldiers with amputations recovering at Walter Reed Hospital.
![New York's famous 369th regiment arrives home from France New York's famous 369th regiment arrives home from France](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/369thSoldiers.png?itok=QSXeDzYv)
New York's famous 369th regiment arrives home from France, dated from 1919
![Women putting checks in envelopes in the Veterans Bureau, Washington, D.C. Women putting checks in envelopes in the Veterans Bureau, Washington, D.C.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Women%20putting%20checks%20in%20envelopes%20in%20the%20Veterans%20Bureau%2C%20Washington%2C%20D.C..jpg?itok=qFslTdL6)
Women putting checks in envelopes in the Veterans Bureau, Washington, D.C.
![Chief Nurses, Veteran's Bureau, 1923 Chief Nurses, Veteran's Bureau, 1923](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Chief%20Nurses%2C%20Veteran%27s%20Bureau%2C%2011-7-23.jpg?itok=-R5M7tVa)
Women played an important role in running the Veteran's Bureau. This photo of chief nurses is dated November of 1923.
![Jobs for fighters, U.S. Employment Service, Bureau for Returning Soldiers and Sailors Jobs for fighters, U.S. Employment Service, Bureau for Returning Soldiers and Sailors](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Jobs%20for%20fighters%201.jpg?itok=xQ-UVqHT)
The VA was certainly not the only public service offered to returning soldiers and sailors as this advertisement, dated 1917, illustrates. The poster shows a soldier holding his "Honorable Discharge" form, crossing a welcome mat to pass through the door of a "Bureau for Returning Soldiers and Sailors."
![President Obama Signs the ACA into Law President Obama Signs the ACA into Law](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Obama_signs_health_care.jpg?itok=hOb0DCwA)
President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010
![Wilson Addresses Congress in 1917 Wilson Addresses Congress in 1917](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/775px-President_Woodrow_Wilson_asking_Congress_to_declare_war_on_Germany%2C_2_April_1917.jpg?itok=B4w2T--E)
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson delivered his War Message to Congress. The declaration of war was passed on April 4.
![A Soldiers' Home illustration, 1885 A Soldiers' Home illustration, 1885](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Milwaukee_Soldiers_Home.jpeg?itok=A5FXGYoK)
Some Civil War veterans had access to ten national “Soldiers’ Homes.” This illustration of a Soldiers’ Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, appeared in an 1885 almanac.
![Clerks at the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, 1918 Clerks at the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, 1918](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/clerks%20at%20bureau%20of%20war%20risk%20insurance.jpg?itok=fcFnAsK-)
Clerks of the Bureau of War Insurance processed massive amounts of paperwork as seen in this photograph from 1918.
![Two women process checks from the Bureau of War Insurance Two women process checks from the Bureau of War Insurance](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/two%20women%20process%20Bureau%20of%20War%20Insurance%20checks.jpg?itok=I73XZK01)
Two women using a check-signing machine for the War Risk Bureau, Washington, D.C. (ca. 1914-1921)
![Robert Marx Robert Marx](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Robert%20Marx.jpg?itok=mAqOBWT9)
Judge Robert S. Marx, Nat. Commander, Disabled Am. Vets of World War, 1921
![Mitt Romney.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Mitt%20Romney%20campaign%20trail%202011.jpg?itok=cUqHnf-v)
Former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney wondered in 2011 “if there would be some way to introduce private sector competition” to the VHA.
![A modern VA Medical Center.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/VA%20Medical%20Center%20in%20Durham%2C%20North%20Carolina.jpg?itok=Oc8rpJYa)
A modern VA Medical Center in Durham, NC, in 2008 (photo by Ildar Sagdejev)
![Official Seal of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Official%20Seal%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Deptartment%20of%20Veterans%20Affairs.png?itok=rSKOgONi)
Upon the creation the new Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989, this seal was adopted. The creator, David E. Gregory, described the key components of the seal: the eagle represents the United States; the circle of five stars represents the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard; the two flags in the eagle's talons represents the 13 colonies and the current 50 states; the golden cord symbolizes fallen Americans; and the eagle holding the cord to symbolizes the memory of those veterans who have sacrificed for the nation.