US Medical Supplies Blog

As a captain in the United States Army, Robert S. Marx was a celebrated hero who was wounded towards the end of the war. After recovering in a French hospital, Marx returned to the United States and joined the more than four million veterans of the First World War. Shortly after the end of the war, more than half of these veterans would be honorably discharged from the Army. As a result, millions of men who fought bravely to protect the United States of America, were left jobless.

The war had greatly depleted Americas resources, so the government was unable to adequately provide support for these veterans. Congress voted to cut funds to veteran programs by eighty percent. There were no programs in place to help them and even if there had been, the government had little money to work with.

Millions of war heroes, many of whom were disabled, found themselves homeless and due the the poor state of the economy, they were unable to find work. The early years after the war were a very rough time for these veterans, who often ended up begging for money holding signs that read “Help Me, I am a disabled veteran.”

While there were few federal funded available, veterans began joining clubs and organizing groups to help one-another. One of these groups was the Ohio Mechanics Institute Disabled Soldiers (OMIDS.) The Ohio Mechanics Institute was developed to help train disabled veterans and to help garner support for their cause, they reached out to some of the more prominent World War I veterans. One of the men they reached out to was Captain Robert S. Marx.

Shortly after returning from the war, Marx, who had a thriving law practice before the war, was appointed to the Cincinnati Supreme Court. In 1919, he was formerly elected and was the only democrat to be elected that year in Ohio. He held a Christmas party that year, which would permanently change veterans affairs.

This dinner party, which started innocently enough, brought together around a hundred disabled veterans. Throughout the night, conversation turned to what could be done to help the many disabled veterans in America and by the end of the evening a plan had been born.

Over the next few months, this plan would develop into what is today the Disabled American Veterans. Marx, among many other brave Americans would use this organization to help improve the life and the opportunities of countless veterans.