About the League

Photo of General John A. LeJeune

MajGen Commandant
John A. Lejeune

The Marine Corps League perpetuates the traditions and spirit of ALL Marines and Navy Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen, who proudly wear or who have worn the eagle, globe and anchor of the Corps. It takes great pride in crediting its founding in 1923 to World War I hero, then Major General Commandant John A. Lejeune. It takes equal pride in its Federal Charter, approved by An Act of the Seventy-Fifth Congress of the United States of America and signed and approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 4, 1937.

The League is the only Federally Chartered Marine Corps-related veterans organization in the country. Since its earliest days, the Marine Corps League has enjoyed the support and encouragement of the active duty and Reserve establishments of the U. S. Marine Corps. Today, the League boasts a membership of more than 76,000 men and women, officer and enlisted, active duty, Reserve Marines, honorably discharged Marine Veterans and qualified Navy FMF Corpsmen and is one of the few Veterans Organizations that experiences increases in its membership each year.

The Marine Corps League is headed by an elected National Commandant, with 14 elected National Staff Officers who serve as trustees. The National Board of Trustees coordinates the efforts of 48 department, or state, entities and the activities of over 1000 community-based detachments located throughout the United States and overseas. The day-to-day operations of the League are under the control of the National Executive Director with the responsibility for the management and direction of all programs, activities, and affairs of the Marine Corps League as well as supervising the National Headquarters staff.

The prime authority of the League is derived from its Congressional charter and from its annual National Convention held each August in different major U.S. cities throughout the nation. It is a not-for-profit organization within the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service Code 501(c) (4), with a special group exemption letter which allows for contributions to the Marine Corps League, its Auxiliary and subsidiary units, to be tax deductible by the donor.

 

Purposes of the Marine Corps League


  • To preserve the traditions, promote the interest and perpetuate the history of the United States Marine Corps.
  • To band together those who are now serving in the United States Marine Corps, eligible FMF Corpsmen and those who have been honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps, together in fellowship, that they may effectively promote the ideals of American freedom and democracy.
  • To help fit its members for the duties of citizenship and to encourage them to serve ably as citizens as they have served our nation under arms.
  • To hold sacred the memory and history of the men and women who have given their lives to the Nation.
  • To foster love for the principles which they have supported by blood and valor since the founding of the Republic.
  • To aid voluntarily and to render assistance to all Marines and FMF Corpsmen, uniformed and civilian, as well as their widows and orphans.
  • To create a bond of comradeship between those in the service and those who have returned to civilian life.
  • To perpetuate the history of the United States Marine Corps and by fitting acts to observe the anniversaries of historical occasions of peculiar interest to Marines.