Welcome to the internet site for the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW), a non-profit, voluntary, Veterans’ Association composed of Federally recognized Commissioned Officers including Warrant Officers who are citizens of the United States of good moral character and repute who are serving or have served honorably in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines Corps, Coast Guard (Active, Reserve, and National Guard), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps, and the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Corps, including descendants and spouses of these officers, who believe that it is “Nobler to Serve than to be Served”. Unlike other Veterans groups we do not lobby for benefits for our membership. As Companions (members) of the Order we continue to serve our Country and communities across the land with many programs emphasizing support for National Security and the Constitution of the United States, an evolving Homeland Security program, support for Law Enforcement, establishment and Commemoration of Memorials for those who died to ensure our Freedom, and our flagship programs of Youth Leadership and Patriotic Education programs, including extensive support to the Junior and Senior ROTC and to Girl and Boy Scout programs.

The Military Order was established right after World War I, under the leadership of General of the Armies, John J. “Black Jack” Pershing. General Pershing believed that the stand-down of the military forces required an association of former Officers to watch our National interests and particularly our National Security. At the 1926 convention General Pershing told the assembled Companions “You have fought a Great War to make the world safe for democracy, and to keep this Nation free, but your efforts must not stop now. In the future there will be many forces trying to destroy this freedom, so band together and dedicate yourselves to protecting that freedom that you have so valiantly won on the battlefield.”

Today the Military Order has 127 chapters nationally with members from all branches of the Armed Forces plus the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The Order continues to monitor our Country’s Nation’s Security programs and much more. Among the nine tenets of our Preamble, we “further Patriotic Education in our Nation”. More than twenty years ago MOWW established the first Youth Leadership Conference (YLC) patterned after the conferences held for many years by the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge , PA. Since then, we have been holding both multi-day and single day conferences and in 2007 achieved 28 multi-day conferences for approximately 1700 students and 60 single-day conferences for approximately 7500 students. These conferences instill Leadership values, Patriotism and Americanism and a feeling for the American Free Enterprise System in High school students from all over the Nation. The youth of America truly benefit from these conferences.

The current year began with our National Convention in Columbus, Georgia, concluding on Saturday, August 2, 2008 with a formal banquet. The MOWW Distinguished Service Award recipient this year was Admiral Vernon E. Clark, Twenty-Seventh Chief of Naval Operations.

If you have not read the “Preamble” to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Order, please take the time to read it on our link "JOIN MOWW" on this website. This statement of our core beliefs will give you a good idea of our guiding principles. We are currently embarked on a program of modernization and transformation to the 21st Century as outlined in our Strategic Plan 2010 which is updated annually. This plan is also on the website and available for your review.

Thank you, again, for visiting our website.

COL Philemon A. St. Amant II, U.S. Army (Retired)

Commander-in-Chief