The one and only membership qualification is honorable service in excess of 90 days in the Marines. This means that, regardless of rank served, regardless of when or where a Marine served, regardless of what division or wing he may or may not have served with, if he is a Marine, male or female, he is welcome in the Marine Corps League. VFW is comprised of American men and women who served honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States in hostile waters or on foreign soil during any foreign war, insurrection, or expedition. The Iowa Department Headquarters are located at 3601 Beaver Ave., Des Moines 50310. The PVA is at the forefront of improving the access to and quality of appropriate health-care, identifying and securing benefits to veterans, promoting medical research, educating society about attitudinal and physical barriers, and providing information and opportunities for better health, recreation, employment, sports, service and camaraderie for spinal cord impaired veterans and others as appropriate.
Membership is open to any veteran of military service who has a spinal cord injury or disease.
The Military Order of the Purple Heart is the only Congressionally chartered veterans organization exclusively for combat wounded veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart by the Government of the United States.