League of Combatants
The League of Combatants (), originally established as the League of Combatants of the Great War (), is a Portuguese ex-service organisation established following the First World War. A private institution with public utility status, it is answerable to the Ministry of National Defence. History. The first meeting of the League of Combatants of the Great War took place on 16 October 1923, at the office of the lawyer João Jaime Faria Afonso in Lisbon. Faria Affonso had been lobbying for the creation of the League starting in 1919, but achieved little initial success. The League was then  headed by a "veterans commission" composed of Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Xavier da Cunha Aragão, Lieutenant Colonel João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, First Lieutenant Horácio Faria Pereira and Lieutenant Joaquim de Figueiredo Ministro. The League was formed due to the unjust treatment of those who fought in the Great War, especially those who had suffered injuries. After fulfilling their duty and oath to give their blood for the homeland, the League believed that veterans had (perhaps even purposefully) been abandoned by the government then in power, causing serious damage to the patriotism, discipline and morals of the Portuguese people. League of