The American Legion Department of South Dakota is a post location for the American Legion, a nonprofit patriotic wartime veterans organization that was chartered in 1919. It is a community service organization that numbers nearly 3 million men and women in nearly 15,000 posts worldwide. These posts are organized into 55 departments that include one each for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines. The organization is responsible for many programs and events within communities throughout the United States, such as Legion College, educational aids, endowment funds, national emergency funds, library, museum, children and youth programs and temporary financial assistance. The American Legion Department of South Dakota is headquartered in Watertown, S.D.