Click on the link below to open a new page with a written discription of the BVA Emblem.
Text Description of Emblem
The five-pointed star represents the Armed Forces of the United States. The hands emerging from the background of clouds represent blindness. The clasped hands, one white and the other brown, symbolize the unity of races. The broken bayonet represents that blindness resulted from a service-connected injury. The Star of David and the Christian Cross represent the unity of creeds. The initials "BVA" stand for the Blinded Veterans Association.
During a meeting between President Harry S. Truman and the early leaders of the Blinded Veterans Association held in the Oval Office on April 12, 1948, President Truman presented BVA with its official emblem.
In accepting the insignia, BVA National President Jack Brady offered remarks that further explain BVA's symbol. President Brady said, "In this emblem we have tried to express a fact which paradoxically became clearer to us through blindness. Through our years of hospitalization and our close association since that time, we have acquired an insight into the equality of men which we only wish we could pass on to all our fellow citizens. We have learned that discrimination as to color and creed as no foundation in fact. Blinded veterans have accepted each other simply as fellow human beings with a common problem. When you cannot see, you accept the man you meet on an equal basis, free of all reaction to the color of his skin and of all prejudice as to his Religious belief."