West Virginia Veterans Home

The Governor’s Veterans Advisory Council

The West Virginia Veterans Advisory Council​ is an eleven-member body of state residents who have been separated from the Armed Forces of the United States under honorable conditions.

​Our Mission

The West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance is a cabinet-level agency that provides services and benefits assistance to state veterans. The Department’s work helps bring in $5 billion in federal funds annually to serve West Virginia’s Veterans. The Department operates fifteen benefits offices statewide, with staff members conducting over 250 consultations daily. Additionally, the Department operates the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery, the Barboursville Veterans Home, and the Clarksburg Veterans Nursing Facility.

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Department History

​​The history of the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance began in 1945. At the end of World War II, the number of veterans in the state and the number of benefits provided by the federal government increased dramatically. The West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs was created to assist returning troops and ensure they could access those benefits.

The department has undergone several changes since its inception. About 40 years ago, the name was changed to the Division of Veterans Affairs under the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Administration. In 2011, following an enthusiastic push by veterans across the mountain state, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed Senate Bill 238 into law, which restored the agency’s seat within the Governor’s cabinet and changed its name to the now-familiar Department of Veterans Assistance.