The creation of the United Service Organizations, also known as USO, in 1941 was a collaborative effort by the Salvation Army, the YMCA, the YWCA, National Catholic Community Services, National Travelers Aid Association, and the National Jewish Welfare Board to heed President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call for an armed services morale booster. With its main hub in Times Square, over 3,000 USO clubs cropped up worldwide in just three years after it was founded, entertaining GI’s with Hollywood performers as well as providing them with a place to relax and socialize. In its 70 years of operation, the USO has continued to be a nonprofit charity organization and has opened centers in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Kuwait and Qatar.
