Bonus ArmyBonus Army
By Richard Sanders, Editor, Press for Conversion!
American veterans had been promised by the U.S. government that they would be paid a "bonus" for their service during World War 1. They were to receive $1 for every day they'd served during that war, or $1.5 for each day they served in combat. This "bonus" was supposed to be paid decades later, in the 1940s! When the depression of the 1930s hit, U.S. WWI veterans began a movement to demand that they should not have to wait another 10 years for their bonus. They wanted it to be paid immediately. They began many protests and lobbying efforts. When some veterans from the mid-west began a trek to Washington to demand the bonus. They called themselves the "Bonus Expeditionary Army". They were eventually joined in Washington by tens of thousands of veterans and their families. They set up a shanty town called Hooverville within Washington DC. They held protests and some of the more radical veterans occupied abandoned buildings in the city. General Smedley Butler arose as a strong supporter of the "Bonus Army." Hoover enlisted the Army to drive the vets out of the city. In charge of the Battle of Antacostia was Douglas MacArthur, and his top men were Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton. They used the US Army to crush the Bonus Army. Excessive force was used, several died and Hooverville was burnt to the ground. This helped lead to Roosevelt's election in 1933.
View online Photographs of the Bonus Army
Read more about the Bonus Army:
The “Bonus Army” and the Torching of Hooverville
Conflicting
Versions of the Battle of Anacostia:
Gen. Douglas MacArthur vs. Pres. Herbert Hoover