"Suddenly, out of the whole Depression, comes guys doing something," he says. Tom Allen, co-author of The Bonus Army: An American Epic, says the movement "was a magnet for the veterans and their families who had nothing. Veterans from all over the country began jumping on freight trains, heading for the capital. Radio stations and newspapers began to pick up the story. They called themselves the Bonus Army.Īs they moved eastward, their idea caught on. They went down to the railroad yards, with a bugle and an American flag, and hopped onto freight trains. Glassford, superintendent of the Washington, D.C., police, asked a group of war veterans on the Capitol grounds to raise their hands if they had served in France and were 100 percent American. So in 1932, a group of veterans in Portland, Ore., led by a man named Walter Waters, decided to go to Washington to lobby for early payment of their promised bonus. Veterans of the war were desperate for relief.
Millions of Americans were left hungry and homeless. There was a catch, though: The money would not be paid out until 1945. In 1932, another group of protesters set up encampments and vowed to stay until their voices were heard.Īs World War I drew to a close in 1918, millions of American veterans returned home to the promise of a cash bonus - compensation for their overseas service. It's a form of protest that echoes throughout American history. They've pitched tents and built large, impromptu communities. The common denominator between them is protesters' commitment to stay and camp out. Occupy Wall Street protests have sprung up in cities across the U.S. A soldier torched a tent, and the Army began torching everything still standing. But by July, officials lost patience and went into the camp to evict the marchers. They set up camp along the Anacostia River that May. In 1932, a group of WWI veterans in Portland, Ore., rallied the Bonus Army to Washington to lobby for early payment of their promised bonuses.
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