USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In May 1932, jobless WWI veterans organized a group called the “Bonus Expeditionary Forces” (BEF) to march on Washington, DC. Suffering and desperate, the BEF’s goal was to get the bonus payment now, when they really needed the money.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Bonus Army was a group of 43, 000 demonstrators – 17, 000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C., in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates.

Detailed explanation-3: -Bonus Army, gathering of probably 10, 000 to 25, 000 World War I veterans (estimates vary widely) who, with their wives and children, converged on Washington, D.C., in 1932, demanding immediate bonus payment for wartime services to alleviate the economic hardship of the Great Depression.

Detailed explanation-4: -On July 28, 1932 the U.S. government attacked World War I veterans with tanks, bayonets, and tear gas, under the leadership of textbook heroes Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Detailed explanation-5: -President Hoover ordered the Secretary of War to “surround the affected area and clear it without delay.” Conspicuously led by MacArthur, Army troops (including Major George S. Patton, Jr.) formed infantry cordons and began pushing the veterans out, destroying their makeshift camps as they went.