Bonus Army: Encyclopedia II - Bonus Army - Intervention of the military

Bonus Army - Intervention of the military

The marchers were cleared and their camps were destroyed by federal cavalry troops under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, in a probable violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. Dwight D. Eisenhower, as a member of MacArthur's staff, had strong reservations about the operation, and George Patton was also ordered to take part in the operation. Troops with rifles and tear gas were sent into the Bonus Army's camps. President Hoover did not want the army to march across the Anacostia River into the protesters' largest encampment, but Douglas MacArthur felt this was a communist attempt to overthrow the government. Hundreds of veterans were injured, several were killed, including William Hushka and Eric Carlson, a wife of a veteran miscarried, and other such casualties were inflicted.

By the end of the rout:

• Two veterans had been shot and killed.
• An 11 week old baby was in critical condition resulting from shock from gas exposure.
• Two infants had died from gas asphyxiation.
• An 11 year old boy was partially blinded by tear gas.
• One bystander was shot in the shoulder.
• One veteran's ear was severed by a Cavalry saber.
• One veteran was stabbed in the hip with a bayonet.
• At least twelve police were injured by the veterans.
• Over 1,000 men, women, and children were exposed to the tear gas, including police, reporters, residents of Washington DC, and ambulance drivers.

The army burned down the Bonus Army's tents and shacks, although some reports claim that to spite the government, which had provided much of the shelter in the camp, some veterans torched their own camp dwellings before the troops could set upon the camp. Reports of U.S. soldiers marching against their peers did not help Hoover's re-election efforts; neither did his open opposition to the Bonus Bill due to financial concerns. After the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, some of the Bonus Army regrouped in Washington to restate its claims to the new president. Ironically, Roosevelt also rejected the Bonus Army's claims until near the end of his presidency. At the end of World War II, the government avoided a similar conflict with veterans by enacting the G.I. Bill of Rights.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Intervention of the military", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki