so, as i’m sitting on my couch trying to figure out what i’ll do for the next 3 or so hours, i decide to pass time eating popcorn and watching pbs. there must have been some military theme governing what would be shown, because the first show was about the marines and different qualities of marine life. the second show was about the “bonus army.”
now, the bonus army is peculiar and interesting in and of itself: before ww1, men were conscripted to either work in essential industries or go to war. the men who were sent to war were paid fractions of what the men sent to industries made. so, veterans who had gone to war decided that they should be compensated for lost wages. however, the u.s. government somehow felt this was not fair.
as you would expect, the bonus army marched on washington. initially, their pleas were answered favorably by the House, but the Senate hearings were precluded by disaster. the u.s. army essentially attacked the “bonus army” (yes, soldiers attacking army veterans in the u.s. capital… ironically, this all happened in anacostia…). i mean, i can’t believe this; but then again, maybe i should not be so surprised…