-The US has a bad history of treatment of vets. After WW I, Congress had voted to give a bonus to those who had served, but it would not be paid until 1945. When the Depression set in, thousands of out of work vets gathered in Washington DC to await Congressional action to pay the bonus. They lived in encampments on federal land, like today’s homeless vets live in wooded areas near highways, except that their families lived with them.
Congress voted not to give the pay. President Hoover ordered the military to disperse the homeless vets. They were fired on; two children were killed.
Part of the reason why Franklin Roosevelt put all kinds of programs in place for returning vets after WW II (like the veterans subsidy for mortgages) was to avoid a similar situation…
-The US has a bad history of treatment of vets. After WW I, Congress had voted to give a bonus to those who had served, but it would not be paid until 1945. When the Depression set in, thousands of out of work vets gathered in Washington DC to await Congressional action to pay the bonus. They lived in encampments on federal land, like today’s homeless vets live in wooded areas near highways, except that their families lived with them.
Congress voted not to give the pay. President Hoover ordered the military to disperse the homeless vets. They were fired on; two children were killed.
Part of the reason why Franklin Roosevelt put all kinds of programs in place for returning vets after WW II (like the veterans subsidy for mortgages) was to avoid a similar situation…