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The Great Depression put many people out of work and employment went down as seen in the graph below. So, when the veterans of WWI returned to the US after the War, they were most likely not going to be employed. They were promised a bonus check when they returned home but the government failed to follow out that promise. The veterans grew angry because they didn't have jobs or money. The bonus check would really help them and their families during the Great Depression. The veterans marched to DC to protest for their bonuses.

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This video is an overview on the marches and protest the Bonus Army participated in. This video goes into depth about the riots when the US martial attacked the Bonus Army when the protest turned violent.

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The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers-17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups-who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of th

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This poem talks about the sacrifices and danger the soldiers experienced in the war. In the poem, the soldiers are referred to as the Boys of The Old Brigade. It describes the soldiers as being forgotten by their homeland. This could be referencing the fallen promises of the government to pay the soldiers their promised bonuses.

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As World War I began to end in 1918, millions of American veterans returned home to the promise of a cash bonus compensation for their overseas service. The first Bonus Marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., on May 25, demanding payment of their bonuses. Within weeks, there were 20,000 veterans in town.

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The veterans set up camps out of tents and trash. They would stay in these places while they were fighting for their bonuses in DC. They set up camp in vacant lots, empty buildings, and in an Army-style encampment along the Anacostia River. At one end of camp, there was a dump where veterans scavenged materials to build their houses: wrecked cars, chicken cages, and pieces of wood. The biggest Hooverville was the camp at Anacostia. This camp wanted to have a clean and serious and did not want to be perceived as bums. They had a few rules: no alcohol, no fighting, no panhandling, and no communists.

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The veterans had the support of many Washingtonians. Locals came down and brought them cigarettes and food came to be entertained by the bands that played in the camp or came down just to talk to the veterans. There were also speakers who would represent and speak for the Bonus Army during protests. The speakers were retired veterans themsleves.

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The camps where the Bonus Army protests stayed were very elaborate. It was laid out with streets named after states. It had its own library, post office and barbershops. The Bonus Marchers produced their own newspaper, the BEF News.

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On June 15, the House of Representatives passed a bill to pay out the bonus. The bonus marchers celebrated. But then the Senate turned it down and adjourned. Officials in Washington would have predicted that the Bonus Marchers would all go home. Although the numbers dropped, the hard core among them stayed. And there was no indication they were ever going to leave.

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On July 28, officials sent in the Washington police to evict the marchers. The action was peaceful, until someone threw a brick, the police reacted with force, and two bonus marchers were shot. The situation quickly spiraled out of control, and the Hoover administration sent in the Army, led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

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the WWI vets received their bonuses 4 years later. And in 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill to help military veterans transition to civilian life, and to acknowledge the debt owed to the veterans who risked their life in WWI.