In 1924 Congress had authorized a payment for WWI veterans to cover wages lost while they were fighting WWI, to be paid in In 1931 Congress overrode a Presidential veto (Hoover) to give the men half of what they were owed. A Texas Congressmen Wright Patman wrote a bill in 1932 to give the men the rest of their money.

Over 20,000 WWI veterans and their families converge on Washington D.C. to demand their money.

The first veterans camped in and around some condemned buildings on Pennsylvania Ave.

The rest of the Veterans spilled over across the Anacostia River into this area known as the Anacostia flats

They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force or the Bonus Army for short, because they wanted their bonus money.

In June the Senate did not pass the bill to give them their money and Hoover offered them free transportation home and about 1/4 of the marchers left.

Police were sent in to evacuate the Bonus Army from the condemned buildings, violence broke out and two marchers were killed.

General MacArthur (later a WWII General) is then asked by Hoover to remove the men.

He gets organized and removes the men from the buildings. He then extends his orders to remove the men from their camp in the Anacostia Flats Yes those are tanks!

MacArthur gave the Bonus Army one hour to clear the camp, and then it was burned.

Hoover's response... Communists had infiltrated the Bonus Army and were inciting a riot, they had to be stopped. Of all the people left after I paid for transportation home, almost half were communists or radicals. The men killed were killed by police which are not under my command nor were they following my orders. MacArther was only ordered to clear men from the condemned buildings, he was not ordered to clear the camp or burn it down. However, not shots were fired and the buildings and camp were cleared in a peaceful manner.