Posted on Feb 1, 2016
History's Grim Irony: New WWI Memorial Will Stand Where War's Jobless Veterans Fought Eviction
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Eight decades before the Occupy Wall Street movement, another protest of occupation, launched in the shadows of the Capitol, pitted the U.S. Army against its own American veterans from the Forgotten War.
Last week, the American Battle Monuments Commission unveiled design plans for the transformation of Pershing Park, the site for the new National World War I Memorial. The trapezoid-shaped strip of land, cleared of buildings in 1930, eventually became a traffic island. It was converted to a park in 1981 and named for Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in 1918.
Had any American veterans of World War I lived to see it--the last doughboy died in 2011--they might have viewed the new memorial's setting as bittersweet. In 1932, along that very ground just a few steps from the White House, the federal government launched an attack against several thousand of them. Now these plans have revived memories of that struggle, the only clash between two American armies pledging allegiance to the same Stars and Stripes.
On a hot day in July of that year, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Army Chief of Staff, mustered a detachment of cavalry, tanks, and regular infantry on the Ellipse, across 15th Street NW from the modern park. Convinced the veterans had been infiltrated by Communists, he donned his uniform to return to action with his reluctant aide, Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower, at his side.
Last week, the American Battle Monuments Commission unveiled design plans for the transformation of Pershing Park, the site for the new National World War I Memorial. The trapezoid-shaped strip of land, cleared of buildings in 1930, eventually became a traffic island. It was converted to a park in 1981 and named for Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in 1918.
Had any American veterans of World War I lived to see it--the last doughboy died in 2011--they might have viewed the new memorial's setting as bittersweet. In 1932, along that very ground just a few steps from the White House, the federal government launched an attack against several thousand of them. Now these plans have revived memories of that struggle, the only clash between two American armies pledging allegiance to the same Stars and Stripes.
On a hot day in July of that year, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Army Chief of Staff, mustered a detachment of cavalry, tanks, and regular infantry on the Ellipse, across 15th Street NW from the modern park. Convinced the veterans had been infiltrated by Communists, he donned his uniform to return to action with his reluctant aide, Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower, at his side.
History's Grim Irony: New WWI Memorial Will Stand Where War's Jobless Veterans Fought Eviction
Posted from huffingtonpost.com
WWI
Memorial
Military History
Honor
Posted 9 y ago
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There were some jobless veterans in Occupy Movement but others were professional liberal activists and more than a few were thugs COL Mikel J. Burroughs.
I don't consider it an irony it is the lack of prime real estate for memorials in Washington, D.C.
We haven't heard of Occupy since Obama was reelected. That was one of their less-vocal goals. Not much has changed since Occupy began except more long term unemployment and lack of health coverage.
I don't consider it an irony it is the lack of prime real estate for memorials in Washington, D.C.
We haven't heard of Occupy since Obama was reelected. That was one of their less-vocal goals. Not much has changed since Occupy began except more long term unemployment and lack of health coverage.
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Interesting that this site was chosen for said memorial. It is shameful incident in our history. This whole incident was over the payments of "bonuses". These bonuses for World War One veterans were meant to cover the difference in their military pay and civilian pay while they were serving in a time of war. The 1924 Congress had passed and overrode the Presidential Veto of a bill to give these veterans a bonus. This compensation was given in the form a bonds that would mature in the year 1945. When the Great Depression hit, the Veterans' need for money became desperate. The main demand of the "Bonus Army" was the early payment of these bonds. As with today, the powers that be were divided on the issue. Some wanted to pay, others, including then President Hoover did not. So President Hoover ordered the US Army to disperse the the residents of this "Hooverville". President Hoover's handling of the situation was one of the many contributing factors to his loosing the next Presidential Election to Franklin Roosevelt. The memory of this incident was one of the factors behind the passing of the "Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944" better known as the G. I. Bill.
What I find both sad and ironic is that General McArthur's role in the eviction is even mentioned in this article. So often, that part of his past is glossed over. It is good to see it mentioned and remembered. Heroes should be remembered not only for their "great deeds" but their failings as well. So people can learn from their mistakes and remember that in the end, they were human beings too.
What I find both sad and ironic is that General McArthur's role in the eviction is even mentioned in this article. So often, that part of his past is glossed over. It is good to see it mentioned and remembered. Heroes should be remembered not only for their "great deeds" but their failings as well. So people can learn from their mistakes and remember that in the end, they were human beings too.
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