Dadums Remembers, Part Deux
February 11, 2008 5:24 pmWhen I was quite young [1932] I witnessed the “Bonus Army,” or “Bonus Marchers,” camped out on the Anacostia River Flats in southeast Washington. This area was near the end of Pennsylvania Avenue across from the Anacostia Bridge. This was during the days of the Depression and the marchers were World War I veterans who had been promised a bonus. The Government wouldn’t keep its word and pay the bonus to the veterans.
They camped in makeshift huts at Fairlawn, a park-like green area along the Anacostia River. The vets were orderly, but President Hoover wanted them removed from the area. He sent the United States Army to remove them forcibly. Among the famous generals leading the “attack” on the marchers were MacArthur, Eisenhower and Patton. The marchers refused to move. The army used tear gas and bayonets to drive them out. I witnessed this action first hand. It was horrible to watch. Several men were killed – United States veterans. I cried at the sight of it.
The Anacostia is a small river that flows into the Potomac. Fairlawn is a green area in southeast Washington near Pennsylvania
Avenue. If you proceed west from Fairlawn, Pennsylvania Avenue runs northwest toward Georgetown. On the way you pass the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I joined the Navy in 1944, one day after graduating from St. Johns High School. I entered a V12A program to train to be a naval aviator. I was sent for one year to Hampden-Sydney College, at Hampden-Sydney, Virginia. From there I went to the Navy Pre-flight School at the University of
North Carolina. We studied such subjects as navigation, radio, morse code, meteorology, mathematics, airplane and ship recognition. Ships and airplanes were flashed on the screen. Airplanes were shown for 1/50th of a second. Ships were shown for one second. I can remember now that “Fletcher” class destroyers had 4 stacks (funnels) and a flush (unbroken) deck. Jet planes weren’t around yet.
After completing pre-flight training, I received orders to proceed to Pensacola, Florida for primary flight training. The aircraft of pre-flight school was the yellow Stearman biplane. It was nicknamed the “Yellow Peril.” A very apt nickname as you can imagine.
While enroute to Pensacola I heard the news of the bombing of Hiroshima, which was followed by the bombing of Nagasaki. These were atomic bombs. The cities were obliterated by the blasts and fires. Most inhabitants were either killed or suffered radiation injuries and burns. I’ve often wondered why the atomic bombs were not deployed over the ocean in view of the population. The day after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima my “flying” days in the Navy ended and we were sent home on trains. World War 2 was over.
4 Responses to “Dadums Remembers, Part Deux”
I am so enjoying your tales of an earlier era, and a different DC and look forward to Nita’s tomorrow, and more to come from you, I hope. Your generation has been dubbed “The Greatest Generation” and I completely agree. My step-father, who is older than you, escaped Auzwitch (sp?) somehow, and got out through Hungary and came to the United States. He promptly joined the US Army, and was sent to Africa as an interpreter. I try to get him to tell his story, but he won’t. He lost his entire family to the gas chambers of Hitler, so it is just too painful to relive.
I cannot even imagine the horror of the Army facing off against its own veterans! I am a vet, as is Nancy Keough, of the now defunct, Women’s Army Corps. She was an officer, I was simply a clerk at the spook school in Ft. Huachuca, AZ. I had never heard of the “bonus army” before this. There are so many stories that really need to be captured.
Hope you and Nita are having a wonderful two days of birthday celebrations!!
Kate
hi
Hi John and Nita-
I am going to give this another try…..I tried to comment last night but the computer wouldn’t let me enter. I hope it works this time.
I thoroughly enjoyed part two of your story. I sometimes teach a college US History class and I have covered the “bonus army” event…..definitely not one of the more shining moments in our nation’s history. But history is history and no matter how much we don’t like some event it is there as it happened despite politicians who try to do their “spin” routines. I assign my students a project to do an “oral history”. They are required to do an extensive interview with a person over 70, preferably someone in their family. The kids are amazed to learn information not only about their family history but how really different daily life was in earlier times. And hopefully they begin to appreciate how important it is to document family history so that the facts can be preserved accurately. I think Ruthie’s project on their blog is terrific. It was Santana who said ” …those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it”.
So, I am anxiously awaiting Nita’s account of how a Southern Belle hooks an almost Navy Fly Boy!
Nancy
Its great to have these stories written down, so they will be preserved. To someone who came of age at the end of the 20th Century, its amazing to me that my grandparents, people I have known my entire life lived through and experienced some of the most momentous events of our country. I vaguely remembered the Bonus Army, but had no idea that my grandfather was an eyewitness. The worldwide heartbreak of WWII must have been a devastating time to live through, over 50 million people lost their lives in those years a staggering number now, even with a world with three times the population of 1945. Reading this makes me want to go to Washington and retrace the footsteps of my family and imagine the city as it was then. Please keep these stories coming.
Jake
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