The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 917 - 683: Tears of the Veterans

Before this economic crisis, Tom never thought he would participate in any protests. After all, his life was quite comfortable, with enough food and warm clothing, which already met Tom’s basic needs.

But now that the economic crisis had occurred, Tom understood the gap between the lower classes like himself and the upper echelons of American society.

Although he could still barely survive, Tom had to figure out a way to improve the living conditions for himself and his family.

At least in Tom’s view, petitioning the government to issue retirement allowances in advance seemed like a good choice.

After all, this was partly the reward he had earned for fighting for the United States and enduring the bumpy journey to combat in Europe.

Just asking the government for an advance on the retirement allowance, they should agree, right?

Tom did feel a bit uneasy inside, but after hearing John say that tens of thousands of veterans had been invited, Tom gradually became more at ease.

A protest with tens of thousands of participants was no small affair, enough to make an impact on All States and the federal government.

Tom believed that unless the American Government was foolish, it couldn’t possibly ignore their demands.

News of such a protest would spread across the United States at any moment and could even reach as far as Europe and Australia.@@@@

Even though it seemed somewhat like people like Tom were threatening the government, they truly couldn’t survive any longer, and they needed better food.

In the end, Tom accepted John’s invitation.

Before leaving, John also told Tom the location of the protest, right near Parliament House in the Capital City, Washington.

This place wasn’t just the administrative center of the entire United States, but also where numerous foreign ambassadors and Newspaper media were gathered.

Holding the protest here wasn’t just to make it more formal but also to use the influence of foreign ambassadors to force the American Government to take these veterans’ protests seriously.

John and the forces behind him had paid a high price to gather these veterans.

Mobilizing these American veterans from all over the country to Washington was no small expense, especially considering a significant portion of these veterans were bringing their families along.

This was also part of John’s strategy. He promised to provide food for these veterans and their families along the way, and until the protest successfully reached its goal, the "Democratic Party" would supply food to these veterans.

This promise led a large number of veterans to decide to bring their families. Even if the protest didn’t achieve its purpose, they and their families would still have access to better food sources during this time.

However, Tom didn’t do this. In his opinion, uniting all veterans to pressure the government to disburse the retirement allowances in advance was a last resort, and there was no need to escalate the situation to a massive protest involving tens of thousands.

Although it would be great if the American Government agreed to disburse the allowances in advance, if not, Tom would immediately return without causing any conflict with the government.

10 million dollars to quell a large-scale protest would be cost-effective for most countries, let alone the originally wealthy United States.

Even some national representatives didn’t take the protest seriously—after all, which country didn’t have a few protests? Especially such a relatively peaceful one with modest demands.

The developments did indeed not surprise the representatives from various countries. After just over one week, the United States Congress could no longer bear the pressure.

Since the current ruling party was the Republican Party, the opposition was naturally the Democratic Party. This protest became the best way for the Democratic Party to attack the Republican Party, regardless of whether it had been orchestrated by the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party had already begun to relentlessly attack the Republican Party’s policies.

Under this pressure, on February 19th, 1928, the United States Congress formally voted through the Patman Act regarding the early payment of retirement funds and, in the presence of a multitude of media and many veterans, submitted the Act to President Hoover.

Everyone thought that the protest was going to end, the veterans had even packed their luggage, ready to collect their relief funds and then return home, when the unexpected suddenly happened.

President Hoover, who had not yet taken a stand, expressed strong rejection directly after receiving the Patman Act from Congress.

Before the diplomatic representatives, the newspaper media, and the veterans could even express their surprise, something even more shocking happened.

On February 21st, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General MacArthur, led the main force equipped with tanks and machine guns along with a large number of police officers to brutally suppress the veterans who were gathered around Parliament House.

General MacArthur claimed he was acting on President Hoover’s orders, simply expressing Hoover’s intention to disperse the veterans, and didn’t even give the veterans time to withdraw before he started the forcible clearing.

During the dispersion, the American army and police not only inflicted multiple cuts on the veterans with bayonets on their rifles, but also opened fire directly when the veterans resisted, and used weapons such as tear gas to brutally suppress them.

What could these unarmed veterans, who had no preparation and even had their families with them, do against such cruel suppression?

For a moment, the skies over Washington were filled with gunfire, the whinnying of horses, the footsteps of the army and police, the cries of the veterans and their families, the sound of police sirens, and the roar of burning flames.

The unprepared group of veterans soon faced casualties in the hundreds, including a large number of veterans’ family members and not a few children.

The deaths of friends and family members soon caused these veterans to see red, and a small portion of them, having lost their reason, directly charged at the army and police, attempting to snatch weapons to fight back.

The veterans’ resistance provoked even more intense fire suppression from the army, leading to increasingly higher casualties within the veteran community.

Although a large number of veterans had already fled the area around Parliament House, many were shot and injured before they could escape, helplessly watching their family members fall to the gunfire.

The chaos lasted for over an hour, eventually being replaced by the wails of the veterans and their family members.

After the gunfire ceased, Chief of Staff General MacArthur couldn’t bear to look at the veterans for another moment, and with all his strength, he issued the army its final command, "Retreat!"

After the army withdrew, order was taken over by the police. Those veterans and their family members who were not seriously injured were directly detained, and the final outcome was transportation to the police station, followed by imprisonment on various charges.

Tom was among those who reacted quickly, and since he wasn’t accompanied by family members, he had no encumbrances as he fled.

Although Tom safely escaped the vicinity of Parliament House, listening to the deafening gunfire and cries over there, Tom’s trust in the country had collapsed.