What India Can Learn from American Veterans’ Fight For Pension
There is a fundamental problem in the way we Indians treat our soldiers. It’s systemic, it’s endemic and it needs to end. The indifference that successive governments have displayed towards our soldiers is, perhaps, a reflection of our own disinterest. Two American Presidents learnt this the hard way.
In 1924, the American Senate sought to bring justice to World War I veterans. It allowed for “Adjusted Universal Compensation” to young men who survived the 18 month long campaign against Germany. The aim was to compensate conscripted soldiers for the wages they had lost while fighting overseas.
The demand for these back wages arose due to the fact that the country had industrialised rapidly to meet the demands of war. An American who was picked to work at an arms factory was paid roughly 10 times more than a soldier who had fought in trenches alongside the French.
Fight Today, Pension After 20 Years
Soldiers who were welcomed home as heroes demanded parity. The new legislation promised its victorious World War I veterans $1.25 for each day served abroad and $1 for each day served at home. But there was a catch - the bonus would be disbursed after 20 years in 1945, but the promise of a bonus with compound interest made it sound like a decent pension scheme.
By 1932, America had descended deep into The Great Depression. 25% of the working class lost their jobs. Many among them were WW I war veterans. Understandably, they wanted to encash their bonds immediately. As expected, the cash-strapped government headed by President Hoover did not see WW I veterans as its immediate priority.
The Bonus Army
Those priorities lasted till a band of 15,000 started marching towards Capitol Hill. The media called them the ‘Bonus Army’. Washington prepared for the possibility of civil unrest. Machine guns and tanks were kept on standby. War heroes from eight years ago, they were now treated as a national security threat.
When the Senate rejected the Bonus Bill with an overwhelming majority, an angry and disappointed Bonus Army stayed remarkably calm but refused to leave the Capitol Hill limits. President Hoover had no clue how to get the army of 15,000 to leave his front lawn!
Fight Turns Bloody
Evacuation orders were eventually signed and two soldiers were shot dead by cops. The next day the US Army was called in. Cavalry men, infantry men, tanks and armoured vehicles rolled into the area. Smoke bombs and tear gas shells disbursed the marchers. By nightfall, the Bonus Army’s encampment was razed to the ground.
The US Army action on war veterans is right up there on the list of the gravest mistakes ever made by an American President.
In 1936, President Roosevelt vetoed the Bonus Bill but this time the Senate overruled the President. 4 million soldiers were paid their money in full.
It took four long years for public sentiment to sway in favour of those who fought against the Germans for the democratic ideals America claimed it stood for.
What Can India Learn From America’s WW I Veterans?
The first signs of change was when the US Army was called in to attack their own. Despite being unarmed, homeless and penniless, the Bonus Army was not easily crushed. They lived in camps near Capitol Hill for all of the American public to see and sympathise with.
The second major shift can perhaps be credited to Earnest Hemingway who wrote about how “the government practically killed” several hundred war veterans by leaving them to fend for themselves when a hurricane hit the coast in 1935.
In India, our soldiers have been fighting for the last 33 years. Successive governments have failed to honour those who served India during war and peace.
Maybe, the Indian government’s indifference reflects our own?
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