B.E.F. (Parts I and II)
Epigrammata XCI
In nineteen thirty two (or three) An army marched on the D of C Had demands and real brass About a promise made in the past Sent them packing before long Though they were ten thousand strong Three years later, the prez decides To grant those bonuses, besides His power secured, such bona fides!
I had grown up liking George Patton and was surprised to discover that my grandfather and great uncles all hated him. One of them, my Uncle Tony, even met Patton and was given a captured German officer's sword from him (my uncle was an army stenographer at the Nuremberg Trials).
They hated Patton because he led the cavalry against the Bonus Army (reluctantly and under MacArthur's orders, admittedly). Their dad, my great grandfather, was a WW1 vet and was in the field artillery at Belleau Wood. He was not in the bonus army, but the whole family considered it a grave betrayal.