Our Second Amendment is there for a reason.

[Flagwaver]

I was completely unaware of this event that took place in Athens, TN in 1946. I did not know an armed revolt by WWII veterans ever took place during our lifetime. A very sobering video to say the least.
Now the second amendment is a little clearer.

This movie lasts less than four minutes and is well worth the time.

http://voxvocispublicus.homestead.com/Battle-of-Athens.html

Fair elections are essential for freedom.
Men and women of conscience demand fair elections.

[miked2345]

Wow... Never knew about that! I'm never surprised to hear about corruption in Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc... But Athens TN???

Hmm.... Evil lurks everywhere.

[Klayton]

That was awesome, thanks for sharing!

[hua man]

I live in TN, and didn't know about Athens, TN until a few years ago. Kinda think this would be something in the Local History/Gov classes. And I recently found out Al Capone considered Johnson City, TN (my hometown) as a vacation place. It has a nickname of "Little Chicago" Didn't hear of this in school.

[onebigelf]

I did. Did you know this one?

The Bonus Armytion, search
Bonus Army Conflict
Bonus marchers 05510 2004 001 a.gif
Bonus Army marchers (left) confront the police.
Date July 28, 1932
Location Washington D.C., United States of America
Result Bonus Army dispersed, demands rejected
Belligerents
Bonus Army United States Army
Commanders and leaders
Walter W. Waters
William Hushka †
Eric Carlson † Herbert Hoover
Douglas MacArthur
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George S. Patton
Strength
17,000 veterans
26,000 others 500 infantry
500 cavalry
6 Renault FT tanks
800 police
Casualties and losses
4 dead; 1,017 injured At least 69 police injured

The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. Its organizers called it the Bonus Expeditionary Force to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Force, while the media called it the Bonus March. It was led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant.

Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each service certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment plus compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.

Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time, visited their camp to back the effort and encourage them.[1] On July 28, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. Veterans were also shot dead at other locations during the demonstration. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

At 4:45 p.m., commanded by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the 12th Infantry Regiment, Fort Howard, Maryland, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Maj. George S. Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch. The Bonus Marchers, believing the troops were marching in their honor, cheered the troops until Patton ordered the cavalry to charge them—an action which prompted the spectators to yell, "Shame! Shame!"
After the cavalry charged, the infantry, with fixed bayonets and adamsite gas, an arsenical vomiting agent, entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp and President Hoover ordered the assault stopped. However Gen. MacArthur, feeling the Bonus March was a Communist attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, ignored the President and ordered a new attack. Fifty-five veterans were injured and 135 arrested.[10] A veteran's wife miscarried. When 12-week-old Bernard Myers died in the hospital after being caught in the tear gas attack, a government investigation reported he died of enteritis, while a hospital spokesman said the tear gas "didn't do it any good."[14]

During the military operation, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, later President of the United States, served as one of MacArthur's junior aides.[15] Believing it wrong for the Army's highest-ranking officer to lead an action against fellow American war veterans, he strongly advised MacArthur against taking any public role: "I told that dumb son-of-a-***** not to go down there," he said later. "I told him it was no place for the Chief of Staff."[16] Despite his misgivings, Eisenhower later wrote the Army's official incident report which endorsed MacArthur's conduct.[17]
John