Replies

Below is a real story from the past that sounds all to much like today.

Headline Seen!

"Who Murdered the Vets! 269 War Veterans killed in Hurricane!"

September 1, 1935 - Miami: 269 of 400 WWI veterans, many of them disabled, working on a New Deal construction project to build a highway connecting the islands of the Florida Keys.

The veterans were sent as a result of political expediency by the Roosevelt Administration and out of concern for their care and rehabilitation. Roosevelt knew these veterans would be far less disgruntled if they were employed while recovering in a tropical paradise, 1,500 miles from their Bonus Army cohorts still marching on the nation's capital.

Government officials received regular updates on the path of the approaching hurricane, but ignored warnings to relocate the crews. They wanted to wait until the area was in danger before stopping work on the project and tackling the logistics of a mass evacuation.

Arrangements were made for an 11-car train to rescue the men, but it was too late.

The hurricane came ashore in the late evening with 200 mile per hour winds and 18-foot waves of ocean water, overturning the train, wiping out the camps, and destroying the residential structures within 40 miles. The storm even beached a passenger ship with 400 people on board.