Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars salute the American flag near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday to pay tribute to the 1932 Bonus Army expeditionary force with a march and speeches around various war monuments.
The march memorialized the Bonus Army, a massive 1932 protest of 43,000 demonstrators, including 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, families, and affiliates, who marched on Washington, D.C., demanding early payment of service certificates due in 1945.
“If you think, almost 100 years ago, that’s what everybody was doing, they were setting up camps, they were waiting to get paid …on a promise they were made in World War I,” said Tim Jensen, president of the Grunt Style Foundation, a non-profit that provides resources to veterans. “Here we are in 2026, and we still can’t get the promises that were made to us, followed through on by our very government.
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars listen to a speech at the World War I Memorial in Washington on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Two members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, dressed as WWI doughboys, walk past the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars hand out American flags on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Veterans of Foreign Wars member Wayne “Hutch” Hutchison, center, makes a speech at the World War II Memorial in Washington on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
“So we’re still here doing the same thing. But now we’re organized, now we’re the VFW. Now we’re over 100 years old, and we’ve got over a million members and we ain’t going to take this crap no longer.”
The event tied is to the VFW’s “Honor the Contract” campaign, a major initiative demanding that Congress uphold the legal and moral obligations owed to veterans. That includes specifically defending VA disability benefits and health care. The campaign asserts that benefits are not handouts but earned compensation for service and sacrifice.
“It’s only fitting that it’s snowing here … because the World War I veterans that were not getting what they deserved endured weather just like this and they stayed here, camped here,” said Carol Whitmore, the VFW commander-in-chief. “It’s the same situation. They endured weather like this. They took the risk of camping here and being arrested. And if you can imagine that, being arrested for trying to get the rights that they earned, that they did it anyway. They did it for us, and they did it for our future.”
A brodie helmet, typical of the headgear used by American soldiers during WWI, rests upside down near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Navy veteran Ron Riffle, Veterans of Foreign Wars post commander 4809 in Norfolk, Va., laughs with other members of the organization on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
