 Words at war. All those who have participated in this series, the editor, the director, the writers, the musicians, the announcers, engineers and actors, are proud to be able to continue to bring you one of the most widely discussed programs in America. Words at war, dramatizing the most representative books to come out of this great world conflict. Because of your many letters and requests, the first two programs in the current series will be repeats of previous broadcasts. Our first repeat performance on Words at War tonight is Willard Waller's book, The Veteran Comes Back. Listen, the time is getting close when G.I. Joe will come home. In fact, he's been coming home already. Are we on the home front ready to face him, to help him become readjusted, to help him regain his foothold in society? You say we are. Well, that's what we propose to find out tonight. Remember, the veteran who comes home is a social problem, the major social problem of the post-war world. Not always, but often, he's a problem because he's maimed, crippled, demented, destitute, cold and unhungered. These things he is from no fault and no desire of his own, but solely because we've used him up, sacrificed him, wasted him. But the veteran so justly entitled to move us to pity can also put us in fear. Destitute he may be, friendless, without political guile, but weak he is not. No man could have a better moral claim to the consideration of his fellows, and no man could have a better right to bitterness. How are we going to give G.I. Joe his rightful place in society? Listen, the discussion has already begun. The debate is raging. In Congress, the newspapers over the radio, in Union Hall's Chamber of Commerce meetings on street corners, a debate to find the solution to the problem of G.I. Joe when Joe comes home. I propose that the boys coming back in every consideration, absolutely and positively, I'm for it. Always have been, always will be. Look at my record, nothing is too good for G.I. Joe. Motion second, motion approved, motion carried. Dear Joe, G.I. Joe must now fight for him. He owes a debt of gratitude. He is the one who is making the sacrifices. His life, if need be, on every battle front in the world. It is him who we must honor, cherish, protect. Take with G.I. Joe. But how? By giving him a bonus. A hundred dollars. We must take measures at once. To make up for what he's lost. To restore him to health. To give him a better life. A voice in the government. A voice in the government. Oh, pardon me, his rightful place in society. The admiration of his fellow men. The gratitude of the nation. Motion approved. Seconded. Carried. The guy whose face you've spread on all the war bond posters. The guy who's doing the fighting and the dying. And incidentally the guy whom nobody's bothered to ask for an opinion. Yeah, I'm G.I. Joe. Sorry to bust up your nice chummy meeting friends, but I've been listening to your discussion for a long time. And the least I can say about it is, I don't like it. You don't like it. You're doing it for you, for your own welfare. Maybe, but I still don't like it. But why? Why? Because you've overlooked one important point friends, one very important point. What? Today more than at any time in history, the veteran is a threat to society. What? I'll say it again. As a future veteran, I want to know. The veteran is a threat to society. I heard you say before that nothing was too good for G.I. Joe. That has a familiar ring, fellow citizens. Do you ever hear this poem by Kipling? It's called Tommy Atkins. I went into a theater as sober as could be. They gave a drunk civilian room, but hadn't room for me. They sent me to the gallery or around the music hall. But when it comes to fighting, Lord, they'll shove me in the stalls. It's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy wait outside. But it's a special train for Tommy when the troop ships on the tide. What is that supposed to prove? It proves, friends, that during any war in history, nothing is too good for the veteran. After the war, nobody gives a damn. But this time, the boys aren't coming back to selling apples and they're not coming back to charity. This time, if we don't get what we want, if we don't get what we've been promised, if we don't get what we deserve, you can kiss your democracy goodbye. I'm prepared to prove my point with pages from history written in blood with record of the veteran's anger. Today, I've come to testify before the nation to call witnesses. No, no, you can't talk like that. It's against the law. Against army discipline. Let him talk. Let him talk. We want to hear what he's got to say. This is Joe. All right. My first witness is Private Jeremiah Smith. My name's Jeremiah Smith. I was a 10th Smith for the war, working in Philadelphia. We're having our own shop. Partner Revolutionary War. It was on October 19, 1781 that we heard the news. War was over. We were to be demobilized. News was met with sullen resistance. Demobilized. I'll be hanging up. I'll be demobilized without receiving my pay. Give us our pain. We'll go home and not before. Yes, give us our pay. We're not beggars. We're entitled to it. We fought for it. Justice. We'll get justice from Congress. And the Philadelphia. If they don't give us our pay. For each Philadelphia, we constituted a body of 300 fully armed troops. Together with the Philadelphia garrison, we marched in the Continental Congress. It was mutiny. Finally, Congress was forced to remove from Philadelphia to Princeton. And the mutiny died. Then later, we were discharged. Shortchanged and swindled. And the speculators reaped the harvest. It was only because America was young. And there were new frontiers to be explored that counterrevolution was averted. Have you anything to add to your testimony, Private Smith? Yes, I do. I only hope that the veterans of future wars will receive better treatment from the people of the United States. Did you hear that? Private Smith hopes that the veterans of future wars will receive better treatment from the people of the United States. Did they? I call my next witness, Corporal Rufus Bowers. I fought in the war between the states. On the Confederate side, you Yankees up north will call me a rebel. But to the people of the South, my people, I was a soldier. After we surrendered, you people in the North imposed your will upon the South. Well, in 1867, we held a meeting. How long are we going to stand for this? How long are we going to let the carpet-baggers and crooked politicians tell us what to do? Is that what we fought for in the war? You bet it isn't. Does anybody care what happens to the veterans? Has anybody given us joy? Has anybody given us land? If we want to keep from starving, it is up to us veterans to take matters into our own hands. You said it, Hathaway. What do you propose? A new organization has been formed recently, organized to relieve the injured and oppressed, especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers. I propose we join this organization and fight with them for the restoration of the South. The organization we joined was the Ku Klux Klan. The whole South became the invisible empire. Our leaders were our officers. Our methods were force, violence, and rule by tent. We rode through the night, set in fire to the homes of the poor whites and the neighbors, driving them from the land. We soaked wooden crosses with kerosene and set them ablaze to spread fear through the countryside. We killed. And in the end we succeeded. The old order was restored in a different form, Mary, but restored. Now I know it was a mistake. We didn't help the South and we didn't help ourselves. But I also know that in those days we were bitter enough to follow anybody who promised us salvation. I can only hope that the veterans of future wars, if there be future wars, will receive better treatment and a greater understanding from the people of the United States. And did they? Well, let's see. Pencils. Buy a pencil, please. Pull by a pencil. Anybody want a pencil? Please buy a pencil and help a veteran. Can't you look where you're going, you old bum? Excuse me, lady. You've torn my stockings. Well, I guess you're lucky to have legs, lady. I'll report you to the police. That's what I'll do. Pencils. Buy a pencil, please. Oh, hello, Joe. Oh, hello, Charlie. How's it coming? Selling any today? I was hoping on picking up a dollar. Thought I'd bring some milk home to the kid for a change. Yeah, but I guess today's not the day. Yeah, it's tough. Cold out today. Must be close to zero. Yeah, just like that night in the Argonne, huh? Yeah, those were the days. We were heroes then, eh, Charlie? Yeah. Yeah. That's the way we took care of the veterans. And this is the way some of the veterans took care of themselves after the bitterness had a chance to take root and spread like a disease. Yes, sir. What can I do for you? Is there anything you want? I'm closing up now. This is a hold-up handover to Joe. No. No, please don't shoot. I'm an old man. Please, Mr. I said hand it over. But it isn't here. I took it to the bank. Open it, cash register. Open it. Hand it over and don't make a mover. I'll plug you. You dirty little property. Getting rich while other guys are out there wanting to fight for you. You dirty little rat that'll fix you. Yeah. We took care of them all right. We taught them how to kill, and then we turned them loose to starve. Tonight, Words at War is presenting in dramatic terms the gravest social problem facing America today. The return to civilian society of that one-tenth of the population which the other nine-tenths have used to fight a war. The book is The Veteran Comes Back. We've heard G.I. Joe make the blunt statement that today, more than at any time in history, the veteran is a threat to society and its democratic institutions unless he can be successfully re-naturalized into his native land. We've heard from two witnesses, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and one from the Civil War corroborating the evidence. We've seen what happened to the veteran after World War I. Now the remaining witnesses are ready to testify. Our program continues. My next witness is private Mike Haggerty. My name is Mike Haggerty. I fought with the AEF in 1918. I marched with the BEF in 1932. Maybe some of you have forgotten what the BEF was. Well, let me kind of refresh your memory. In 1932, the bonus was still unpaid and the veterans are pretty sore about it and we had a right to be. We were broke. We had no jobs. Many of us were on relief. Our certificates were pledged to the limit and let me tell you, brother, we were pretty desperate. What are we waiting for? We got our rights, ain't we? We fought the war to make the world safe for democracy. Yeah, that's what they called us. Now we'll have to fight another war to get paid for fighting. I say the only way we'll ever get our bonus is to march to Washington. March to Washington. A demand payment from Congress. In May of 1932, the first veteran contingent left Portland, Oregon. That was the beginning of the BEF, the bonus expeditionary force. We traveled in all jalapes, hitched rides and rode the rails. And from every stake, veterans came to join us. By the time we reached Washington, we were 10,000 strong and we paraded on Pennsylvania Avenue. Soon there were 20,000 of us camped at Anacostia Flats near the Capitol. Our wives and children came and we built our shacks and lean tools. The looks right now will be here until 1945. Yeah, we had made up our minds. We were going to stay there until 1945, if necessary. We came to tell the people to make good on their promises, to get payment for a debt. But we never figured they would use the army to drive us out. The big push began on bloody Thursday, July 28. Troops from Fort Maya, infantry, cavalry and five tanks. There they come, men. I remember. Hold your ground. With military precision, the troops advanced. Our shacks were burned to the ground. Our bricks were no match for their tear gas and bayonets and their guns. It was the military against the citizenry. Civil war. The BEF failed. But the veterans of future wars won't fail. They'll know what to do. And you take it from me. They'll do it. We've heard enough. We'll say to it that there won't be another repetition of the bonus march. Let's go home. We're only wasting time. Wait. There are more witnesses. I'm sure you'll find their testimony interesting. What has happened in the United States, you see, isn't the worst. A few outbreaks here and there, but on the whole, things have been quiet. No real threat to democracy has developed so far. But in other countries, it was different. Quite different. I call my next witness, Sergeant Albert Gerard. I am Albert Gerard, a veteran of France. After the war, I joined the Quadfeuil, a union of French veterans. They were hungry and jobless and had lost faith. We allied ourselves with the fascist organizations of Italy and Germany and installed French fascism. Corporal Hans Bauman. I am Corporal Hans Bauman, a veteran of Germany and a member of the elite guard. In 1918, we lost the war, but kept the course. People gave us nothing, but there was a man who did. We, the German veterans, helped our Fuhrer Adolf Hitler establish national socialism in Germany. Private Luigi Romano. We, the veterans of Italy, marched with Mussolini and Rome and helped establish Iwashisti. You are trying to prove that our veterans will behave like jammers. You are crazy. The bonus march was a mistake. Our veterans will never act like thugs and bullies. They'll never make war against their fellow citizens. Besides, this will be a victorious army when it comes home. It is clear, ladies and gentlemen, that this man doesn't know what he's talking about. He is bitter, naturally, but that will pass away. When he comes home and finds his loved ones waiting for him, all the bitterness will evaporate. Evaporate? Don't count on it. We're a democracy and we'll remain a democracy. You hope. Our veterans won't behave like German bullies and Italian thugs. Do you think not? Let me tell you something. Armies are strangely alike. When it comes to war, there's little difference between army-made men. There's little difference between veterans of times and places. And there's no difference in the bitterness. I told you you've overlooked one important point, my fine civilian friend. You've overlooked what it means to be a soldier. You know one of the first things the army does? It destroys your individual will. What's the matter with you, Simkins? Are you asleep? Didn't you hear me say right face? When I say right face, you write face. Never mind what you've thought. In the army, you're not supposed to think. You're supposed to follow orders. You understand? Follow orders! No. In the army, you're not supposed to think. Take four or five years of that and see what happens. And take four or five years of being away from home. Come on, brace up, kid. Isn't as bad as all that? Don't worry about me, Mac. I guess I just feel blue that's all. Sure, I know. You're lonely. We all are. It's all right, kid. No, it's not all right. It's not all right. I'd just as soon be dead and stay in this hole another day. I'd just as soon be dead. The kind you've never felt in your life. And fear. Fear and horror. The shells kept digging up to dead. We buried them and the shells came again. And we had to rebury them. The bodies smelled. The stink drove us all crazy. We kept reburying the bodies and the German guns kept digging them up. The plane crashed and I pulled the pilot out. He didn't have no head. My body was killed on the road and the passenger traffic mashed his body as flat as wallpaper. The bomb hit our sick bay and pieces of human flesh were embedded in the steel walls of our ship. We kept fighting those pieces and it drove us nuts. That's not so pretty to listen to, is it? Are you squirming now? Maybe you'll squirm even more when you hear how the guys at the front feel about their buddies back home. Well, we're out here fighting and dying. Those guys back home are making a dough. Guys no different than us. Nice fat jobs. Boy, would I like to lay my hands on them. Next on the hating list are the profiteers. The boys are jacking up the prices so we'll come home to a nice happy inflation. We'll fix them all right too. And trailing behind on the same list are the home front soldiers. Hey listen you guys, see how you like this. There are men in the Navy who got commissions although the only ship they have ever seen is a junior partnership. It isn't funny. Not funny at all. Not funny because that hate, that bitterness will become greater as the war goes on. Because that bitterness will be taken out on somebody. And it would be just too bad if we were taken out on the people of America. It would be just too bad if G.I. Joe came home and followed an American Hitler who promised him the things he will not find. What do you propose then? I'll tell you what I want. When I come home, I want to see a better America. What do I mean by that? I mean a society in which there are jobs for everybody. Planned jobs with a decent living wage. I want better housing for me and my family. I want security, social and otherwise. I want you to think of human rights when you begin to reconvert not just profits. I want a better educational system. I want a health program, medical care for me, my kids and my family. I want a rehabilitation program. I don't want bonuses and pension. But I do want the same kind of prosperity and peace that you now have in war. I just remember this. When we come home, we'll join our veteran societies. Some the VFW, some the American Legion. If they don't work out, we'll form one of our own. But we'll be there with you in every town, in every county, in every state. We'll be there and we'll be waiting. 12 million of us. Three times as many as the last time. Enough to make a better America or enough to destroy it. Tonight on Words at War, we have brought you The Veteran Comes Back by Willard Waller. The radio dramatization was by Ben Kagan at the NBC script staff. Lawson's Irvy was heard as G.I. Joe. The music was arranged and played by William Meadier and the production was under the direction of Joseph F. Mansfield. Next week, Words at War will present the second request program, the radio dramatization of George Creel's book, War Criminals and Punishment. Words at War is brought to you in cooperation with the Council on Books and Wartime by the national broadcasting company and the independent radio stations associated with the NBC network. Jack Costello speaking, this is the national broadcasting company.