Joe Angelo

Joe Angelo was an American veteran of World War One and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, who was later involved in the Bonus Army movement of the 1930s.

War Service

Joe Angelo was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during a battle in France in 1918 while serving with an American tank unit. During the battle a young officer, whom Angelo was serving under as an orderly, was seriously wounded by a machine gun in an exposed position. Showing great courage under enemy fire, Angelo brought the officer to safety. He had thus saved the life of the man who would one day become a
George S. Patton.

The Depression and the Bonus Army

In 1932, while Patton continued his path on his famous military career, Joe Angelo had returned to civilian life. He was unemployed and suffering along with many other veterans from the effects of the Great Depression. As a result, he joined the Bonus Army movement. The Bonus Army was a movement of First World War veterans demanding monetary compensation for their roles in the war. The particular issue was that these veterans had been promised compensation but they were not due to receive it until 1945. Given the realities of the depression, the veterans such as Joe Angelo demanded that they receive the money immediately. The veterans marched on Washington D.C., setting up camps in order to protest against the administration of President Herbert Hoover.

The Last Meeting

On July 28, 1932, troops were ordered into the camps to quell the protest. In the resulting melee, two veterans were killed and many were injured. The commanders of the operation included Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George Patton, the man whom Joe Angelo had saved so many years before. In the aftermath of the assault on the camps, Angelo approached Patton, but was harshly rejected. The last known words between the men were uttered by Patton:

"I do not know this man. Take him away and under no circumstances allow him to return. If he approaches me again, shoot him."

Source: This story is told in the PBS television program "The March of the Bonus Army," which was "based on the book The Bonus Army: An American Epic, by Thomas Allen and Paul Dickson." The PBS show also confirms the facts in the second paragraph of this entry.