William Hushka

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William Hushka (1895 – 1932) was an immigrant to the United States from Lithuania. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, he sold his butcher shop in St. Louis, Missouri and joined the United States Army. After the war he lived in Chicago, Illinois. In 1932, during the height of the Depression he went to Washington, D.C. to take part in a demonstration for the moving up of a bounty scheduled to be paid out to World War I veterans in 1945 called the Bonus March. The bonus bill passed the House of Representatives but was blocked in the Senate. After this, the U.S. Army was sent to break up the veterans camp – tanks, cavalry and soldiers with bayonet-fixed rifles were sent into to disperse the veterans and burn the camps. Many veterans were injured, and among those killed were William Hushka and Eric Carlson.

When war came in 1917 William Hushka, 22-year-old Lithuanian, sold his St. Louis butcher shop, gave the proceeds to his wife, joined the Army...last week William Hushka's Bonus for $528 suddenly became payable in full when a police bullet drilled him dead in the worst public disorder the capital has known in years. – Time magazine August 2, 1932