One frosty dawn in November 1935, 500,000 War veterans rolled out of their blankets in the pine barrens around the CCC camp at Elkridge, Md. The brassy bugle notes of "Assembly" hurried them to the camp's parade ground, where, mounted on a white horse and surrounded by his staff, they found their leader, Major General Smedley Darlington ("Old Gimlet Eye") Butler, U. S. M. C., retired.
"Men," cried General Butler, "Washington is but 30 miles away! Will you follow me?"
The answer was a mighty shout: "We will!"
Squad by squad, half a million men...
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