The veteran killer: The Florida Emergency Relief Administration and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

On Labor Day 1935, the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the United States barreled across the Upper Florida Keys, bringing 200 mile an hour winds and an eighteen foot storm surge.1 Some 695 men were enrolled in three Upper Keys Florida Emergency Relief Administration Veterans' Work Camps. Because of the holiday, only about 400 veterans were in the camps when the hurricane struck, of which 258 died and over a 100 were injured. Additionally, 164 local residents died. In all, 423 people died in the storm.2; Despite receiving official storm warnings for three days, Work Camp officials intentionally delayed an evacuation. When a rescue train finally arrived to begin the evacuation it was toppled by the wind and the storm surge. 3; Days after the storm, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Veterans Administration (VA) concluded that the disaster was “an act of God.”4 The final VA investigation concluded that the Florida ERA was responsible for the disaster, and then it was promptly buried.5 After an elaborate show, a U.S. Congressional investigation agreed with the FERA/VA “act of God” theory and awarded compensation to the veterans' families.6; 1Jay Barnes, Florida's Hurricane History , Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998, 144–159. 2David W. Kennamer, “Report of Investigation, Re: Florida Hurricane Disaster,” October 30, 1935, in National Archives, Records of the Veterans Administration, Reports and Other Records, 1935–37, Report of Investigation, Re: Hurricane Disaster. RG 15, Entry 20A, Box 1–8, National Record Center, College Park, Maryland. (hereinafter cited as VA Investigation). 3 Ibid. 4Aubrey W. Williams and George E. Ijams, Report to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 8, 1935, in National Archives, Records of the Works Project Administration/Federal Emergence Relief Administration, Central Files, 1933–1936, Florida Hurricane Disaster, 1935. Record Group 69, Series 006–006.1, PC 37, Entry 9, Box 7–9, in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. 5David W. Kennamer, “Report of Investigation, Re: Florida Hurricane Disaster,” October 30, 1935, VA Investigation, VA Selected Records. 6U.S. Congress. House. Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation. Florida Hurricane Disaster: Hearing before the Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation, House of Representatives, Seventy-fourth Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 9486, a bill for the relief of widows, children and dependent parents of world war veterans who dies as the result of the Florida hurricane at Windley Island and Matecumbe Keys, September 2, 1935. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Printing Office, 1936.