Book: WITH THE OLD CORPS IN NICARAGUA - U. S. Marines - PULLER - BUTLER - USMC

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Seller: scmbgetty ✉️ (8,959) 100%, Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 145670062910 Book: WITH THE OLD CORPS IN NICARAGUA - U. S. Marines - PULLER - BUTLER - USMC. History of the UNITED STATES MARINES IN NICARAGUA DURING THE 1920'S AND 1930'S. The bluejackets and marines were there for about 15 years. Dominican Republic: Action in 1903, 1904 (the Santo Domingo Affair), and 1914 (Naval forces engaged in battles in the city of Santo Domingo[6]); occupied by the U.S. from 1916 to 1924. Book: WITH THE OLD CORPS IN NICARAGUA by George B. Clark. 206 pages, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, BRAND NEW HARDCOVER FIRST EDITION IN DUST JACKET . History of the UNITED STATES MARINES IN NICARAGUA DURING THE 1920'S AND 1930'S. Media mail USPS delivery in the Continental US.  The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts that consisted of military occupation, police action, and intervention by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean between the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898 and the inception of the Good Neighbor Policy in 1934.[1] The military interventions were primarily carried out by the United States Marine Corps, who also developed a manual, the Small Wars Manual (1921) based on their experiences. On occasion, the United States Navy provided gunfire support and troops from the United States Army were also deployed. With the Treaty of Paris signed in 1898, control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines fell to the United States (surrendered from Spain). Following this, the United States proceeded to conduct military interventions in Cuba, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. These conflicts ended with the withdrawal of troops from Haiti in 1934 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The term "banana wars" was popularized in 1983[2] by writer Lester D. Langley. Langley wrote several books on Latin American history and American intervention, including: The United States and the Caribbean, 1900–1970 and The Banana Wars: An Inner History of American Empire, 1900–1934. His work regarding the Banana Wars encompasses the entire United States tropical empire, which overtook the western hemisphere, spanning both Roosevelt presidencies. The term was popularized through this writing and portrayed the United States as a police force sent to reconcile these warring tropical countries, lawless societies and corrupt politicians; essentially establishing US reign over tropical trade. Hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of locals died in the Banana Wars. Origins Further information: Monroe Doctrine and Latin America–United States relations United States Marines with a Haitian guide patrolling the jungle in 1915 during the Battle of Fort Dipitie Most prominently, the US was advancing economic, political, and military interests in order to maintain its sphere of influence and to secure the Panama Canal (which opened in 1914). The United States had recently built the Panama Canal in order to promote global trade and to project its naval power. US companies, such as the United Fruit Company, also had financial stakes in the production of bananas, tobacco, sugar cane, and other commodities throughout the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America. Combat history Interventions This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) William Allen Rogers cartoon depicting Theodore Roosevelt's Big Stick ideology American warships off Veracruz in 1914 Panama: U.S. interventions in the isthmus go back to the 1846 Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty and intensified after the so-called Watermelon Riot of 1856. In 1885 US military intervention gained a mandate with the construction of the Panama Canal. The building process collapsed in bankruptcy, mismanagement, and disease in 1889, but resumed in the 20th century.[2] In 1903, Panama seceded from the Republic of Colombia, backed by the U.S. government,[b] during the Thousand Days' War. The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty allowed the US to construct and control the Panama Canal. In 1903 the United States established sovereignty over a Panama Canal Zone.[citation needed] Spanish–American War: U.S. forces seized Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898. The end of the Spanish–American War led to the start of the Banana Wars. Cuba: In December 1899, U.S. president William McKinley declared Leonard Wood, a United States Army general,[4]: 93–105  to have supreme power in Cuba.[5] The U.S. conquered Cuba from the Spanish Empire. It was occupied by the U.S. from 1898 to 1902 under Wood as its military governor, and again from 1906 to 1909, 1912, and 1917 to 1922, subject to the terms of the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1903) until 1934. In 1903 the US took a permanent lease on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Dominican Republic: Action in 1903, 1904 (the Santo Domingo Affair), and 1914 (Naval forces engaged in battles in the city of Santo Domingo[6]); occupied by the U.S. from 1916 to 1924. When a rebellion in the Dominican Republic, for example, damaged an American-owned sugar cane plantation, American troops were sent in, starting in 1916. They took over a small castle called Fort Ozama, killed the men inside and set up a military presence to protect their business interests. Dominican forces, who had no machine guns or modern artillery, tried to take on the U.S. Marines in conventional battles, but were defeated at the Battle of Las Trencheras (the trenches), Battle of Guayacanas and the Battle of San Francisco de Macoris. Despite having much greater firepower, it took the U.S. Marines five years to suppress an insurgency in the eastern provinces of El Seibo and San Pedro de Macorís. During the occupation, 144 U.S. Marines were killed in action and 50 were wounded.[7] The Dominicans suffered 950 casualties.[7] Nicaragua: Occupied by the U.S. almost continuously from 1912 to 1933, after intermittent landings and naval bombardments in the prior decades. The U.S. had troops in Nicaragua to prevent its leaders from creating conflicts with U.S. interests in the country. The bluejackets and marines were there for about 15 years.[2] The U.S. claimed it wanted Nicaragua to elect "good men", who ostensibly would not threaten to disrupt U.S. interests.[2] Mexico: U.S. military involvements with Mexico in this period had the same general commercial and political causes, but stand as a special case. The Americans conducted the Border War with Mexico from 1910–1919 for additional reasons: to control the flow of immigrants and refugees from revolutionary Mexico (pacificos), and to counter rebel raids into U.S. territory. The 1914 U.S. occupation of Veracruz, however, was an exercise of armed influence; not an issue of border integrity; it was aimed at cutting off the supplies of German munitions to the government of Mexican leader Victoriano Huerta,[8] which U.S. President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize.[8] In the years prior to World War I, the U.S. was also alert to the regional balance of power against Germany. The Germans were actively arming and advising the Mexicans, as shown by the 1914 SS Ypiranga arms-shipping incident, German saboteur Lothar Witzke's base in Mexico City, the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram and the German advisors present during the 1918 Battle of Ambos Nogales. Only twice during the Mexican Revolution did the U.S. military occupy Mexico: during the temporary occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and between 1916 and 1917, when U.S. General John Pershing led U.S. Army forces on a nationwide search for Pancho Villa. Haiti, occupied by the U.S. from 1915–1934, which led to the creation of a new Haitian constitution in 1917 that instituted changes that included an end to the prior ban on land ownership by non-Haitians. This period included the First and Second Caco Wars.[9] Honduras, where the United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit Company dominated the country's key banana export sector and associated land holdings and railways, saw insertion of American troops in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925. The writer O. Henry coined the term "banana republic" in 1904 to describe Honduras.[10] Other Latin American nations were influenced or dominated by American economic policies and/or commercial interests to the point of coercion. Theodore Roosevelt declared the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904, asserting the right of the United States to intervene to stabilize the economic affairs of states in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts. From 1909–1913, President William Howard Taft and his Secretary of State Philander C. Knox asserted a more "peaceful and economic" Dollar Diplomacy foreign policy, although that too was backed by force, as in Nicaragua. American fruit companies The first decades of the history of Honduras is marked by instability in terms of politics and economy. Indeed, three armed conflicts occurred between independence and the rise to power of the Carias government.[11] This instability was due in part to the American involvement in the country.[11] The first company that concluded an agreement with the Honduras government was the Vaccaro Brothers Company (Standard Fruit Company).[11] The Cuyamel Fruit Company then followed their lead. United Fruit Company also contracted with the government through its subsidiaries, Tela Railroad Company and Truxillo Rail Road Company.[11] Contract between the Honduran government and the American companies most often involved exclusive rights to a piece of land in exchange for building railroads in Honduras.[11] However, banana producers in Central America (including Honduras) "were scourged by Panama disease, a soil-borne fungus (…) that decimated production over large regions".[12] Typically, companies would abandon the decimated plantations and destroy the railroads and other utilities that they had used along with the plantation,[12] so the exchange of services between the government and the companies was not always respected. The ultimate goal of the contracts for the companies was control of the banana trade from production to distribution. The companies would finance guerrilla fighters, presidential campaigns and governments.[11] According to Rivera and Carranza, the indirect participation of American companies in the country's armed conflicts worsened the situation.[11] The presence of more dangerous and modern weapons allowed more dangerous warfare among the factions.[11] In British Honduras (now Belize) the situation was significantly different. Although the United Fruit Company was the sole exporter of bananas there, and the company also attempted to manipulate the local government, the country did not suffer the instability and armed conflicts that its neighbors experienced.[12] Smedley Butler Perhaps the single most active military officer in the Banana Wars was U.S. Marine Corps Major General, Smedley Butler, nicknamed "Maverick Marine", who saw action in Honduras in 1903, served in Nicaragua enforcing American policy from 1909 to 1912, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his role in Veracruz in 1914, and a second Medal of Honor for bravery in Haiti in 1915. After his forced retirement for making reckless statements, Butler made a career of speaking to left-wing groups denouncing capitalism. His standard speech after 1933 was titled War is a Racket, where he denounced the role he

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the "Maverick Marine",[1] was a senior United States Marine Corps officer who fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution and World War I. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, Central America, the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received 16 medals, five for heroism. He is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (along with Wendell Neville and David Porter) and the Medal of Honor, and the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.

In 1933, he became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, and the media ridiculed the allegations, but a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler's testimony.

Butler later became an outspoken critic of American wars and their consequences. In 1935, Butler wrote a book titled War Is a Racket, where he describes and criticizes the workings of the United States in its foreign actions and wars, such as those in which he had been involved, including large American corporations and other imperialist motivations behind U.S. wars (thus predating US President Dwight Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" speech by at least 25 years). After retiring from service, he became a popular advocate, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s.

Early life

Smedley Darlington Butler was born July 30, 1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three sons. His parents, Thomas and Maud (née Darlington) Butler,[2] were descended from local Quaker families. Both of his parents were of entirely English ancestry, and their families had been in North America since the 17th century.[3]

His father was a lawyer, a judge and later served in the House of Representatives for 31 years, serving as chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee during the Harding and Coolidge administrations. Smedley's Marine Corps career successes occurred while his father held that politically influential Congressional seat controlling the Marine Corps manpower and budget.[4] His maternal grandfather was Smedley Darlington, a Republican congressman from 1887 to 1891.[5] His paternal grandfather was Samuel Butler, who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and served as Pennsylvania State Treasurer from 1880 to 1882. Butler's childhood home is a registered landmark.

Butler attended the West Chester Friends Graded High School, followed by The Haverford School, a (then) Quaker affiliated secondary school popular with sons of upper-class Philadelphia families.[6] He became captain of the school baseball team and quarterback of its football team.[2] Against the wishes of his father, he left school 38 days before his seventeenth birthday to enlist in the Marine Corps during the Spanish–American War. Haverford awarded him his high school diploma, nevertheless, on June 6, 1898, before the end of his final year. His transcript stated that he completed the scientific course "with Credit".[2]

Military career

Spanish–American War

In the Spanish war fervor of 1898, Butler lied about his age to receive a direct commission as a Marine second lieutenant.[2] He trained at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. In July 1898, he went to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, arriving shortly after its invasion and capture.[7] His company soon returned to the U.S., and after a short break he was assigned to the armored cruiser USS New York for four months.[8] He came home to be mustered out of service in February 1899,[8] but on April 8, 1899, he accepted a commission as a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps.[8]

Philippine–American War

Smedley Butler, c. 1898

The Marine Corps sent him to Manila, Philippines.[9] On garrison duty with little to do, Butler turned to alcohol to relieve the boredom. He once became drunk and was temporarily relieved of command after an unspecified incident in his room.[10]

In October 1899, he saw his first combat action when he led 300 Marines to take the town of Noveleta from Filipino troops of the new Philippine republic. In the initial moments of the assault, his first sergeant was wounded. Butler briefly panicked but quickly regained his composure and led his Marines in pursuit of the fleeing enemy.[10] By noon, the Marines had dispersed the native defenders and taken the town. One Marine had been killed, and ten were wounded. Another 50 Marines had been incapacitated by the humid tropical heat.[11]

After the excitement of this combat, garrison duty again became routine. He met Littleton Waller, a fellow Marine with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. When Waller received command of a company in Guam, he was allowed to select five officers to take with him. Butler was amongst his choices. Before they had departed, their orders were changed, and they were sent to China aboard the USS Solace to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.[11]

Boxer Rebellion

Butler being carried on the back of another Marine to safety across a river at the Battle of Tientsin.

Once in China, Butler was initially deployed at Tientsin (now Tianjin). He took part in the Battle of Tientsin on July 13, 1900, and in the subsequent Gaselee Expedition, during which he saw the mutilated remains of Japanese soldiers. When he saw another Marine officer fall wounded, he climbed out of a trench to rescue him. Butler was then shot in the thigh. Another Marine helped him get to safety but also was shot. Despite his leg wound, Butler assisted the wounded officer to the rear. Four enlisted men would receive the Medal of Honor in the battle. Butler's commanding officer, Major Waller, personally commended him and wrote that "for such reward as you may deem proper the following officers: Lieutenant Smedley D. Butler, for the admirable control of his men in all the fights of the week, for saving a wounded man at the risk of his own life, and under a very severe fire." Commissioned officers were not then eligible to receive the Medal of Honor, and Butler instead received a promotion to captain by brevet while he recovered in the hospital, two weeks before his 19th birthday.[citation needed]

He was eligible for the Marine Corps Brevet Medal when it was created in 1921, and was one of only 20 Marines to receive it.[12] His citation reads:

The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in transmitting to First Lieutenant Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps, the Brevet Medal which is awarded in accordance with Marine Corps Order No. 26 (1921), for distinguished conduct and public service in the presence of the enemy while serving with the Second Battalion of Marines, near Tientsin, China, on 13 July 1900. On 28 March 1901, First Lieutenant Butler is appointed Captain by brevet, to take rank from 13 July 1900.[13]

Banana Wars

Butler participated in a series of occupations, "police actions" and interventions by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean, later called the Banana Wars because their goal was to protect American commercial interests in the region, particularly those of the United Fruit Company. This company had significant financial stakes in the production of bananas, tobacco, sugar cane, and other products throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and the northern portions of South America. The U.S. was also trying to advance its own political interests by maintaining its influence in the region and especially its control of the Panama Canal. These interventions started with the Spanish–American War in 1898 and ended with the withdrawal of troops from Haiti and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy in 1934.[14] After his retirement, Butler became an outspoken critic of the business interests in the Caribbean, criticizing the ways in which American businesses and Wall Street bankers imposed their agenda on U.S. foreign policy during this period.[15]

Honduras

In 1903, Butler was stationed in Puerto Rico on Culebra Island. Hearing rumors of a Honduran revolt, the United States government ordered his unit and a supporting naval detachment to sail to Honduras, 1,500 miles (2,414 km) to the west, to defend the U.S. Consulate there. Using a converted banana boat renamed the Panther, Butler and several hundred Marines landed at the port town of Puerto Cortés. In a letter home, he describes the action: they were "prepared to land and shoot everybody and everything that was breaking the peace",[16] but instead found a quiet town. The Marines re-boarded the Panther and continued up the coast line, looking for rebels at several towns, but found none.

When they arrived at Trujillo, however, they heard gunfire and came upon a battle in progress that had been ongoing for 55 hours between rebels called Bonillista and Honduran government soldiers at a local fort. At the sight of the Marines, the fighting ceased, and Butler led a detachment of Marines to the American consulate, where he found the consul, wrapped in an American flag, hiding among the floor beams. As soon as the Marines left the area with the shaken consul, the battle resumed, and the Bonillistas soon controlled the government.[16] During this expedition Butler earned the first of his nicknames, "Old Gimlet Eye". It was attributed to his feverish, bloodshot eyes—he was suffering from some unnamed tropical fever at the time—that enhanced his penetrating and bellicose stare.[17]

Marriage and business

After the Honduran campaign, Butler returned to Philadelphia. He married Ethel Conway Peters of Philadelphia, a daughter of civil engineer and railroad executive Richard Peters, on June 30, 1905.[18] His best man at the wedding was his former commanding officer in China, Lieutenant Colonel Littleton Waller.[19] The couple eventually had three children: a daughter, Ethel Peters Butler, and two sons, Smedley Darlington Jr. and Thomas Richard.[20]

Butler was next assigned to garrison duty in the Philippines, where he once launched a resupply mission across the stormy waters of Subic Bay after his isolated outpost ran out of rations. In 1908, he was diagnosed as having a nervous breakdown and received nine months sick leave, which he spent at home. He successfully managed a coal mine in West Virginia but returned to active duty in the Marine Corps at the first opportunity.[21]

Central America

From 1909 to 1912 Butler served in Nicaragua enforcing U.S. policy. With a 104-degree fever, he led his battalion to the relief of the rebel-besieged city of Granada. In December 1909 he commanded the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment on the Isthmus of Panama. On August 11, 1912, he was temporarily detached to command an expeditionary battalion he led in the Battle of Masaya on September 19, 1912, and the bombardment, assault and capture of Coyotepe Hill, Nicaragua in October 1912. He remained in Nicaragua until November 1912, when he rejoined the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines at Camp Elliott, Panama.[5]

Veracruz and first Medal of Honor

Eight people in military uniforms. They are wearing hats and are standing in formation.

Marine Officers at Veracruz. Front row, left to right: Wendell C. Neville; John A. Lejeune; Littleton W.T. Waller, Commanding; Smedley Butler

Butler and his family were living in Panama in January 1914 when he was ordered to report as the Marine officer of a battleship squadron massing off the coast of Mexico, near Veracruz, to monitor a revolutionary movement. He did not like leaving his family and the home they had established in Panama and intended to request orders home as soon as he determined he was not needed.[22]

On March 1, 1914, Butler and Navy Lieutenant Frank J. Fletcher (not to be confused with his uncle, Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletcher) "went ashore at Veracruz, where they met the American superintendent of the Inter-Oceanic Railway and surreptitiously rode in his private car [a railway car] up the line 75 miles to Jalapa and back".[23] A purpose of the trip was to allow Butler and Fletcher to discuss the details of a future expedition into Mexico. Fletcher's plan required Butler to make his way into the country and develop a more detailed invasion plan while inside its borders. It was a spy mission and Butler was enthusiastic to get started. When Fletcher explained the plan to the commanders in Washington, DC, they agreed to it. Butler was given the go-ahead.[citation needed] A few days later he set out by train on his spy mission to Mexico City, with a stopover at Puebla. He made his way to the U.S. Consulate in Mexico City, posing as a railroad official named "Mr. Johnson".

March 5. As I was reading last night, waiting for dinner to be served, a visitant, rather than a visitor, appeared in my drawing-room incognito – a simple "Mr. Johnson," eager, intrepid, dynamic, efficient, unshaven! * * *[24]

He and the chief railroad inspector scoured the city, saying they were searching for a lost railroad employee; there was no lost employee, and in fact the employee they said was lost never existed. The ruse gave Butler access to various areas of the city. In the process of the so-called search, they located weapons in use by the Mexican army and determined the size of units and states of readiness. They updated maps and verified the railroad lines for use in an impending U.S. invasion.[25] On March 7, 1914, he returned to Veracruz with the information he had gathered and presented it to his commanders. The invasion plan was eventually scrapped when authorities loyal to Mexican General Victoriano Huerta detained a small American naval landing party (that had gone ashore to buy gasoline) in Tampico, Mexico, which led to what became known as the Tampico Affair.[26]

When President Woodrow Wilson discovered that an arms shipment was about to arrive in Mexico, he sent a contingent of Marines and sailors to Veracruz to intercept it on April 21, 1914. Over the next few days, street fighting and sniper fire posed a threat to Butler's force, but a door-to-door search rooted out most of the resistance. By April 26, the landing force of 5,800 Marines and sailors secured the city, which they held for the next six months. By the end of the conflict the Americans reported 17 dead and 63 wounded, and the Mexican forces had 126 dead and 195 wounded. After the actions at Veracruz, the U.S. decided to minimize the bloodshed and changed their plans from a full invasion of Mexico to simply maintaining the city of Veracruz.[27] For his actions on April 22, Butler was awarded his first Medal of Honor.[5][13] The citation reads:

For distinguished conduct in battle, engagement of Vera Cruz, 22 April 1914. Major Butler was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion. He exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the 22d and in the final occupation of the city.[13]

After the occupation of Veracruz, many military personnel received the Medal of Honor, an unusually high number. The Army presented one, nine went to Marines and 46 were bestowed upon naval personnel. During World War I, Butler attempted to return his medal, explaining he had done nothing to deserve it. The medal was returned to him with orders to keep it and to wear it as well.[28]

Haiti and second Medal of Honor

In 1915, Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was killed by a mob. In response, the United States ordered the USS Connecticut to Haiti with Major Butler and a group of Marines on board. On October 24, 1915, an estimated 400 Cacos ambushed Butler's patrol of 44 mounted Marines when they approached Fort Dipitie. Surrounded by Cacos, the Marines maintained their perimeter throughout the night. The next morning they charged the much larger enemy force by breaking out in three directions. The startled Haitians fled.[29] In early November, Butler and a force of 700 Marines and sailors returned to the mountains to clear the area. At their temporary headquarters base at Le Trou they fought off an attack by about 100 Cacos. After the Americans took several other forts and ramparts during the following days, only Fort Rivière, an old French-built stronghold atop Montagne Noire, was left.[29]

For the operation, Butler was given three companies of Marines and some sailors from the USS Connecticut, about 100 men. They encircled the fort and gradually closed in on it. Butler reached the fort from the southern side with the 15th Company and found a small opening in the wall. The Marines entered through the opening and engaged the Cacos in hand-to-hand combat. Butler and the Marines took the rebel stronghold on November 17, an action for which he received his second Medal of Honor, as well as the Haitian Medal of Honor.[13] The entire battle lasted less than 20 minutes. Reportedly, only one Marine was injured in the assault; he was struck by a rock and lost two teeth.[30] About 50 Haitians in the fort were killed.[29] Butler's exploits impressed Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, who recommended the award based upon Butler's performance during the engagement.[31] Once the medal was approved and presented in 1917, Butler achieved the distinction, shared with Dan Daly, of being the only Marines to receive the Medal of Honor twice for separate actions.[5] The citation reads:

For extraordinary heroism in action as Commanding Officer of detachments from the 5th, 13th, 23d Companies and the Marine and sailor detachment from the U.S.S. Connecticut, Major Butler led the attack on Fort Rivière, Haiti, 17 November 1915. Following a concentrated drive, several different detachments of Marines gradually closed in on the old French bastion fort in an effort to cut off all avenues of retreat for the Cacos. Reaching the fort on the southern side where there was a small opening in the wall, Major Butler gave the signal to attack and Marines from the 15th Company poured through the breach, engaged the Cacos, took the bastion and crushed the Cacos resistance.[13]

Subsequently, as the initial organizer and commanding officer of the Gendarmerie d'Haïti, the native police force, Butler established a record as a capable administrator. Under his supervision, social order, administered by the dictatorship, was largely restored.[32] He recalled later that, during his time in Haiti, he and his troops "hunted the Cacos like pigs."[30]

World War I

Four men in military uniforms wearing hats. Three are seated on a bench and one is standing behind the others.

Butler (far right) with other Marines in Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914. From left to right: Sgt. Maj. John H. Quick, Maj. Gen. Wendell Cushing Neville, Lt. Gen. John Archer Lejeune

During World War I Butler was, to his disappointment, not assigned to a combat command on the Western Front. He made several requests for a posting in France, writing letters to his personal friend, Wendell Cushing Neville. While Butler's superiors considered him brave and brilliant, they described him as "unreliable."[7]

In October 1918 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general at the age of 37 and placed in command of Camp Pontanezen at Brest, France, a debarkation depot that funneled troops of the American Expeditionary Force to the battlefields. The camp had been unsanitary, overcrowded and disorganized. U.S. Secretary of War Newton Baker sent novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart to report on the camp. She later described how Butler tackled the sanitation problems. He began by solving the problem of mud: "[T]he ground under the tents was nothing but mud, [so] he had raided the wharf at Brest of the duckboards no longer needed for the trenches, carted the first one himself up that four-mile hill to the camp, and thus provided something in the way of protection for the men to sleep on."[7] Gen. John J. Pershing authorized a duckboard shoulder patch for the units. This earned Butler another nickname, "Old Duckboard." For his exemplary service he was awarded both the Army Distinguished Service Medal and Navy Distinguished Service Medal and the French Order of the Black Star.[5] The citation for the Army Distinguished Service Medal states:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Brigadier General Butler commanded with ability and energy Pontanezen Camp at Brest during the time in which it has developed into the largest embarkation camp in the world. Confronted with problems of extraordinary magnitude in supervising the reception, entertainment and departure of the large numbers of officers and soldiers passing through this camp, he has solved all with conspicuous success, performing services of the highest character for the American Expeditionary Forces.[13]

The citation for the Navy Distinguished Service Medal states:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services in France, during World War I. Brigadier General Butler organized, trained and commanded the 13th Regiment Marines; also the 5th Brigade of Marines. He commanded with ability and energy Camp Pontanezen at Brest during the time in which it has developed into the largest embarkation camp in the world. Confronted with problems of extraordinary magnitude in supervising the reception, entertainment and departure of large numbers of officers and soldiers passing through the camp, he has solved all with conspicuous success, performing services of the highest character for the American Expeditionary Forces.[13]

Quantico

Butler sitting in car at Gettysburg during a Pickett's Charge reenactment by Marines in 1922.

Following the war, he became commanding general of the Marine barracks at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. At Quantico he transformed the wartime training camp into a permanent Marine post. He directed the Quantico camp's growth until it became the "showplace" of the Corps.[33] Butler won national attention by taking thousands of his men on long field marches, many of which he led from the front, to Gettysburg and other Civil War battle sites, where they conducted large-scale re-enactments before crowds of distinguished spectators.[33]

During a training exercise near the Wilderness battlefield in Virginia in 1921, he was told by a local farmer that Stonewall Jackson's arm was buried nearby, to which he replied, "Bosh! I will take a squad of Marines and dig up that spot to prove you wrong!"[34] Butler found the arm in a box. He later replaced the wooden box with a metal one, and reburied the arm. He left a plaque on the granite monument marking the burial place of Jackson's arm; the plaque is no longer on the marker but can be viewed at the Chancellorsville Battlefield visitor's center.[34][35]

Philadelphia Director of Public Safety

In 1924 newly elected Mayor of Philadelphia W. Freeland Kendrick asked President Calvin Coolidge to lend the City a military general to help him rid Philadelphia's municipal government of crime and corruption. At the urging of Butler's father,[4] Coolidge authorized Butler to take the necessary leave from the Corps to serve as Philadelphia's director of public safety in charge of running the city's police and fire departments from January 1924 until December 1925.[5] He began his new job by assembling all 4,000 of the city police into the Metropolitan Opera House in shifts to introduce himself and inform them that things would change while he was in charge. Since he had not been given authority to fire corrupt police officers, he switched entire units from one part of the city to another,[4] to undermine local protection rackets and profiteering.[36][37]

Within 48 hours of taking over Butler organized raids on more than 900 speakeasies, ordering them padlocked and, in many cases, destroyed. In addition to raiding the speakeasies, he also attempted to eliminate other illegal activities: bootlegging, prostitution, gambling and police corruption. More zealous than he was political, he ordered crackdowns on the social elite's favorite hangouts, such as the Ritz-Carlton and the Union League, as well as on drinking establishments that served the working class.[38] Although he was effective in reducing crime and police corruption, he was a controversial leader. In one instance he made a statement that he would promote the first officer to kill a bandit and stated, "I don't believe there is a single bandit notch on a policeman's guns [sic] in this city; go out and get some."[36] Although many of the local citizens and police felt that the raids were just a show, they continued for several weeks.[37]

He implemented programs to improve city safety and security. He established policies and guidelines of administration and developed a Philadelphia police uniform that resembled that of the Marine Corps.[39] Other changes included military-style checkpoints into the city, bandit-chasing squads armed with sawed-off shotguns and armored police cars.[39] The press began reporting on the good and the bad aspects of Butler's personal war on crime. The reports praised the new uniforms, the new programs and the reductions in crime but they also reflected the public's negative opinion of their new Public Safety Director. Many felt that he was being too aggressive in his tactics and resented the reductions in their civil rights, such as the stopping of citizens at the city checkpoints. Butler frequently swore in his radio addresses, causing many citizens to suggest his behavior, particularly his language, was inappropriate for someone of his rank and stature.[40] Some even suggested Butler acted like a military dictator, even charging that he wrongfully used active-duty Marines in some of his raids.[40] Maj. R.A. Haynes, the federal Prohibition commissioner, visited the city in 1924, six months after Butler was appointed. He announced that "great progress"[41] had been made in the city and attributed that success to Butler.[41]

Eventually Butler's leadership style and the directness of actions undermined his support within the community. His departure seemed imminent. Mayor Kendrick reported to the press, "I had the guts to bring General Butler to Philadelphia and I have the guts to fire him."[42] Feeling that his duties in Philadelphia were coming to an end, Butler contacted Gen. Lejeune to prepare for his return to the Marine Corps. Not all of the city felt he was doing a bad job, though, and when the news started to leak that he would be leaving, people began to gather at the Academy of Music. A group of 4,000 supporters assembled and negotiated a truce between him and the mayor to keep him in Philadelphia for a while longer, and the president authorized a one-year extension.[43]

Butler devoted much of his second year to executing arrest warrants, cracking down on crooked police and enforcing prohibition. On January 1, 1926, his leave from the Marine Corps ended and the president declined a request for a second extension. Butler received orders to report to San Diego and prepared his family and his belongings for the new assignment.[44] In light of his pending departure, he began to defy the mayor and other key city officials. On the eve of his departure, he had an article printed in the paper stating his intention to stay and "finish the job".[45] The mayor was surprised and furious when he read the press release the next morning and demanded his resignation.[45] After almost two years in office, Butler resigned under pressure, stating later that "cleaning up Philadelphia was worse than any battle I was ever in."[38]

San Diego duty

Following the period of service as the director of public safety in Philadelphia, Butler assumed command on February 28, 1926, of the U.S. Marine Corps base in San Diego, California, in ceremonies involving officers and the band of the 4th Marine Regiment.[46]

China and stateside service

From 1927 to 1929 Butler was commander of a Marine Expeditionary Force in Tientsin, China, (the China Marines). While there, he cleverly parlayed his influence among various generals and warlords to the protection of U.S. interests, ultimately winning the public acclaim of contending Chinese leaders. When he returned to the United States in 1929 he was promoted to major general, becoming, at age 48, the youngest major general of the Marine Corps. But the death of his father on 26 May 1928 ended the Pennsylvania Congressman's ability to protect Smedley from political retribution for his outspoken views.[4]

In 1931 Butler violated diplomatic norms by publicly recounting gossip[47][48] about Benito Mussolini in which the dictator allegedly struck and killed a child with his speeding automobile in a hit-and-run accident. The Italian government protested and President Hoover, who strongly disliked Butler,[49] forced Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams III to court-martial him. Butler became the first general officer to be placed under arrest since the Civil War. He apologized to Secretary Adams and the court-martial was canceled with only a reprimand.[50]

Military retirement

Five men, two in the foreground and three in the background, one mostly obscured. Two men are in suits and three are in their military dress uniforms. All of the men in the picture are wearing hats. The two men in the foreground are shaking hands.

Maj. Gen. Butler at his retirement ceremony.

When Commandant of the Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Wendell C. Neville died July 8, 1930, Butler, at that time the senior major general in the Corps, was a candidate for the position.[33] Although he had significant support from many inside and outside the Corps, including John Lejeune and Josephus Daniels, two other Marine Corps generals were seriously considered—Ben H. Fuller and John H. Russell Jr. Lejeune and others petitioned President Herbert Hoover, garnered support in the Senate and flooded Secretary of the Navy Charles Adams' desk with more than 2,500 letters of support.[51] With the recent death of his influential father, however, Butler had lost much of his protection from his civilian superiors. The outspokenness that characterized his run-ins with the mayor of Philadelphia, the "unreliability" mentioned by his superiors when they were opposing Butler's posting to the Western Front, and his comments about Benito Mussolini resurfaced. In the end the position of commandant went to Fuller, who had more years of commissioned service than Butler and was considered less controversial. Butler requested retirement and left active duty on October 1, 1931.[7][33]

Later years

Even before retiring from the Corps, Butler began developing his post-Corps career. In May 1931 he took part in a commission established by Oregon Governor Julius L. Meier which laid the foundations for the Oregon State Police.[52] He began lecturing at events and conferences, and after his retirement from the Marines in 1931 he took this up full time. He donated much of his earnings from his lucrative lecture circuits to the Philadelphia unemployment relief. He toured the western United States, making 60 speeches before returning for his daughter's marriage to Marine aviator Lt. John Wehle. Her wedding was the only time he wore his dress blue uniform after he left the Marines.[53]

A man in a suit standing on a stage next to a large pole. There is a Marine in the background in his dress uniform and behind him a crowd of people are watching the man on the stage.

Smedley Butler at one of his many speaking engagements after his retirement in the 1930s.

Senate campaign

Butler announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania in March 1932 as a proponent of Prohibition, known as a "dry".[53] Butler allied with Gifford Pinchot but was defeated in the April 26, 1932, primary election with only 37.5% of the vote to incumbent Sen. James J. Davis' 60%.[54] Butler voted for Norman Thomas of the Socialist Party for president in 1936.[55]

Bonus Army

Main article: Bonus Army

During his Senate campaign, Butler spoke out forcefully about the veterans' bonus. Veterans of World War I, many of whom had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression, sought immediate cash payment of Service Certificates granted to them eight years earlier via the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924. Each Service Certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment, plus compound interest. The problem was that the certificates (like bonds), matured 20 years from the date of original issuance, thus, under extant law, the Service Certificates could not be redeemed until 1945. In June 1932, approximately 43,000 marchers—17,000 of whom were World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—protested in Washington, D.C.[56] The Bonus Expeditionary Force, also known as the "Bonus Army", marched on Washington to advocate the passage of the "soldier's bonus" for service during World War I. After Congress adjourned, bonus marchers remained in the city and became unruly. On July 28, 1932, two bonus marchers were shot by police, causing the entire mob to become hostile and riotous. The FBI, then known as the United States Bureau of Investigation, checked its fingerprint records to obtain the police records of individuals who had been arrested during the riots or who had participated in the bonus march.[56][57]

The veterans made camp in the Anacostia flats while they awaited the congressional decision on whether or not to pay the bonus. The motion, known as the Patman bill, was decisively defeated, but the veterans stayed in their camp. On July 19 Butler arrived with his young son Thomas, the day before the official eviction by the Hoover administration. He walked through the camp and spoke to the veterans; he told them that they were fine soldiers and they had a right to lobby Congress just as much as any corporation. He and his son spent the night and ate with the men, and in the morning Butler gave a speech to the camping veterans. He instructed them to keep their sense of humor and cautioned them not to do anything that would cost public sympathy.[58] On July 28, army cavalry units led by General Douglas MacArthur dispersed the Bonus Army by riding through it and using gas. During the conflict several veterans were killed or injured and Butler declared himself a "Hoover-for-Ex-President-Republican".[59]

Lectures

After his retirement and later years, Butler became widely known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering, U.S. military adventurism, and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States.[citation needed]

In December 1933, Butler toured the country with James E. Van Zandt to recruit members for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He described their effort as "trying to educate the soldiers out of the sucker class." In his speeches he denounced the Economy Act of 1933, called on veterans to organize politically to win their benefits, and condemned the FDR administration for its ties to big business. The VFW reprinted one of his speeches with the title "You Got to Get Mad" in its magazine Foreign Service. He said: "I believe in...taking Wall St. by the throat and shaking it up."[60] He believed the rival veterans' group the American Legion was controlled by banking interests. On December 8, 1933, he said: "I have never known one leader of the American Legion who had never sold them out—and I mean it."[61]

In addition to his speeches to pacifist groups, he served from 1935 to 1937 as a spokesman for the American League Against War and Fascism.[62][63] In 1935, he wrote the exposé War Is a Racket, a trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views on the subject are summarized in the following passage from the November 1935 issue of the socialist magazine Common Sense:[15]

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Business Plot

Main article: Business Plot

1:26

Smedley Butler describes a political conspiracy to overthrow U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.

In November 1934, Butler claimed the existence of a political conspiracy by business leaders to overthrow President Roosevelt, a series of allegations that came to be known in the media as the Business Plot.[64][65] A special committee of the House of Representatives headed by Representatives John W. McCormack of Massachusetts and Samuel Dickstein of New York, who was later alleged to have been a paid agent of the NKVD,[66] heard his testimony in secret.[67] The McCormack–Dickstein committee was a precursor to the House Committee on Un-American Activities.[citation needed]

In November 1934, Butler told the committee that one Gerald P. MacGuire told him that a group of businessmen, supposedly backed by a private army of 500,000 ex-soldiers and others, intended to establish a fascist dictatorship. Butler had been asked to lead it, he said, by MacGuire, who was a bond salesman with Grayson M–P Murphy & Co. The New York Times reported that Butler had told friends that General Hugh S. Johnson, former head of the National Recovery Administration, was to be installed as dictator, and that the J.P. Morgan banking firm was behind the plot. Butler told Congress that MacGuire had told him the attempted coup was backed by three million dollars, and that the 500,000 men were probably to be assembled in Washington, D.C. the following year. All the parties alleged to be involved publicly said there was no truth in the story, calling it a joke and a fantasy.[67]

In its report to the House, the committee stated that, while "no evidence was presented... to show a connection... with any fascist activity of any European country... [t]here was no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution..." and that "your committee was able to verify all the pertinent statements made by General Butler, with the exception of the direct statement about the creation of the organisation. This, however, was corroborated in the correspondence of MacGuire with his principal, Robert Sterling Clark...."[68]

No prosecutions or further investigations followed, and historians have questioned whether or not a coup was actually contemplated. Historians have not reported any independent evidence apart from Butler's report on what MacGuire told him. One of these, Hans Schmidt, says MacGuire was an "inconsequential trickster".[69][70][71][72] The news media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial characterizing it as a "gigantic hoax".[73] When the committee's final report was released, the Times said the committee "purported to report that a two-month investigation had convinced it that General Butler's story of a Fascist march on Washington was alarmingly true" and "... also alleged that definite proof had been found that the much publicized Fascist march on Washington, which was to have been led by Major Gen. Smedley D. Butler, retired, according to testimony at a hearing, was actually contemplated".[74] The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot.

Death

Smedley Butler gravestone in Oaklands Cemetery

Upon his retirement, Butler bought a home in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, where he lived with his wife.[75] In June 1940, he checked himself into the hospital after becoming sick a few weeks earlier. His doctor described his illness as an incurable condition of the upper gastro-intestinal tract that was probably cancer. His family remained by his side, even bringing his new car so he could see it from the window. He never had a chance to drive it. On June 21, 1940, Smedley Butler died at Naval Hospital, Philadelphia.[76]

The funeral was held at his home, attended by friends and family as well as several politicians, members of the Philadelphia police force and officers of the Marine Corps.[77] He was buried at Oaklands Cemetery in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania.[78] After his death, his family maintained his home as it was when he died, including a large quantity of memorabilia he collected throughout his storied career, until 2014.[77][79]

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller (June 26, 1898 – October 11, 1971) was a United States Marine Corps officer. Beginning his career fighting guerillas in Haiti and Nicaragua as part of the Banana Wars, he later served with distinction in World War II and the Korean War as a senior officer. By the time of his retirement in 1955, he had reached the rank of lieutenant general.

Puller is the most decorated Marine in American history.[1] He was awarded five Navy Crosses and one Distinguished Service Cross. With six crosses, Puller is second behind Eddie Rickenbacker for citations of the nation's second-highest military award for valor.[2] Puller retired from the Marine Corps in 1955, after 37 years of service. He lived in Virginia and died in 1971 at age 73.

Early life

Puller was born in West Point, Virginia, to Matthew and Martha Puller. Puller was of English ancestry; his ancestors who came to America emigrated to the colony of Virginia from Bedfordshire, England in 1621.[3] His father was a grocer who died when Puller was 10 years old. Puller grew up listening to old veterans' tales of the American Civil War and idolizing Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. He wanted to enlist in the United States Army to fight in the Border War with Mexico in 1916, but he was too young and could not get parental consent from his mother.[4]

The following year, Puller attended the Virginia Military Institute but left in August 1918 as World War I was still ongoing, saying that he wanted to "go where the guns are!"[5] Inspired by the 5th Marines at Belleau Wood, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a private and attended boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina.[4] Although he never saw action in that war, the Marine Corps was expanding, and soon after graduating he attended its non-commissioned officer school and Officer Candidates School (OCS) at Quantico, Virginia. Graduating from OCS on June 16, 1919, Puller was appointed second lieutenant in the reserves,[6] but the reduction in force from 73,000 to 1,100 officers and 27,400 men following the war led to his being put on inactive status 10 days later and given the rank of corporal.[4]

Interwar years

Puller (center left), Sergeant William "Ironman" Lee (center right), and two Nicaraguan soldiers in 1931

United States occupation of Haiti

Corporal Puller received orders to serve in the Gendarmerie d'Haiti as a lieutenant, seeing action in Haiti.[7] While the United States was working under a treaty with Haiti, he participated in over forty engagements during the ensuing five years against the Caco rebels and attempted to regain his commission as an officer twice. In 1922, he served as an adjutant to Major Alexander Vandegrift, a future Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Supply run

Puller received orders to deliver supplies to Mirebalais and Lascahobas. These two small towns were located in a region where there was a significant presence of Caco guerrillas under the command of Benoît Batraville, who was a high ranking insurgent leader. Puller's supply party consisted of twenty-five mounted Haitian Gendarmes along with the pack animals. Puller kept his force moving rapidly to avoid risking an ambush or night attack by the Caco.

Later on, the small force of Gendarmes led by Puller ran in to an equally surprised column of about one hundred Cacos coming from the opposite direction around a bend in the road. Puller ordered a charge and spurred his horse forward to attack the Cacos. The Gendarmes charged beside him and scattered the Cacos, who used guerilla tactics and therefore seldom stood their ground if attacked by a significant force. The Cacos fired a handful of shots at the onrushing American-led Gendarmes and then dispersed to make pursuit more difficult. With the burden of the pack mules, Puller could not pursue the evasive Cacos. After the clash ended, one dead Caco bandit was found.

This skirmish was Puller's first engagement in the occupation and showed his adeptness at aggressive action and effective leadership from the front. Puller and his force of Gendarmes reached Mirebalais and delivered the supplies needed by the town. The next day, Puller made a 34-hour round trip to Lascahobas to deliver the final supplies and then returned to Port-au-Prince completing his supply run.[8]

Ambushing the Cacos

Puller was assigned a new duty to begin offensive operations against the Cacos. Puller inherited a force of one hundred Gendarmes who were supported unofficially by about the same number of female camp followers. Puller's assigned chief assistant was acting Second Lieutenant Augustin B. Brunot, a Haitain who was fluent in English. Other pro-American Haitians added to Puller's force were newly commissioned lieutenants Lyautey and Brunot, and a Haitian private named Jean Louis Cermontout, who Puller recruited with the promise of promotion after seeing him return from a successful patrol with the severed heads of two Cacos bandits.

Brunot and Lyautey advised Puller on how to combat the Cacos insurgents. They advised him that daylight patrols had little chance of encountering the Cacos, as they hid during the day, only emerging from hiding to ambush government patrols if they had superior numbers. Chance encounters such as Puller's supply run were rare because the Cacos knew the terrain and had good intelligence of constabulary activities. They advised him that the Cacos encamped at night and that night patrols would have a better chance of surprising them. When Puller and his unit, following this advice, patrolled along a ridge-top trail one night, he observed campfires and heard drums nearby. Puller with Lyautey and some Gendarmes went to scout, while Brunot remained with the rest of the Gendarmes. The noise turned out to be a celebration at a Cacos guerrilla encampment. After returning, Puller came up with a plan to ambush the Cacos at dawn.

Puller placed the main body of men in a line facing the bandit camp and sent the smaller crews with three Lewis machine guns to the flank in a position where they covered the enemy rear, setting an L-shaped ambush. After Puller's force of Gendarmes got into position, Puller executed the ambush. As Puller had predicted, when the main body of men opened fire at first light, the surprised Cacos bandits fled from the source of immediate danger into the fields of fire of the machine guns, where all seventeen were killed. Dozens of machetes and a large flock of gamecocks were found. Puller and his Gendarmes celebrated their victory and feasted on abandoned supplies while using the game cocks for cockfighting. Puller later participated in more patrols as he gained experience and learned the peculiarities of small wars.[9][7]

Further operations against the Cacos, October–November 1919

Puller would conduct more offensive operations to suppress the Cacos. On October 28, 1919, Puller went on a patrol with Brunot and a mixed force of fifteen American Marines and Gendarmes. They would stay out ten days, at which time another group would relieve them. The unit, using night movements, made contact on October 31 with a small band, killing two of the enemy and capturing four rifles, several machetes, and some swords. On November 1, they arrested three suspected bandits.[10]

Infiltrating and raiding a Cacos camp, November 4, 1919

On the afternoon of November 4, 1919, Puller and his men entered a small village of grass shacks ten miles west of Mirebalais. A priest told Brunot that a high ranking Cacos insurgent leader named Dominique Georges had a camp about fifteen miles away. He and his men decided to take this opportunity to kill or capture Dominique Georges. Despite heavy rain, Puller took a small patrol of Marines and Gendarmes out immediately. Puller, Brunot, and Private Cermontout Jean Louis scouted out ahead of the small column during the night when they came upon the remains of a bonfire, indicating a bandit guard post. A Cacos sentry armed with a rifle challenged Puller's group. The sentry could not see them clearly as it was very dark and his bonfire had been put out by the rain. Brunot replied in his Haitain accent "Cacos", at which the guard let them through. Puller, Brunot, and Jean Louis were able to infiltrate the Cacos camp and came upon a clearing with many huts and lean-tos. Puller and Jean Louis took firing positions on the ground after Puller sent Brunot to gather the rest of the patrol to assault the camp. Puller aimed his rifle at a man he later believed was Georges, but waited for the main attack instead of firing. A Caco challenged the two prone figures, so that Puller had to shoot the Caco, starting the battle. The marines and gendarmes rushed forward, but the estimated two hundred Cacos scattered, with Puller and Jean Louis firing as fast as they could at fleeing figures. After the government forces had possession of the camp, they found one dead Caco. Puller's patrol took twenty seven rifles, swords, and machetes, and several dozen gamecocks. Among the booty was George's personal rifle, identified by his initials in the stock. Puller and his patrol spent the night at the camp and then withdrew safely to their base at Mirebalais.[9][7]

Patrol and raid, November 9, 1919

On November 9, Puller and Brunot led a patrol of thirty-three Gendarmes. Just before dawn they found a camp and attacked it. This time Puller and his fellow Gendarmes killed ten Cacos and captured two rifles. After the raid of the Cacos camp, they safely withdrew to Mirebalais by a circuitous route and fell into garrison routine for a few days.[11]

Further patrol operations

After the successful assassination of Charlemagne Péralte by Herman H. Hanneken in a raid, Benoît Batraville became the next leader of the Cacos. Puller and Brunot each took a part of the company out on a patrol. Brunot spotted a Caco force that turned out to be Batraville's, but before Brunot could get his force into position for an attack, the Cacos broke camp and melted away. Puller had better luck, with two Cacos killed and sixteen captured.[12]

Ending of the fighting in Haiti

The Cacos rebellion collapsed altogether when a Marine patrol killed Batraville on May 19, 1920. A month later, the last significant Caco leader surrendered. More patrols by the Gendarmes and American Marines in the following year killed a further eighty-five Cacos. Later on in September 1920, Herman H. Hanneken penetrated a Caco camp in disguise, arresting five chiefs while killing another. By June 1921, a government military commander declared the country to be "completely tranquil."[13]

Return to the United States

Puller returned stateside and was finally recommissioned as a second lieutenant on March 6, 1924 (Service No. 03158). After completing assignments at the Marine barracks in Norfolk, Virginia, The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, and with the 10th Marine Artillery Regiment in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Marine barracks at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in July 1926 and in San Diego, California, in 1928.

Puller with members of the Guardia Nacional

United States occupation of Nicaragua

In December 1928, Puller was assigned to the Nicaraguan National Guard detachment, where he was awarded his first Navy Cross for his actions from February 16 to August 19, 1930, when he led "five successive engagements against superior numbers of armed bandit forces." He returned stateside in July 1931 and completed the year-long Company Officers Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, thereafter returning to Nicaragua from September 20 to October 1, 1932, and was awarded a second Navy Cross. Puller led American Marines and Nicaraguan National Guardsmen into battle against Sandinista rebels in the last major engagement of the Sandino Rebellion near El Sauce on December 26, 1932.

Patrolling, June 4–6, 1930

After Puller inherited command of Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional called Company M. He was prepared to conduct operations against the Sandinista rebels. Puller immediately departed on a patrol. Puller moved eastward for a five-day sweep, but soon received orders to head northeast. The patrol moved by day and camped each night in a village. In the afternoon of June 4, the company was at San Antonio cooking a steer in preparation for a trek into the uninhabited area around Mt. Kilande. After hearing some gunshots to the north, Puller sent thirteen men of the Guardia to investigate a thousand yards beyond the town. The Guardia encountered six rebels who may have been Sandinistas and a firefight occurred. The Guardia killed one rebel while the other five fled. The rebel bandit was armed with a Springfield rifle and Colt revolver. On June 6, the patrol moved toward the village of Los Cedros when it encountered an equally surprised force of Sandinistas who were on top of a brush covered hill that sloped about 175 yards down to the trail. The Sandinistas opened fire on the patrol and the patrol returned fire. Without hesitation, Puller dashed up the rise while yelling for his men to charge. Puller's men joined in the attack and fired their weapons while charging the enemy position. Puller and his Guardia were able to avoid being hit by small arms fire and crude improvised grenades thrown by the rebels. The rebels were routed and fled. Puller and his men realized they stumbled onto an insurgent camp. Seven dead rebel bodies were found and Puller's force suffered no casualties. Puller's patrol found two rifles, one pistol, and ten machetes. They also found rosters and papers in the rebel camp, which revealed that two of the seven dead rebels were leaders of the group. After that, Puller's company returned to Jinotega.[14]

Further operations, June 12-July 12, 1930

Puller departed on a new patrol on June 12. Puller's patrol searched fruitlessly and found nothing. Puller and his men arrived back at their base at June 20. At June 24, Puller, William "Ironman" Lee, and their men joined forces with another government patrol of thirty men under the command of Lieutenant M.K. Chenoweth. Together the combined American-Nicaraguan force left Jinotega. At Santa Fe, Puller picked up an additional fifteen Guardias. After patrolling, Puller's men had encountered lone bandits on two occasions and killed them both. Puller's large group operated for nearly two more weeks, often split into two patrols with one following the other at a distance. The reinforced unit finally returned to base on July 12.[14]

Attempted ambush against the rebels, further pursuit, and raiding a rebel camp, November 6–27, 1930

Puller and his Company M went out on a patrol again on November 6, 1930. Puller, Lee, and twenty-one men left Jinetoga to search for the enemy. The patrol picked up a trail of about thirty bandits who were pillaging small ranches near Santa Isabel. Puller's patrol caught sight of the enemy at 9:00 A.M. on November 19 pursuing them for three miles, and wounding at least one of them. Puller's patrol decided to surprise the bandits. The patrol set up an ambush hiding themselves along a trail when a manager of a local finca spotted them and walked up to them to provide them information on a rebel band. With the ambush compromised by the finca manager, the patrol moved on. Puller's patrol reported into Corinto Finca on November 20 for supplies and pack animals, then left on the same day to check out a report of a rebel concentration near Mt. Guapinol. Puller and his patrol struggled through heavy rains, muddy trails, and flooded rivers. On the morning of 25 November, the patrol came across a bandit trail. The Guardia under Puller followed this trail and at 10:30 A.M., the point sighted about ten rebels amongst some fallen trees. Puller's men opened fire and the enemy fled. Further along the trail, the pursuers came upon the rebel camp which had four buildings with log barricades in front and a hundred-foot cliff in the rear. There were at least forty or so rebels who fought briefly. Then the rebels threw their belongings and three wounded men into the ravine and then clambered down on ropes and ladders, which they pulled down after themselves. By the time some of the Guardia worked their way down into the draw the enemy had disappeared. Puller's patrol found two dead bandits and some supplies. Puller was certain that the three wounded bandits who had gone over the cliff had died. Puller's force captured documents which showed that one of their previous operations on August 19, 1930, wounded a minor chief of the rebels. After raiding this rebel camp, Puller's unit withdrew and returned to Jinotega on November 27 after three weeks of hard patrolling.[15]

Patrol and Raid against the rebels September 20–26, 1932

Main article: Battle of Agua Carta

Puller discovered a trail which seemed to be used by rebels. Puller, along with Lee, gathered 40 Guardia Nacional members for a raid like patrol against the rebels. Puller, Lee, and the Guardia left on September 20. After traveling a long distance, the patrol came by the northwest from the bank of Auyabal river. On September 26, Puller's patrol was ambushed by the rebels. Lee used a Lewis machine gun to keep the enemy pinned down while the Guardia Nacional worked their way up the slope opposite the rebel ambush party. When they gained the crest, they were able to fire directly into the rebel emplacements. Puller's men penetrated the center of a rebel encampment, killing at least 16 rebels. Of Puller's force, two men were killed and four wounded. In order to obtain medical care for the wounded, Puller immediately withdrew back to Jinotega. During Puller's withdrawal, his patrol was ambushed twice, but suffered no more casualties and fought off the ambushers. Puller's Guardia killed at least eight more rebels. Puller's force arrived back at Jinotega on September 30 after their raid on the rebel encampment.[16]

Final battle in Nicaragua 26 December 1932

Main article: Battle of El Sauce

There were rumors that Sandinista rebels were planning an attack on a ceremony that was going to commemorate the completion of the León–El Sauce railway. An expedition of eight American marines and 64 Nicaraguan National Guardsmen led by Puller were sent to El Sauce on the 26 December 1932. As Puller's force of American marines and Nicaraguan national guard were traveling some distance in their train to their destination, they were ambushed by the rebels from both sides of the tracks. Puller and William A. Lee quickly with their troops immediately engaged the rebel ambushers. After a firefight of one hour and ten minutes, the Marines and Guardia Nacional were able to drive off the rebels. Puller's victorious force had suffered three dead and three wounded for the Guardia Nacional. The rebels suffered thirty one killed and lost 63 live horses to capture by Puller's force. The ceremony went on as planned two days later, while Puller and Lee got promoted.

Aftermath

After his service in Nicaragua, Puller was assigned to the Marine detachment at the American Legation in Beijing, China, commanding a unit of China Marines. He then went on to serve aboard USS Augusta, a cruiser in the Asiatic Fleet, which was commanded by then-Captain Chester W. Nimitz. Puller returned to the States in June 1936 as an instructor at The Basic School in Philadelphia, where he trained Ben Robertshaw, Pappy Boyington, and Lew Walt.[17]

In May 1939, he returned to the Augusta as commander of the on-board Marine detachment, and then back to China, disembarking in Shanghai in May 1940 to serve as the executive officer and commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4) until August 1941. Major Puller returned to the U.S. on August 28, 1941. After a short leave, he was given command of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7) of the 1st Marine Division, stationed at New River, North Carolina (later Camp Lejeune).[18]

World War II

Lieutenant Colonel Puller on Guadalcanal in September, 1942

Early in the Pacific theater, the 7th Marines formed the nucleus of the newly created 3rd Marine Brigade and arrived to defend Samoa on May 8, 1942. Later they were redeployed from the brigade and on September 4, 1942, they left Samoa and rejoined the 1st Marine Division at Guadalcanal on September 18, 1942.

Soon after arriving on Guadalcanal, Lt. Col. Puller led his battalion in a fierce action along the Matanikau, in which Puller's quick thinking saved three of his companies from annihilation. In the action, these companies were surrounded and cut off by a larger Japanese force. Puller ran to the shore, signaled a United States Navy destroyer, the USS Monssen (DD-436), and then directed the destroyer to provide fire support while landing craft rescued his Marines from their precarious position.[7] U.S. Coast Guard Signalman First Class Douglas Albert Munro—Officer-in-Charge of the group of landing craft, was killed while providing covering fire from his landing craft for the Marines as they evacuated the beach and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for the action, to date the only Coast Guardsman to receive the decoration. Puller, for his actions, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V".

Later on Guadalcanal, Puller was awarded his third Navy Cross, in what was later known as the "Battle for Henderson Field". Puller commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7), one of two American infantry units defending the airfield against a regiment-strength Japanese force. The 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army's 164th Infantry Regiment (3/164) fought alongside the Marines. In a firefight on the night of October 24–25, 1942, lasting about three hours, 1/7 and 3/164 sustained 70 casualties; the Japanese force suffered over 1,400 killed in action, and the Americans held the airfield. He nominated two of his men (one being Sgt. John Basilone) for Medals of Honor. Puller was wounded himself on November 8, 1942, suffering arm and leg wounds during a Japanese attack on his command post. His injuries were serious, requiring surgery, and command of 1/7 was temporarily assigned to Major John E. Weber of 3/7.[19] Puller was released from the hospital and resumed command of his battalion on November 18.[20]

Puller was then made executive officer of the 7th Marine Regiment. While serving in this capacity at the Battle of Cape Gloucester, Puller was awarded his fourth Navy Cross for overall performance of duty between December 26, 1943, and January 19, 1944. During this time, when the battalion commanders of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (3/7) and later, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5), were under heavy machine gun and mortar fire, he expertly reorganized the battalion and led the successful attack against heavily fortified Japanese defensive positions. He was promoted to colonel effective February 1, 1944, and by the end of the month had been named commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. In September and October 1944, Puller led the 1st Marine Regiment into the protracted battle on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, and received his first of two Legion of Merit awards. The 1st Marines under Puller's command lost 1,749 out of approximately 3,000 men, but these losses did not stop Puller from ordering frontal assaults against the well-entrenched enemy. The corps commander had to order the 1st Marine Division commanding general to pull the annihilated 1st Marine Regiment out of the line.[21]

During the summer of 1944, Puller's younger brother, Samuel D. Puller, the executive officer of the 4th Marine Regiment, was killed by an enemy sniper on Guam.

Puller returned to the United States in November 1944, was named executive officer of the Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Lejeune and, two weeks later, commanding officer. After the war, he was made director of the 8th Reserve District at New Orleans, and later commanded the Marine barracks at Pearl Harbor.

Korean War

Colonel Puller cutting the Marine Corps birthday cake on 10 November 1950.

Colonel Puller studies the terrain during the Korean War.

Then-retired Puller and his wife, Virginia, at their home.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, Puller was once again assigned as commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. He participated in the landing at Inchon on September 15, 1950, and was awarded the Silver Star Medal.[22] For leadership from September 15 through November 2, he was awarded his second Legion of Merit. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from the U.S. Army for heroism in action from November 29 to December 4, and his fifth Navy Cross for heroism during December 5–10, 1950, at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. It was during that battle that he said the famous line, "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things."[23]

In January 1951, Puller was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned duty as assistant division commander (ADC) of the 1st Marine Division. On February 24, however, his immediate superior, Major General O.P. Smith, was hastily transferred to command IX Corps when its Army commander, Major General Bryant Moore, died. Smith's transfer left Puller temporarily in command of the 1st Marine Division until sometime in March. He completed his tour of duty as assistant commander and left for the United States on May 20, 1951.[24] He took command of the 3rd Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California until January 1952, and then was assistant commander of the division until June 1952. He then took over Troop Training Unit Pacific at Coronado, California. In September 1953, he was promoted to major general.

Post-Korean War

In July 1954, Puller took command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina until February 1955 when he became Deputy Camp Commander. He suffered a stroke,[25] and was retired by the Marine Corps on November 1, 1955, with a promotion to lieutenant general.[26]

His nickname was related to the way his barrel chest stood out due to his aggressive stance,[27] with legends claiming that a steel plate had been inserted by surgeons to treat a battle wound.[28] In a handwritten addition to a typed 22 November 1954 letter to Major Frank C. Sheppard, Puller wrote, "I agree with you 100%. I had done a little soldiering previous to Guadalcanal and had been called a lot of names, but why 'Chesty'? Especially the steel part??"[29]

Relations

Puller's son, Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr. (generally known as Lewis Puller), served as a Marine lieutenant in the Vietnam War. While serving with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (2/1), Lewis Jr. was severely wounded by a mine explosion, losing both legs and parts of his hands. Lieutenant General Puller broke down sobbing at seeing his son for the first time in the hospital.[30] Lewis Jr. won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography, Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet. He committed suicide in 1994.[31]

Puller was father-in-law to Colonel William H. Dabney, USMC (retired), a Virginia Military Institute (VMI) graduate, who was the commanding officer (then Captain) of two heavily reinforced rifle companies of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines (3/26) from January 21 to April 14, 1968, in Vietnam. During the entire period, Dabney's force stubbornly defended Hill 881 South, a regional outpost vital to the defense of the Khe Sanh Combat Base during the 77-day siege at the Battle of Khe Sanh. Dabney was recommended for the Navy Cross for his actions on Hill 881 South, but his battalion executive officer's helicopter carrying the recommendation papers crashed and the papers were lost. It was not until April 15, 2005 that Colonel Dabney received the Navy Cross during an award ceremony at Virginia Military Institute.

Puller was a distant cousin to U.S. Army General George S. Patton.[32]

He was an Episcopalian and parishioner of Christ Church Parish in Saluda and is buried in the historic cemetery there next to his wife, Virginia Montague Evans.[33]

Decorations and awards

Puller received the second-highest U.S. military award six times (one of only two persons so honored): five Navy Crosses and one U.S. Army Distinguished Service Cross. He was the second of two U.S. servicemen (after U.S. Navy submarine commander Roy Milton Davenport) to ever receive five Navy Crosses.

Puller's military awards include:

Gold starGold starGold starGold star  

VGold star V 1 golden star.svg1 golden star.svg

Bronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svg Bronze star Bronze star Bronze star

Bronze star

Bronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svgBronze-service-star-3d-vector.svg

Silver star

1st row Navy Cross with 4 Gold Stars Distinguished Service Cross (Army) Silver Star (Army)

2nd row Legion of Merit with Combat "V"

and 1 Gold Star Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" Air Medal with 2 Gold stars Purple Heart

3rd row Presidential Unit Citation

with 4 bronze stars Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal

with 1 bronze star Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal

with 1 bronze star World War I Victory Medal

with West Indies clasp

4th row Haitian Campaign Medal Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal China Service Medal American Defense Service Medal

with 1 bronze star

5th row American Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

with 4 bronze stars World War II Victory Medal National Defense Service Medal

6th row Korean Service Medal

with 1 silver star Haitian

Médaille militaire Nicaraguan Presidential Medal of Merit

with Diploma (gold star) Nicaraguan Cross of Valor

with Diploma

7th row Korean Order of Military Merit,

Eulji Cordon Medal Republic of China Order of the Cloud and Banner

with Special Cravat[34] Republic of Korea

Presidential Unit Citation United Nations Service Medal

for Korea

First Navy Cross citation

Citation:

For distinguished service in the line of his profession while commanding a Nicaraguan National Guard patrol. First Lieutenant Lewis B. Puller, United States Marine Corps, successfully led his forces into five successful engagements against superior numbers of armed bandit forces; namely, at LaVirgen on 16 February 1930, at Los Cedros on 6 June 1930, at Moncotal on 22 July 1930, at Guapinol on 25 July 1930, and at Malacate on 19 August 1930, with the result that the bandits were in each engagement completely routed with losses of nine killed and many wounded. By his intelligent and forceful leadership without thought of his own personal safety, by great physical exertion and by suffering many hardships, Lieutenant Puller surmounted all obstacles and dealt five successive and severe blows against organized banditry in the Republic of Nicaragua.[35]

Second Navy Cross citation

Citation:

First Lieutenant Lewis B. Puller, United States Marine Corps (Captain, Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua) performed exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility while in command of a Guardia Patrol from 20 September to 1 October 1932. Lieutenant Puller and his command of forty Guardia and Gunnery Sergeant William A. Lee, United States Marine Corps, serving as a First Lieutenant in the Guardia, penetrated the isolated mountainous bandit territory for a distance of from eighty to one hundred miles north of Jinotega, his nearest base. This patrol was ambushed on 26 September 1932, at a point northeast of Mount Kilambe by an insurgent force of one hundred fifty in a well-prepared position armed with not less than seven automatic weapons and various classes of small arms and well-supplied with ammunition. Early in the combat, Gunnery Sergeant Lee, the Second in Command, was seriously wounded and reported as dead. The Guardia immediately behind Lieutenant Puller in the point was killed by the first burst of fire, Lieutenant Puller, with great courage, coolness and display of military judgment, so directed the fire and movement of his men that the enemy were driven first from the high ground on the right of his position, and then by a flanking movement forced from the high ground to the left and finally were scattered in confusion with a loss of ten killed and many wounded by the persistent and well-directed attack of the patrol. The numerous casualties suffered by the enemy and the Guardia losses of two killed and four wounded are indicative of the severity of the enemy resistance. This signal victory in jungle country, with no lines of communication and a hundred miles from any supporting force, was largely due to the indomitable courage and persistence of the patrol commander. Returning with the wounded to Jinotega, the patrol was ambushed twice by superior forces on 30 September. On both of the occasions the enemy was dispersed with severe losses.[35]

Third Navy Cross citation

Citation:

For extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the First Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, during the action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on the night of 24 to 25 October 1942. While Lieutenant Colonel Puller's battalion was holding a mile-long front in a heavy downpour of rain, a Japanese force, superior in number, launched a vigorous assault against that position of the line which passed through a dense jungle. Courageously withstanding the enemy's desperate and determined attacks, Lieutenant Colonel Puller not only held his battalion to its position until reinforcements arrived three hours later, but also effectively commanded the augmented force until late in the afternoon of the next day. By his tireless devotion to duty and cool judgment under fire, he prevented a hostile penetration of our lines and was largely responsible for the successful defense of the sector assigned to his troops.[35]

Fourth Navy Cross citation

Citation:

For extraordinary heroism as Executive Officer of the Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, serving with the Sixth United States Army, in combat against enemy Japanese forces at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, from 26 December 1943 to 19 January 1944. Assigned temporary command of the Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, from 4 to 9 January, Lieutenant Colonel Puller quickly reorganized and advanced his unit, effecting the seizure of the objective without delay. Assuming additional duty in command of the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, from 7 to 8 January, after the commanding officer and executive officer had been wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Puller unhesitatingly exposed himself to rifle, machine-gun and mortar fire from strongly entrenched Japanese positions to move from company to company in his front lines, reorganizing and maintaining a critical position along a fire-swept ridge. His forceful leadership and gallant fighting spirit under the most hazardous conditions were contributing factors in the defeat of the enemy during this campaign and in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[35]

Fifth Navy Cross citation

Citation

For extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against aggressor forces in the vicinity of Koto-ri, Korea, from 5 to 10 December 1950. Fighting continuously in sub-zero weather against a vastly outnumbering hostile force, Colonel Puller drove off repeated and fanatical enemy attacks upon his Regimental defense sector and supply points. Although the area was frequently covered by grazing machine-gun fire and intense artillery and mortar fire, he coolly moved along his troops to insure their correct tactical employment, reinforced the lines as the situation demanded, and successfully defended the perimeter, keeping open the main supply routes for the movement of the Division. During the attack from Koto-ri to Hungnam, he expertly utilized his Regiment as the Division rear guard, repelling two fierce enemy assaults which severely threatened the security of the unit, and personally supervised the care and prompt evacuation of all casualties. By his unflagging determination, he served to inspire his men to heroic efforts in defense of their positions and assured the safety of much valuable equipment which would otherwise have been lost to the enemy. His skilled leadership, superb courage and valiant devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds reflect the highest credit upon Colonel Puller and the United States Naval Service.[35]

Distinguished Service Cross citation

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller (MCSN: 0-3158), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as Commanding Officer, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir, Korea, during the period 29 November to 4 December 1950. Colonel Puller's actions contributed materially to the breakthrough of the First Marine Regiment in the Chosin Reservoir area and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.[35]

Silver Star citation

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star (Army Award) to Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller (MCSN: 0-3158), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while Commanding the First Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces during the amphibious landing resulting in the capture of Inchon, Korea, on 15 September 1950 in the Inchon-Seoul Operation. His actions contributed materially to the success of this operation and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Military Service.[35]

Namesakes and honors

In addition to his military awards Puller has received numerous honors due to his Marine Corps service:

On October 26, 2017, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Puller Veterans Care Center located in Vint Hill, Fauquier County, Virginia. The facility was named in honor of Puller and his wife.[36]

The frigate Lewis B. Puller (FFG-23) was named after him.

The headquarters building for 2nd Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team on Yorktown Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown, Virginia, is named Puller Hall in his honor.

Route 33 in Middlesex County, Virginia, is named General Puller Highway. It is the county in which Puller is buried.

On November 10, 2005, the United States Postal Service issued its Distinguished Marines stamps in which Puller was honored.[37]

The Marine Corps' mascot is perpetually named "Chesty Pullerton." (e.g. Chesty XIII). He is always a purebred English Bulldog.

In 2012, Military Sealift Command announced that a Mobile Landing Platform will be named after Puller, USNS Lewis B. Puller (T-MLP-3/T-AFSB-1).[38]

Death and legacy

A memorial flagpole erected in Puller's honor in his hometown of West Point

Following his retirement Puller lived in Saluda, Virginia, where he was later buried after his death on October 11, 1971, at Christ Church Cemetery next to his wife.[33]

Puller remains a well-known figure in U.S. Marine Corps folklore, with both true and exaggerated tales of his experiences being constantly recounted among U.S. Marines.

A common incantation in U.S. Marine Corps boot camp is to end one's day with the declaration, "Good night, Chesty, wherever you are!"[39] Another common encouragement is "Chesty Puller never quit!"

In U.S. Marine Corps recruit training and OCS cadences, Marines chant "It was good for Chesty Puller/And it's good enough for me" as well as "Tell Chesty Puller I did my best."—Chesty is symbolic of the esprit de corps of the Marines. Also, the recruits sing "Chesty Puller was a good Marine and a good Marine was he."

U.S. Marines, while doing pull-ups, will tell each other to "do one for Chesty!"

Puller insisted upon good equipment and discipline; once he came upon a second lieutenant who had ordered an enlisted man to salute him 100 times for missing a salute. Puller told the lieutenant, "You were absolutely correct in making him salute you 100 times, Lieutenant, but you know that an officer must return every salute he receives. Now return them all, and I will keep count."[40][41][42]

While on duty in Hawaii and inspecting the armory, Puller fined himself $100 for accidentally discharging a .45 caliber pistol indoors, although the charge for his men was only $20.[42]

A section of Virginia Highway 33 running from West Point to the Gloucester County community of Glenns is named Lewis B Puller Memorial Highway.

Augusto C. Sandino (American Spanish: [awˈɣusto se sanˈdino]; May 18, 1895 – February 21, 1934), full name Augusto Nicolás Calderón de Sandino y José de María Sandino,[citation needed] was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United States occupation of Nicaragua. Despite being referred to as a "bandit" by the United States government, his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to American imperialism.[2] Sandino drew units of the United States Marine Corps into an undeclared guerrilla war. The United States troops withdrew from the country in 1933 after overseeing the election and inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa, who had returned from exile.[3]

Sandino was assassinated in 1934 by National Guard forces of General Anastasio Somoza García, who went on to seize power in a coup d'état two years later. After being elected president by an overwhelming margin in 1936, Somoza García resumed control of the National Guard and established a dictatorship and Somoza family dynasty that ruled Nicaragua for more than 40 years. Sandino's political legacy was claimed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which finally overthrew the Somoza government in 1979.

Sandino is revered in Nicaragua and in 2010 its congress unanimously named him a "national hero".[4] His political descendants, the icons of his wide-brimmed hat and boots, and his writings from the years of warfare against the USMC continue to shape Nicaragua's national identity.[4]

Early life

Augusto Calderón Sandino was born May 18, 1895, in Niquinohomo, Masaya Department, Nicaragua. He was the illegitimate son of Gregorio Sandino, a wealthy landowner of Spanish descent, and Margarita Calderón, an indigenous servant with the Sandino family.[5] Sandino lived with his mother until he was nine years old, when his father took him into his own home and arranged for his education.[6]

In July 1912, when he was 17, Sandino witnessed an intervention of United States troops in Nicaragua to suppress an uprising against President Adolfo Díaz, regarded by many as a United States puppet. General Benjamín Zeledón of La Concordia in the state of Jinotega died that year on 4 October during the Battle of Coyotepe Hill, when United States Marines recaptured Fort Coyotepe and the city of Masaya from rebels. The Marines carried Zeledón's body on an oxcart to be buried in Catarina.

Assault and exile in Mexico

In 1921 at the age of 26, Sandino attacked and tried to kill Dagoberto Rivas, the son of a prominent conservative townsman, who had made disparaging comments about Sandino's mother. Sandino fled to Honduras, then Guatemala and eventually Mexico, where he found work at a Standard Oil refinery near the port of Tampico. At that time the military phase of the Mexican Revolution was drawing to an end. A new "institutional revolutionary" regime was forming, driven by a wide array of popular movements to carry out the provisions of the 1917 Constitution. Sandino was involved with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, spiritist gurus and anti-imperialist, anarchist and communist revolutionaries. He embraced the anti-clericalism of Mexico's revolution and the ideology of Indigenismo, which glorified the indigenous heritage of Latin America.

Emergence as guerrilla leader

Sandino (center) Tony Eduardo Delduca 1910-1985, representing the Purple Gang (right) Mr. Delduca's body guard, Joe (far right) en route to Mexico

Shortly after Sandino returned to Nicaragua, the Constitutionalist War began when Liberal soldiers in the Caribbean port of Puerto Cabezas revolted against the Conservative President Adolfo Díaz, who had recently been installed after a coup with United States involvement. The leader of this revolt, General José María Moncada, declared that he supported the claim of the exiled Liberal vice-president Juan Bautista Sacasa.

Sacasa returned to Nicaragua, arriving in Puerto Cabezas in December, and declared himself president of a "constitutional" government, which Mexico recognized. Sandino assembled a makeshift army composed largely of gold miners, and led a failed attack on the Conservative garrison nearest the San Albino mine. Afterward, he traveled to Puerto Cabezas to meet with Moncada. Because of the guerrilla's hit-and-run operations against Conservative forces, conducted independently of the Liberal army, Moncada distrusted Sandino and told Sacasa so.[7] Sacasa denied the unknown Sandino's requests for weapons and a military commission. But after he captured some rifles from fleeing Conservative soldiers, the other Liberal commanders agreed to grant Sandino a commission.

By 1927 Sandino had returned to Las Segovias, where he recruited local peasants for his army and attacked government troops with increasing success. In April Sandino's forces played a vital role in assisting the principal Liberal Army column, which was advancing on Managua. Having received arms and funding from Mexico, Moncada's Liberal army seemed on the verge of seizing the capital. But the United States, using the threat of military intervention, forced the Liberal generals to agree to a ceasefire.

On May 4, 1927, representatives from the two warring factions signed the Espino Negro accord, negotiated by Henry L. Stimson, appointed by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge as a special envoy to Nicaragua. Under the terms of the accord, both sides agreed to disarm, Díaz would be allowed to finish his term, and a new national army would be established, to be called the Guardia Nacional (National Guard). U.S. soldiers were to remain in the country to supervise the upcoming November presidential election. A battalion of U.S. Marines under the command of Major General Logan Feland later arrived to enforce the agreement.

After the signing of the Espino Negro accord, Sandino refused to order his followers to surrender their weapons, and returned with them to the Segovia Mountains.

Marriage and family

During this period, Sandino married Blanca Stella Aráuz Pineda, a young telegraphist of the village of San Rafael del Norte, Jinotega. She was related to Ambrosia Ubeda of the same village.

Declaring war on the United States

In June 1927, Sandino organised a group of 50 men to march to the San Albino mines in Nueva Segovia, where he was formerly employed by American businessman Charles Butters. Sandino took over the mine, which held 500 pounds of dynamite he said was going to use to "kill Yankees", and forcibly drove out all foreigners. This led to foreigners criticizing America and how the Marines deployed in Nicaragua were ordered to protect only American property, not foreigners'.[8]

At the beginning of July 1927, Sandino issued a manifesto condemning the betrayal of the Liberal revolution by the vendepatria ("country-seller") Moncada. He declared war on the United States, which he called the "Colossus of the North" and "the enemy of our race".[9] At the height of his guerrilla campaign, Sandino claimed to have 3,000 soldiers in his army; in later years, officials estimated the number at 300.[7]

On July 16, Sandino's followers attacked a patrol of U.S. Marines and the Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional was sent to apprehend him at the village of Ocotal. Armed primarily with machetes and 19th-century rifles, they attempted to besiege the Marines, but were easily repulsed with the help of one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history, conducted by five Marine de Havilland biplanes. The Marine commander estimated that 300 of Sandino's men died (the actual number was about 80), while the Marines suffered two casualties, one dead and one wounded, and the Guardia three dead and four taken prisoner.[10] Despite their heavy losses and the lopsided nature of these battles, the rebels made other attempts to swarm a small post guarded by 21 Marines and 25 guardsmen at Telpaneca. The 200 assaulting Sandinistas had 25 deaths and 50 wounded while killing one Marine, wounding another and seriously injuring a guardsman.

Later Sandino took the more official title Augusto César Sandino and renamed his insurgents "The Army in Defense of the National Sovereignty of Nicaragua". Efforts by the Marines to kill or capture him over the summer failed. In November 1927, U.S. aircraft succeeded in locating El Chipote, Sandino's remote mountain headquarters east of San Albino Mine. But when the Marines reached it, they found it abandoned and guarded by straw dummies. Sandino and his followers had long since escaped.[11]

In January 1928 U.S. Marines found Sandino's war base in Quilalí and, though they were ambushed in their approach, the American and Nicaraguan troops had no trouble in routing the 400 rebels under Francisco Estrada's leadership. The Marines lost one man while killing 20. Sandino's penchant for exaggeration was evident in his personal report of the events: he claimed to have won the battle in three hours and that 97 Americans were killed and another 60 wounded. In reality only 66 Marines were in the operation. He further boasted the capture of six Lewis machine guns, three M1921 Thompsons and 46 Lewis automatic rifles. Also among these trophies was a codebook for communicating with aircraft.

After reaching the mountains of Nueva Segovia, Sandino smuggled a message to Mexico City saying:

I will not abandon my resistance until the ... pirate invaders ... assassins of weak peoples ... are expelled from my country. ... I will make them realize that their crimes will cost them dear. ... There will be bloody combat. ... Nicaragua shall not be the patrimony of Imperialists. I will fight for my cause as long as my heart beats. ... If through destiny I should lose, there are in my arsenal five tons of dynamite which I will explode with my own hand. The noise of the cataclysm will be heard 250 miles. All who hear will be witness that Sandino is dead. Let it not be permitted that the hands of traitors or invaders shall profane his remains.[12]

In April the Sandinistas destroyed the equipment of the Bonanza and La Luz gold mines, the two largest mines in the country, both owned by three American brothers: James Gilmore, G. Fred, and D. Watson Fletcher, all of Manhattan, who were brothers of Henry P. Fletcher, the United States Ambassador to Italy.[13] After destroying the Fletchers' mines, Sandino wrote that he was targeting not just U.S. Marines but also Americans in Nicaragua who "uphold the attitude of Coolidge."[14]

With aerial support, the Marines made several riverine patrols from Nicaragua's east coast up the Coco River during the height of the rainy season, often having to use native dugout canoes. While these patrols limited Sandino's forces' movements and secured tenuous control over northern Nicaragua's principal river, the Marines failed to find Sandino or to effect a decisive victory. By April 1928 the Marines reportedly thought Sandino was finished and trying to evade capture.[15] One month later, his army ambushed another Marine post and killed five troops.[15] In December 1928 the Marines located Sandino's mother and convinced her to write a letter asking him to surrender.[16] Sandino announced that he would continue to fight until the Marines left Nicaragua.[17]

Despite massive efforts, American forces never captured Sandino. His communiqués were regularly published in American media; for instance, he was frequently quoted during 1928 in Time magazine during the Marines' offensive. At one point he staged a fake funeral to throw off pursuers. The U.S. Congress did not share Coolidge's ambition to capture Sandino and declined to fund operations to do so.[18] U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana argued that if American soldiers intended to "stamp out banditry, let's send them to Chicago to stamp it out there ... I wouldn't sacrifice ... one American boy for all the damn Nicaraguans."[19]

Efforts at winning recognition

A flag captured by U.S. marines from Sandino's forces

The Struggle

Having addressed his declaration of war to the whole of the "Indo-Hispanic race", Sandino saw his struggle in racial terms, as the defense not only of Nicaragua but of the whole of Latin America. At the beginning of his rebellion, Sandino appointed the Honduran poet, journalist and diplomat, Froylán Turcios, as his official foreign representative. Residing in Tegucigalpa, Turcios received and distributed Sandino's communiques, manifests and reports; he also acted as his liaison to sympathizers who provided him with arms and volunteers. Working with a number of prominent Nicaraguan exiles, Turcios sought to build support for Sandino's struggle in other Central American nations and in Mexico, which had backed the Liberals during the Constitutionalist War. In Mexico, Sandino's principal representative was the Nicaraguan exile Pedro Zepeda, who had previously served as the liaison between Sacasa and the Mexican government.

Sandino's principal demands were the resignation of President Díaz, withdrawal of U.S. troops, new elections to be supervised by Latin American countries, and the abrogation of the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty (which gave the United States the exclusive right to build a canal across Nicaragua). In October 1928, José María Moncada was elected as president, in a process supervised by the United States, which proved a major setback for Sandino's claim to be acting in defense of the Liberal revolution.

Prior to the election, Sandino had attempted, with three other marginal factions, to organize a junta to be headed by Zepeda. In an organizing pact, Sandino took the role of Generalissimo and the sole military authority of the republic. Following the election of Moncada, Sandino ruled out negotiations with his former rival and declared the elections unconstitutional. In an attempt to outmanoeuvre the general, Sandino expanded his demands to include the restoration of the United Provinces of Central America.

He made this demand a central component of his political platform. In a letter he wrote in March 1929 to the Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen, "Plan for Realizing Bolívar's Dream", Sandino outlined a more ambitious political project. He proposed a conference in Buenos Aires to be attended by all Latin American nations, which would work toward their political unification as an entity he called the "Indo-Latin American Continental and Antillean Federation". He proposed that the unified entity would resist further domination by the United States and be able to ensure that the proposed Nicaragua Canal would remain under Latin American control.

Solidarity with foreign nations

As Sandino's success grew, he began to receive symbolic gestures of support from the Soviet Union and the Comintern. The Pan-American Anti-Imperialist League, supervised by the South American Bureau of the Comintern, issued a number of statements in support of Sandino. Within the United States, the U.S. branch of the Anti-Imperialist League publicized opposition to the actions of the U.S. government in Nicaragua. Sandino's half-brother Sócrates, who lived in New York City, was featured as a speaker at several rallies against American involvement in Nicaragua, which were organized by the League and the U.S. Communist Party. The Sixth World Congress of the Comintern, meeting in Moscow in the summer of 1928, issued a statement "expressing solidarity with the workers and peasants of Nicaragua and the heroic army of national emancipation of General Sandino". In China, a division of the Kuomintang army that seized Beijing in 1928 was named "the Sandino brigade."[20] The following June, Sandino appointed a representative to the Second Congress of the World Anti-Imperialist League in Frankfurt.

Year-long exile in Mexico

Sandino's relations with Turcios soured, as Turcios disliked the Junta proposal. Sandino criticized him for siding with Honduras in a border dispute with Guatemala, which Sandino saw as a distraction from the goal of Central American unification. Conflict between the two men led Turcios to resign in January 1929, which resulted in cutting off the flow of arms to Sandino's forces and leaving them increasingly isolated from potential supporters outside Nicaragua. Sandino's army suffered a major blow in February 1929 when Gen. Manuel María Jirón, who masterminded his raids, was captured by U.S. Marines.[21] More defeats for Sandino's army at the hands of the Marines soon followed.[22] In an effort to secure military and financial support, Sandino wrote letters appealing to various Latin American leaders. Sandino looked for aid from revolutionary Mexico, but the country had taken an anti-communist turn under the de facto ruler Plutarco Elías Calles. Sandino also wrote a letter that was sent to Al Capone in Chicago. Mr. Capone was uninterested in personally helping Sandino. Mr. Capone then hand delivered the letter to Tony Eduardo Delduca leader of the Purple Gang 1929 to 1935. Mr. Delduca had followed the stories of Sandino in the press and was very proud and honored to help Sandino. The Packard car in the picture is a present for Sandino from Mr. Delduca.

The Salvadoran revolutionary Farabundo Martí (left) and the Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto C. Sandino (right), on the roof of the Gran Hotel. Mérida, Mexico, July 23, 1929.

After failing to negotiate his surrender in exchange for a withdrawal of U.S. troops, the Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil offered Sandino asylum. The leading guerrilla left Nicaragua in June 1929. In the political climate of the Maximato, Sandino's radicalism was unwelcome. To appease the United States, the Mexican government confined Sandino to the city of Mérida. Living at a hotel, Sandino was still able to maintain contact with his supporters.[23] He traveled to Mexico City and met with Portes Gil, but his request for support was quickly rebuffed. The Mexican Communist Party offered to pay for Sandino to travel to Europe, but the offer was withdrawn after he refused to issue a statement condemning the Mexican government. In April 1930, as Sandino's relations with the Communists grew increasingly cool, they leaked information suggesting that Sandino was critical of Portes Gil's government. Put at risk in Mexico, Sandino left the country and returned to Nicaragua.

EMECU

During his period in Mexico, he had become a member of the Magnetic-Spiritualist School of the Universal Commune (EMECU). Founded in Buenos Aires in 1911 by Joaquín Trincado, a Basque electrician, the EMECU blended the political ideals of anarchism with a cosmology which was an idiosyncratic synthesis of Zoroastrianism, Kabbalah and Spiritism. Rejecting both capitalism and Bolshevism, Trincado's brand of communism was based on a "spiritism of Light and Truth," which he believed would supersede all existing religions in the final stage of human history. This stage, which would arise from the political conflicts of the 20th century, would be the time of the founding of the "universal commune", in which private property and the state would be abolished, the hatred caused by false religions would disappear, and all of humanity would be part of one race (Hispanic) and speak one language (Spanish).

Although Sandino had communicated with Trincado only through a series of letters, after his return to Nicaragua, his manifests and his personal affiliations were increasingly shaped by his applying the ideals of the EMECU. He named Tricado as one of his official representatives and replaced the former seal (with an image of a campesino beheading a U.S. Marine) with the symbol of EMECU. His distrust of his former Communist associates led him to break off relations with Farabundo Martí, a Salvadoran who was formerly one of his most trusted lieutenants, and accused Martí of spying for the Communists. In February 1931, Sandino issued his "Manifest of Light and Truth", which reflected a new millenarian tone in his beliefs. The manifest proclaimed the coming of the Last Judgment, a time of "the destruction of injustice on the earth and the reign of the Spirit of Light and Truth, that is, Love." He said that Nicaragua had been chosen to play a central role in this struggle, and his army was an instrument of divine justice. "The honor has fallen to us, brothers, that in Nicaragua we have been chosen by Divine Justice to begin the prosecution of injustice on earth."[24]

U.S. withdrawal

Although Sandino had been unable to secure any outside aid for his forces, the Great Depression made overseas military expeditions too costly for the United States. In January 1931, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson announced that all U.S. soldiers in Nicaragua would be withdrawn after the 1932 election in the country. The newly created Nicaraguan National Guard (Guardia Nacional), which continued to be commanded by U.S. officers, took over responsibility for controlling insurgencies.

In May 1931, an earthquake destroyed Managua, killing over 2,000 people.[25] The disruption and the losses the earthquake caused weakened the central government and gave Sandino leverage to revive his fight with the Americans.[26][27][28] In the summer of 1931, Sandinista bands were active in every department north of Managua and conducted raids into the southern and western parts of the country, the departments of Estelí, Jinotega, León and Chontales. They briefly managed to occupy several towns along the nation's principal railroad, linking Managua to the Pacific coastal port of Corinto, but did not try to capture any of the nation's urban centers. They briefly occupied some smaller cities, such as Chinandega.

Somoza and Sandino in February 1933.

In accordance with the Good Neighbor Policy, the last U.S. Marines left Nicaragua in January 1933, after Juan Bautista Sacasa's inauguration as the country's president. During the Marines' tour of duty in Nicaragua, 130 of their men had been killed. After the Marines departed, Sandino said, "I salute the American people." He also vowed that he would never attack a working-class American who visited Nicaragua.[29] Sandino met with Sacasa in Managua in February 1934, pledged his loyalty to him and agreed to order his forces to surrender their weapons within three months.[29] In exchange, Sacasa agreed to give the soldiers who surrendered arms squatters' rights on land in the Coco River Valley,[29] require the area to be guarded by 100 Sandinista fighters under the government's orders,[29] and give preference in employment to Sandinistas on public works in northern Nicaragua.[29]

Sandino remained opposed to the Nicaraguan National Guard, which he considered unconstitutional because of its ties to the U.S. military,[7] and insisted on its dissolution.[7] His attitude toward General Anastasio Somoza García, the National Guard leader, and his officers made Sandino unpopular with rank-and-file National Guard troops.[7] Without consulting Sacasa,[7] Somoza García ordered Sandino's assassination in the hope that it would help win him loyalty from the Guard's senior officers.[7]

Death

On February 21, 1934, Sandino, together with his father, his brother Sócrates, two of his favorite generals, Estranda and Umanzor, and the poet Sofonías Salvatierra, Sacasa's Minister of Agriculture, attended a new round of talks with Sacasa. On leaving Sacasa's Presidential Palace, the six men were stopped in their car at the main gate by local National Guardsmen and were ordered to leave their car.[30] The Guardsmen brushed aside Sandino's father and Salvatierra. They took Sandino, his brother Sócrates, and his two generals to a crossroads section in Larreynaga and executed them.[30] Sandino's remains were buried in the Larreynaga neighborhood of Managua by a detachment of National Guard troops under the command of Major Rigoberto Duarte, one of General Somoza García's confidantes. Duarte was the father of Roberto Duarte Solis, Minister of Social Communication during President Arnoldo Alemán's tenure.

The following day, the National Guard attacked Sandino's army in force and, over a month, destroyed it.[7] Two years later, General Somoza García forced Sacasa to resign and declared himself President of Nicaragua. He established a dictatorship and dynasty that dominated Nicaragua for the next four decades.

While Sandino's body has never been found, the full details of Sandino's assassination and what became of his remains are among Nicaragua's most enduring mysteries:

Burial:[4] witnesses to the execution claimed to have seen the guardsmen force Sandino and the three other captives to the ground and shoot and bury them.[30] Sandino's followers are said to have later exhumed Sandino's body to rebury him in an undisclosed location.[30]

Cremated:In 1944, ten years after Sandino's assassination, the remains that had been buried in the La Calavera pit were exhumed and taken near the south side of the Tiscapa lagoon to be burned, then their ashes thrown into Lake Xolotlán. This occurred due to the student protests of the Central University of Managua that took place that year, against the re-election of Somoza to the presidency.

Trophy: according to Sandinista lore, Somoza's assassins decapitated and dismembered Sandino and delivered his severed head to the U.S. government as a token of their loyalty.[4]

Legacy

Sandino's 59-foot silhouette at Tiscapa Lagoon in Managua is instantly recognizable by his emblematic broad-brimmed hat.

Sandino became a hero to many in Nicaragua and much of Latin America as a Robin Hood figure who opposed domination from wealthy elites and foreigners, such as the United States. His opposition to U.S. control was tempered by the love he said he felt toward Americans[clarification needed] like himself. His picture and silhouette, complete with the oversized cowboy hat, were adopted as recognized symbols of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, founded in 1961 by Carlos Fonseca and Tomás Borge, among others, and later led by Daniel Ortega.

Sandino has been idolized by notable Latin American figures including Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. His brand of guerrilla warfare was effectively used by Castro, FARC in Colombia, the Sandinistas, and the FMLN in El Salvador.

In 1979 Somoza's son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, was overthrown by the Sandinistas, political descendants of Sandino. In the 1980s, they renamed Managua International Airport after him as "Augusto C. Sandino International Airport." Pro-Somoza President Arnoldo Alemán renamed it Managua International Airport in 2001 after coming to power.

In 2007, President Daniel Ortega renamed again the airport in honor of Sandino. Nicaraguan artist Róger Pérez de la Rocha has created many portraits of Sandino—whose image was banned by the Somoza dictatorship—and of his associates, adding to the country's iconography.[31]

The Chilean-Spanish biopic Sandino (1990), directed by Miguel Littin, was filmed in Nicaragua[32] with an international cast including Joaquim de Almeida as Sandino, Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, Victoria Abril and Ángela Molina.[33][34]

  • Condition: Brand New
  • Book Title: With the Old Corps in Nicaragua
  • Signed: No
  • Ex Libris: No
  • Narrative Type: Nonfiction
  • Publisher: Presidio
  • Item Length: 9.2in.
  • Inscribed: No
  • Personalize: No
  • Publication Year: 2001
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Language: English
  • Item Height: 0.9in.
  • Author: George B. Clark
  • Personalized: No
  • Genre: History, Political Science
  • Topic: Military / General, International Relations / General, Latin America / Central America, WORLD / Caribbean & Latin American
  • Item Width: 6.3in.
  • Item Weight: 17.3 Oz
  • Number of Pages: 206 Pages
  • ISBN: 9780891417378

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