William Robert Button


William Robert Button was a United States Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the assassination of Haitian nationalist leader Charlemagne Péralte in 1919 during the United States occupation of Haiti.

Career

Button was born December 3, 1895, in St. Louis, Missouri. By October 1919, he was serving as a corporal in the United States Marine Corps and was stationed in Haiti during its occupation by the United States. Button also held the rank of first lieutenant in the Gendarmerie of Haiti, the country's internal security force comprised mostly of native troops.
One of the key figures in the Haitian resistance to the occupation was Charlemagne Péralte, who commanded some 5,000 Cacos rebels. After an unsuccessful raid on Port-au-Prince on October 6, 1919, Péralte was planning another attack on the Gendarmerie in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord several weeks later. Marine Corps Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken formulated a plan to assassinate Péralte. For a fee, former Cacos general Jean-Baptise Conzé told the Marines that Péralte was garrisoned at Fort Capois in the mountains near Sainte-Suzanne. A staged attack by Hanneken on Conzé in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, "won" by Conzé, established the Haitian informer's credibility with Péralte.
On the evening of October 31, 1919, Hannekin and Button dressed in Cacos clothing and blackened their skin with cork ash, blending into a band of disguised Gendarmes led by Conzé. They successfully passed through six Cacos outposts, with Hannekin's fluency in Haitian Creole bolstering the ruse, though Button's accent and Browning Automatic Rifle, recognized by Cacos scouts as a "white man's gun," threatened their cover. Reaching Péralte's camp, Conzé provided the correct password for entry, and spotting Péralte, Hannekin fatally shot him twice in the chest with his.45 caliber pistol, while Button used his rifle to cut down Péralte's bodyguards. After repelling repeated Cacos attacks throughout the night, the Marines strapped Péralte's corpse to a mule and made their way back to Grande-Rivière-du-Nord.

Aftermath and death

For their roles in the daring assassination, both Hanneken and Button were awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented by General John A. Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1920. They also received the Haitiain Médaille Militaire, awarded by President Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave. Afterward, Button took a short furlough back to St. Louis before returning to Haiti. Soon after, he was diagnosed with pernicious malaria and died of the disease at a military hospital in Cap-Haïtien on April 15, 1921, at the age of 25. He was buried in Valhalla Cemetery near St. Louis. Button's Marine Corps comrades in the Gendarmerie raised funds for a bronze memorial tablet at his gravesite and yearly placement of flowers on Memorial Day.

Medal of Honor Citation

Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps.
Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo.
Born: 3 December 1895, St. Louis, Mo.
G.O. No.: 536, 10 June 1920.
Citation:
A United States Naval Ship, the USNS Sgt. William R. Button entered service in 1986 and named in Button's honor.