Smedley Darlington Butler

Butler entered the hospital in June 1940 after some weeks of illness. His doctor described an incurable condition of the upper gastro-intestinal tract, reported as cancer.

He died at the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, on 21 June 1940, aged 58. His family were with him.

The funeral was held at his home, attended by family, politicians, members of the Philadelphia police, and officers of the Marine Corps. He was buried at Oaklands Cemetery, West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania.

Smedley Darlington Butler was born on 30 July 1881 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three sons of a Quaker family. He left the Haverford School thirty-eight days before his seventeenth birthday, against his father's wishes, lied about his age, and took a commission as a Marine second lieutenant in the Spanish-American War.

Over thirty-four years he served in the Philippines, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars and the First World War. At Tientsin in 1900 he climbed out of a trench to reach a wounded officer, was shot through the thigh, and helped the man to the rear anyway. Commissioned officers were not then eligible for the Medal of Honor; he was breveted captain instead, two weeks before his nineteenth birthday.

He received the Medal of Honor twice, for separate actions - Vera Cruz on 22 April 1914, and Fort Riviere, Haiti, on 17 November 1915. He is one of only two Marines ever to hold two. He tried to return the first, saying he had done nothing to deserve it. It was sent back with orders to keep it and to wear it.

He commanded Camp Pontanezen at Brest, the largest embarkation camp in the world, and carried the first duckboard up the hill himself so his men would not sleep in mud. At thirty-seven he was the youngest general in Marine Corps history. He was passed over for Commandant in 1930 and retired the following year, the most decorated Marine in American history.

He spent what was left of his life saying what his service had been for. In 1935 he wrote War Is a Racket. He testified to Congress in 1934 that businessmen had approached him to lead a coup against Roosevelt.

In July 1932 he walked into the Bonus Army camp on the Anacostia flats with his young son, the day before the eviction. He told the veterans they were fine soldiers and had as much right to lobby Congress as any corporation. He ate with them and slept there.

He married Ethel Conway Peters in 1905. They had three children.

His wife, Ethel Conway Peters Butler. Their daughter Ethel Peters Butler, and their sons Smedley Darlington Butler Jr. and Thomas Richard Butler.