Combat· Banana Wars
First Caco War 1915
The opening combat campaign of the long Haitian occupation.
In the autumn of 1915 the Marines moved against the Caco insurgents in the northern interior, fighting a short, sharp campaign out of Cap-Haïtien that yielded an extraordinary cluster of decorations. In one night action, a mounted patrol under Lieutenant Ostermann was ambushed in a deep ravine by several hundred Cacos; Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly fought through the night holding the position and at dawn led one of the squads that scattered the enemy, winning his second Medal of Honor. The campaign climaxed in Smedley Butler's storming of Fort Rivière on 17 November, where Sergeant Iams and Private Gross crawled first through the wall's single breach under fire and the garrison was overwhelmed in hand-to-hand fighting. Six Marines won the Medal of Honor in the four-week campaign, which broke organized Caco resistance and consolidated American control of northern Haiti.
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Record no. 509