SMEDLEY BUTLER

Major General Butler dedicated his life to serving his country, and his experiences in the heat of battle gave him a unique perspective on war

- WORDS MICHAEL E HASKEW

Chaos reigned on the approach to the town of Tientsin. At the height of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, a multinational military contingent was intent on protecting the international legation in the Chinese capital city of Peking from marauding revolutionaries.

Lieutenant Smedley Butler of the US Marines crouched as Boxer bullets whined around him. When he saw a fellow officer grievously wounded, however, he had to act. Sprinting from the safety of a trench, Butler reached the stricken officer only to be shot in the leg himself. Another brave Marine rushed to them, and he too was wounded. Miraculously, the three Marines dragged themselves to safety.

When the successful Gaselee Expedition had concluded, Butler's mentor and commanding officer, Major Littleton Waller, recommended him for the Medal of Honor for gallantry on 13 July 1900. While four enlisted men did receive their nation’s highest honour for Tientsin, Butler was not eligible since he was a commissioned officer. Instead, he became one of only 20 Marines to receive the Marine Corps Brevet Medal for heroism. The Brevet Medal was not authorised until 1921, and the decoration was presented to Butler soon afterwards.

In Butler's case, the Brevet Medal was equivalent to the Medal of Honor, and it marked a career that would include an extraordinary award of the actual Medal of Honor on two occasions, as well as one of the most controversial military perspectives in US history. Butler served in the US Marine Corps for three decades and during that time participated in numerous actions during the Spanish-American War, the so-called Banana Wars and the First World War.