Honor the Warrior... Not the War

 

In preparation for each of our housesits, we usually research the area we're going to visit - both its history and points of interest to see and do. For our sit in West Chester PA, as Jer was going through this process, he read about the colorful career of Major General Smedley Butler who grew up in the area and is buried in a nearby cemetery.  He's quite a guy! According to

Wikipedia, "At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism; he is the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions."  

He was considered to be so effective that in 1924 he was given a leave of absence from the military to serve as Philadelphia's director of public safety. In this capacity, he was in charge of running the city's police and fire departments; within 48 hours of taking over, Butler organized raids on more than 900 speakeasies, ordering that they be padlocked and destroyed in many cases. In addition to raiding the speakeasies, he also attempted to eliminate other illegal activities, including bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, and police corruption.  Turns out that the city politicians and other power brokers  thought he was doing his job too well and he was, in essence,  fired. He then rejoined the Marines.

General Butler was a charismatic and outspoken character, always projecting his version of truth, sometimes to his own detriment; "Prior to World War II, Butler spoke out against what he saw as admiration for Fascism and for Italy´s leader Benito Mussolini. He was punished for telling an unfavorable story about Mussolini, avoiding court-martial only by accepting a reprimand. Because of his rank, he was able to write his own reprimand and never apologized to Mussolini."

Butler's advocacy for the soldiers under his command (whom he presented as the true heroes of military conflicts) was renowned and he continued that advocacy after his retirement in 1931. The most noteworthy was when he spoke to angry and desperate WWI veterans in 1932 when they marched on Washington DC. Many had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression and were understandably upset about the conditions they came home to. Instead of helping them:  "While Congress eventually appropriated $100,000 to send the protestors home, they were first dispersed by troops led by Brig. Gen. Perry L. Miles and accompanied by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. Army chief of staff, who drove out the demonstrators and destroyed their encampments, using tanks and tear gas. One veteran was shot to death, and several veterans and policemen were wounded." ("Bonus Army")

After his military career Butler became more and more disillusioned with the business of war. He stated in 1933; "I served (the United States) in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."

Butler was also probably one of the first whistleblowers in modern history. "In 1934, Butler went before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to expose a conspiracy against the government. He had been recruited by a group of wealthy Pro-Fascists who had hoped to use him in a coup against President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He went along, gathering intelligence about the plot, and took it to Congress. Butler’s assertions were not aggressively pursued, and the matter was largely dismissed. However, an internal report to Congress from HUAC confirmed the veracity of the plot." Americans Who Tell The Truth, Business Plot

The summation of his beliefs and allegations is contained in his 1935 book titled, "War is a Racket." Both of us was in the midst of reading that book when we arrived in West Chester and one of our house hosts (a recently retired social studies teacher) gave Jer a tour of the town.  After touring the historic downtown district Jer inquired as to where Butler was buried.  The car slowed down and he gave Jer a shocked expression, "Do you mean Smedley Butler? Did my wife put you up to this!?" Jer smiled and refuted the accusation, "No, I'm actually reading his book and would love to visit his gravesite.  Our host nodded with a slight smile and we drove to the Oaklands Cemetery where he is buried.

The cemetery dates back to the mid 1800's and my host pointed out historical markers along the way, slowly stopping in front of Major General Smedley Darlington Butler's gravesite.  After doing all that research on Butler it was actually moving to visit his final resting place.  Later in the week, Phyl voiced interest in visiting him and we returned, saying a quiet prayer in his honor and reflecting on his accomplishments. 

To quote the historian George Dillard, "For the last six years of his life — he died of cancer in 1940 (one year before the start of US involvement in WWII) — Smedley Butler dedicated himself to touring the country and telling Americans what he had learned in his career. And he had learned some lessons we would do well to listen to today. He learned that war was too often boosted by people who would make a profit off of it, but the real price was always paid by soldiers both during and after war — in his words, “the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.” That democracy is fragile, even in the United States, and that adverse conditions could put our system of government in danger. That the United States’ foreign policy is not always high-minded and morally pure, and that Americans often do not understand the causes or the effects of our foreign policy. Even though he was there at the very beginning of America’s interventionist period, he saw pretty clearly what was coming and what the costs would be."

We both wonder - how would Smedley Butler and his ideals be treated in the current political climate? Food for thought...

PS: For those of our readers who served, or who are serving in the military, you probably already know the significance of the pennies we left on Butler's headstone, for those who do not, just click the following link to find out more... Coins on Military Graves.