Photograph Album US Marine Occupation of Haiti 1925-26
Photograph Album – US Marine Occupation of Haiti – 1925-26. Photograph Album Documenting the U. Marine Corps Occupation of Haiti. Compiled by Private First Class Forest Paul Kraemer. Almost 300 photographs on about 40 leaves contained in a 10 x 13 album. The photographs range in size from 1.5 x 4.5 to 6.5 x 8.5. About 215 of the photographs document Private Kraemers duty in Haiti with the 2nd Marine Regiment between 1923 and 1925. The remainder of the images show family and friends. The photographs have been attached with mounting corners; several have been reattached with tape. Almost all of the Haiti photographs are captioned in white ink. The photographs and album pages are in nice shape. But has six holes on the front cover where medallions have been removed. The other was likely a Marine Corps Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Several photographs have been removed and a clipped image of the marine detachment from the U. Rochester has been crudely taped to the first page. Kraemers name is inside the front cover. This collection of photographs shows Haitians, Citadel Laferriere, Port au Prince, Cape Haitian, towns and villages, the countryside, views of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, victims of shark attacks, a man with elephantiasis, and most importantly the country’s occupation by the U. The photographs include Marine Corps and Gendarmerie buildings as well as marines parading, training, shooting at the rifle range, relaxing, swimming, playing baseball, and competing in a track and field meet. Several photos show identified U. Navy ships at anchor. Of special interest are images of the Commandant, Major General LeJeune, and the Haitian High Commissioner John Russell (a Marine Corps Brigadier General who would become Commandant). Kraemer apparently was friends with some of the marines assigned to Marine Corps Fourth Air Squadron as a number of the photographs show aircraft JN-4 land planes, an HS-2 seaplane, plane crashes, planes lined up for inspection, etc. As well as birds-eye-views of the country. A highlight of the album is a group of three images showing one of the Marine Corps DH-4B airplanes that set a then-new-long-distance record of 12,500 in late 1923, flying–over three months–to San Francisco and back. Tolusciak, the plane’s co-pilot who would later die in a fiery crash, is shown in two of the photographs. In one of the most despicable uses of military force in America’s history, President Woodrow Wilson deployed the U. Marine Corps to Haiti to protect the financial interests of deserving Democrats and political cronies who owned the National Bank of New York City and the Haitian American Sugar Company. The subsequent occupation was one of the Marine Corps’ most inglorious banana war actions. Although the Marine Corps imposed the strictest of censorship, reports of their heavy-handed subjugation of the Haitians eventually leaked out, and James Weldon Johnson conducted a fact-finding mission in which, among other atrocities, he found. Means merely the hunting of ragged Haitians in the hills with machine guns. The Occupation seized men [to build roads] wherever it could find them, and no able-bodied Haitian was safe from such raids, which most closely resembled the African slave raids of past centuries. Those who protested or resisted were beaten into submission. Armed taskmasters swiftly discouraged any slackening of effort with boot or rifle butt, the victims were herded in compounds. Those attempting to escape were shot. It is chiefly out of these methods that arose the need for pacification. Many men of the rural districts became panic-stricken and fled to the hills and mountains. Others rebelled and did likewise, preferring death to slavery. These refugees largely make up the. Forces, to hunt down which has become the duty and the sport of American Marines, who were privileged to shoot a. Brutalities and atrocities on the part of American marines have occurred with sufficient frequency. Marines talk freely of what they “did” to some Haitians in the outlying districts. I learned from the lips of American Marines themselves of a number of cases of rape of Haitian women by marines. I often sat at tables in the hotels and cafes in company with marine officers and they talked before me without restraint. I remember the description of a. Hunt by one of them; he told how they finally came upon a crowd of natives engaged in the popular pastime of cock-fighting and how they “let them have it” with machine guns and rifle fire. Johnsons report prompted a superficial 1922 Congressional investigation which Johnson accurately noted was on the whole, a whitewash, ignoring testimony of Haitian witnesses, covering up the role of National City Bank, and exonerating the marines, while concluding that the Occupation was all that stood between Haiti and chronic revolution, anarchy, barbarism, and ruin. As retired Marine General Smedley Butler later summarized, War is just a racket. I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues. [and] I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. View My Other Items For Sale. I know that this can be expensive, but I’ve switched to this method because I’ve had too many claims of non-receipt by international buyers. Please don’t assume anything that is not specifically stated or shown on this listing page. This is a Read’Em Again Books sale. We think that you’ll find our prices to be very competitive with other internet book sellers. In addition to a nice selection of Americana, diaries, journals, photograph albums, and other unique personal narratives, we also maintain a small stock of children’s books, illustrated books, unusual non-fiction as well as ephemera, prints, sheet music, maps, and occassionally postcards, antique toys & games, tobacciana, and breweriana. Auctiva Free Image Hosting. Show off your items with Auctiva’s Listing Templates. The item “Photograph Album US Marine Occupation of Haiti 1925-26″ is in sale since Friday, August 26, 2016. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Militaria\1919-38\Original Period Items”. The seller is “ksanftleben” and is located in Dumfries, Virginia. This item can be shipped to United States.