Faustin E. Wirkus

Faustin Edmond Wirkus (; 16 November 1896 – 8 October 1945) was a Polish-American United States Marine stationed in Haiti during the United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934). He was reputedly crowned Faustin II, King of La Gonâve, a Haitian island west of Hispaniola, by Queen Ti Memenne of La Gonâve on 18 July 1926, and co-ruled as monarch for three years until he was transferred by the United States Marine Corps to the United States mainland in 1929.

Early life

According to an official biography, The earliest known record of his birth is found in the 1900 United States Census, where he is found with his family in Brooklyn, New York. He is listed as "Palestine Weirkus" born November 1896 in Poland Russia. His younger brother Stephen Weirkus is listed as being three months old and born in New York state. Therefore Faustin was either born in Rypin (Poland), or born in Brooklyn, but not in Dupont, Luzerne, Pennsylvania. He most likely felt that he was 'from' this area as that is where his formative years were spent.

He and his parents settled in Dupont, Pennsylvania in approximately 1905, a coal mining community northwest of Wilkes-Barre, where he was raised. During his service in the Marine Corps, he was promoted to a lieutenant in the Garde d'Haiti, commanding a squad of native troops on La Gonâve. After rescuing a young woman in trouble, he found out that she was Queen Timemenne of La Gonâve. He was welcomed by the population as Timemenne had told them how kind he was to her, and in part, due to the unusual circumstance that he had the same first name as the former emperor of Haiti, Faustin Soulouque, later known as Faustin I ("Faustin the First"), who died in 1867. The natives proclaimed him Faustin II in a Voodoo ritual He became known for dispensing ready but gentle justice.

Later life Wirkus left the Marine Corps in 1931 as a Gunnery Sergeant. He returned to the Marine Corps in 1939 as a recruiting specialist where he rose to the rank of Marine Gunner (Infantry Weapons Officer, 0306). In 1944 he was appointed an aviation gunnery instructor at the Chapel Hill, North Carolina Navy Pre-Flight School. He died at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital.

Wirkus is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In popular culture

Wirkus wrote an autobiographical account of his time in Haiti, with Taney Dudley and an introduction by William Seabrook, entitled The White King of La Gonave: The True Story of the Sergeant of Marines Who Was Crowned King on a Voodoo Island, published by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc. in 1931.

A 1933 featurette titled Voodoo produced by Sol Lesser featured Wirkus telling his story.