William Robert Button

William Robert Button (December 3, 1895 – April 15, 1921) was a United States Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the assassination of Haitian nationalist leader Charlemagne Péralte in 1919 during the United States occupation of Haiti.

Career Button was born December 3, 1895, in St. Louis, Missouri. By October 1919, he was serving as a corporal in the United States Marine Corps and was stationed in Haiti during its occupation by the United States. Button also held the rank of first lieutenant in the Gendarmerie of Haiti, the country's internal security force consisting mostly of native troops.

One of the key figures in the Haitian resistance to the occupation was Charlemagne Péralte, who commanded some 5,000 Cacos rebels. After an unsuccessful raid on Port-au-Prince on October 6, 1919, Péralte was planning another attack on the Gendarmerie in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord several weeks later. Marine Corps Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken (who held the rank of captain in the Gendarmerie) formulated a plan to assassinate Péralte. For a fee, former Grande-Rivière-du-Nord police chief Jean-Baptiste Conzé told the Marines that Péralte was garrisoned at Fort Capois in the mountains near Sainte-Suzanne. A staged attack by Hanneken on Conzé in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, "won" by Conzé, established the Haitian informer's credibility with Péralte.

On the evening of October 31, 1919, Hannekin and Button dressed in Cacos clothing and blackened their skin with cork ash, blending into a band of disguised Gendarmes led by Conzé. They successfully passed through six Cacos outposts, with Hannekin's fluency in Haitian Creole bolstering the ruse, though Button's accent and Browning Automatic Rifle, recognized by Cacos scouts as a "white man's gun," threatened their cover. Reaching Péralte's camp, Conzé provided the correct password for entry, and spotting Péralte, Hannekin fatally shot him twice in the chest with his .45 caliber pistol, while Button used his rifle to cut down Péralte's bodyguards. After repelling repeated Cacos attacks throughout the night, the Marines strapped Péralte's corpse to a mule and made their way back to Grande-Rivière-du-Nord.

Aftermath and death For their roles in the daring assassination, both Hanneken and Button were awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented by General John A. Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1920.

A United States Naval Ship, the USNS Sgt. William R. Button entered service in 1986 and named in Button's honor.