Herman H . Hanneken Herman Henry Hanneken ( June 23 , 1893 – August 23 , 1986 ) was a United States Marine Corps officer and a recipient of the U . S . military ' s highest decoration , the Medal of Honor . Beginning his career as an enlisted man , Hanneken served in the Banana Wars of the 1910s and 1920s . During the United States occupation of Haiti , he assassinated the resistance leader Charlemagne Péralte , for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor . Subsequently granted a commission , Hanneken served in Haiti for several more months and was awarded a Navy Cross for killing another rebel leader . He received a second Navy Cross for his actions during the occupation of Nicaragua in the late 1920s . After a decade of stateside duty , he served in the Pacific Theater of World War II . During this conflict , he was awarded the Silver Star , the Legion of Merit , and the Bronze Star . He retired in 1948 , after a thirty - four - year career , and was promoted in retirement to brigadier general . Early years and career . Herman Henry Hanneken was born on June 23 , 1893 , in St . Louis , Missouri . He attended the Henrick Preparatory School in that city . He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private in July 1914 , and served the following five years in the enlisted ranks , rising to the rank of sergeant . Occupation of Haiti . The United States invaded Haiti in 1915 and occupied the country for 19 years . In the years following the initial invasion , rebel forces under Charlemagne Péralte conducted an armed resistance to the occupation . On the night of October 31 – November 1 , 1919 , Hanneken assassinated the resistance leader , Péralte . Hanneken was disguised and led into the rebels camp in Northern Haiti by Jean - Baptiste Conze , one of Péralte ' s officers who betrayed the Haitian leader . In the short skirmish that ensued , Hanneken killed Péralte and about 1 , 200 of his followers were killed , captured , or dispersed . Hanneken subsequently circulated a photograph of Péralte ' s half - naked body tied to a door . However , the attempt to intimidate backfired and instead evoked sympathy for Péralte . Hanneken was awarded the Medal of Honor for " extraordinary heroism " and " conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in actual conflict with the enemy " and , in December 1919 , appointed a second lieutenant . In another raid just five months after the death of Charlemagne , he shot and killed Osiris Joseph , another Haitian rebel leader who succeeded Charlemagne . He was awarded the Navy Cross for this act . Upon appointment as a second lieutenant he was assigned to train the Haitian police force , the Gendarmerie . He was ordered to return to the United States in April 1920 , and following his arrival at the Marine Barracks , Quantico , Virginia , he was assigned to a special course at the Marine Corps Schools . 1920s service and occupation of Nicaragua . As a member of the 6th Regiment , First Lieutenant Hanneken sailed for Brazil to participate in the Brazilian Exposition . The unit returned to Quantico in the latter part of 1922 , and several months later , he was transferred to the Marine Detachment , , where he assumed duties as commanding officer . In January 1925 , he was transferred to the Marine Barracks , Naval Air Station Lakehurst , New Jersey , and in April 1927 , was detached to the Marine Barracks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . Again ordered to foreign shore duty in December 1928 , he arrived in Corinto , Nicaragua in January of the following year . Upon his arrival in Nicaragua he was assigned to duty with the 2nd Brigade of Marines . The United States had invaded this Central American country in 1912 and had been occupying it since . A month after his arrival Hanneken captured another leader of the rebel forces resisting the invasion by the United States . He was awarded his second Navy Cross for " bringing in " General José María Jirón Ruano , the Guatemalan Chief of Staff of the Nicaraguan General Augusto César Sandino . Service in the 1930s . In July 1930 , Hanneken returned to Quantico to attend the Company Officers ' Course at the Marine Corps Schools . Upon graduation in January of the next year , he was transferred to the Marine Corps Base at San Diego , California , and later to the Naval Base , at San Pedro , California . His next assignment found him at the Marine Barracks , Mare Island , California , in August 1936 , where during his tour of duty he was appointed a major . Major Hanneken was ordered to Quantico in June 1938 , and two months later reported for a course of instruction at that base in the Senior Course , Marine Corps Schools . From June 1939 to December 1940 , he was Commanding Officer , Marine Barracks , Naval Ammunition Depot , Hingham , Massachusetts . He was next ordered to New York to assume command of the Marine Detachment aboard the with additional duties as Transport Quartermaster . World War II and later life . He served with the 1st Marine Division from June 1941 until November 1944 , when he returned to the United States to command the 2nd Infantry Training Regiment and the Headquarters Battalion , at Camp Pendleton , Oceanside , California . While with the famed 1st Marine Division his duties were varied . While Commanding Officer of the 7th Marines during the Guadalcanal campaign he was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy . During the Peleliu action he received the Legion of Merit for meritorious conduct in action , and during the Cape Gloucester operation he was decorated with the Bronze Star . In September 1945 , he was assigned as commanding officer of the Staging Regiment at the Marine Training and Replacement Command , San Diego Area , prior to his transfer to the Troop Training Unit , Amphibious Forces , Pacific Fleet . It was as Chief of Staff of that organization that he was transferred to the retired list for Marine Corps Officers . He retired on July 1 , 1948 , concluding a thirty - four - year career in the Marine Corps . He was advanced to his final rank of brigadier general upon his retirement for having been specially commended for service in actual combat . Brigadier General Hanneken died on August 23 , 1986 at the Veterans Hospital in LaJolla , California , and was buried with honors four days later at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery , San Diego , California . He was 93 years old . Medal of Honor citation . HANNEKEN , Herman Henry 2nd Lieutenant , U . S . Marine Corps G . O . Navy Department , No . 536 June 10 , 1920 Citation : For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in actual conflict with the enemy near GRANDE RIVIERE , Republic of Haiti , on the night of October 31st - November 1st , 1919 , resulting in the death of Charlemange Peralte , the supreme bandit chief in the Republic of Haiti , and the killing and capture and dispersal of about 1200 of his outlaw followers . Second Lieutenant Hanneken not only distinguished himself by his excellent judgement and leadership , but unhesitatingly exposed himself to great personal danger , and the slightest error would have forfeited not only his life but the lives of the detachments of Gendarmerie under his command . The successful termination of his mission will undoubtedly prove of untold value to the Republic of Haiti .