This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt David A. Stutesman
to remember
Marine 1stSgt William Paul Higginson.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Philadelphia
Last Address Rochester, N.Y.
Casualty Date Jun 06, 1918
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location France
Conflict World War I
Location of Interment Mount Hope Cemetery - Rochester, New York
Description The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on the authority of US President Woodrow Wilson. The first invasion forces had already disembarked from USS Montana on January 27, 1914. The July intervention took place following the murder of dictator President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by a mob angered by his political executions of elite opposition.
The occupation ended on August 1, 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of US Marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the Garde d'Haïti.