Faustin E. Wirkus

Faustin Edmond Wirkus (1896 – 8 October 1945) was a Polish-American U.S. Marine stationed in Haiti during the U.S. Occupation (1915-1934).[1][2] After rescuing a young woman in trouble he found out that she was Queen Timemenne of La Gonâve.

Promoted to a lieutenant in the Haitian Garde he was officer commanding a squad of native troops on La Gonâve, he was welcomed by the population as Timemenne had told them how kind he was to her. Somewhat bizarrely the natives proclaimed him Faustin II and he ruled jointly with Queen Timemenne for eight years.[3][4] He became known for dispensing ready but gentle justice.[5]

William Seabrook published Wirkus' account of the occupation in his travel narrative, The Magic Island.[6]

References

  1. ↑ National Affairs: Marine King - TIME
  2. ↑ Marine Corps Institute (U.S.)., Leatherneck Association, Marine Corps Association Volume 62 1979
  3. ↑ The White King of La Gonâve, Faustin Wirkus, Taney Keplinger Dudley, 1931 Doubleday, Doran & Company, inc.
  4. ↑ Department of the Navy -Naval Historical Society
  5. ↑ Haiti; the politics of squalor, Robert I. Rotberg, Christopher K. Clague 1971
  6. ↑ Renda, Mary. Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001, 4.