Faustin E Wirkus

Faustin Edmond Wirkus (born 16 November 1896, Pittston, Pennsylvania – died 8 October 1945, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.) was a Polish-American U.S. 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, on 18 July 1926, and ruled until he was transferred by the United States Marine Corps to the United States mainland in 1929.

According to an "official biography," Wirkus was born in 1896 in Rypin, a small town located in eastern Prussia, now in Poland, however, numerous ship passenger lists (records of the U.S. Customs Service) show his correct birth place as Pittston, Pennsylvania. He and his parents settled in Dupont, Pennsylvania, a coal mining community northwest of Wilkes-Barre, where he was raised.

During his service in the United States 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. Somewhat bizarrely, the natives proclaimed him Faustin II in a Voodoo ritual and he ruled jointly with Queen Timemenne for three years. He became known for dispensing ready but gentle justice.

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. Seabrook also published Wirkus' account of the occupation in his travel narrative, The Magic Island.

Wirkus is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.