BRIGADIER GENERAL
JESSE FARLEY DYER, USMC (DECEASED)
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Original General Order

Brigadier General Jesse F. Dyer, who earned the Medal of Honor in the 1914 occupation of Vera Cruz, died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 31 March 1955 at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Corona, California. He was buried in a National Cemetery near San Diego.

Captain Dyer earned the Nation’s highest decoration on 21-22 April 1914, when a Marine and Naval landing force occupied Vera Cruz after the arrest of U.S. sailors touched off a crisis between the United States and Mexico.

Born 2 December 1877, in St. Paul, Minnesota, he served with the 13th Minnesota Infantry during the Spanish-American War. He was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant in 1903, and before the action at Vera Cruz, he served at sea and in the Philippines, Cuba, and Panama.

During World War I, he was Aide to the Governor of the Virgin Islands. He then served on expeditionary duty in Haiti and China during the 1920s and early 1930s. Before he retired in 1937, he trained officers and was in charge of recruiting at Parris Island, South Carolina.

He was advanced to brigadier general on the retired list in 1942, when Congress passed the law providing for the promotion of retired officers who have been specially commended in combat.

Vera Cruz 1914 Medal of Honor