Hometown: Durand, IL
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Company B, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Amphibious Force
Military Honors: Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: May 16, 1967 - KIA near Quảng Trị Province, Republic of Vietnam 
Age: 18
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

At Durand High School, George Butler was a letterman in football and track, sang in the chorus, and was vice president of his senior class. He also found time to work for the Durand Gazette newspaper as a pressman.

Durand was a small village in Illinois with fewer than 1,000 residents at the time, near the Wisconsin border. He grew up there with his two older brothers, Tim and John, and their parents John Sr. and Mary (Keough) Butler.

After graduating from high school in the spring of 1966, George enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in September of that year. Butler chose to serve his country as the war in Vietnam (1959-1975) was becoming more costly and difficult.

For the first time, images directly from the battlefield were broadcast on television, into American homes. By the mid-1960s, an anti-war movement was growing on college campuses.

Butler was sent first to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in California for Basic Training. He then went to Camp Pendleton, California for Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) as an anti-tank assaultman.

Because of the growing need for manpower in the expanding conflict, the Marine Corps reduced the number of training weeks for both boot camp and specialized training. Butler was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Amphibious Force.

According to Marine Corps University’s History Division:

The year [1966] had brought a major buildup of U.S. Marine forces in Vietnam. Nearly 70,000 Marines were now in country; almost double the number from the [previous] year. The hopes of the Marine commanders that increased troop strength would defeat the enemy proved unrealistic…The 3d Marine Division was fighting a more conventional campaign against the North Vietnamese Army near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the north of I Corps while the 1st Marine Division engaged in more counter-guerrilla operations in Southern I Corps.

Before deploying to Vietnam, PFC Butler was sent home for a brief leave. He then returned to Pendleton for Staging Battalion prior to flying to Vietnam, where his 3rd Marine Division prepared to launch Operation Hickory.

One day before his 19th birthday—May 16, 1967—Butler was firing a 3.5" anti-tank “Super Bazooka” rocket launcher on an enemy bunker complex near Quảng Trị. He was fatally wounded by small arms fire to the chest. The notification to PFC Butler’s parents described the incident as “hostile rifle fire while participating in an operation against hostile forces.”

PFC George R. Butler was laid to rest in his hometown. He is honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., where his name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 6.

Despite losing George, older brother John enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from the University of Illinois a month later.

Sources
Photo and story details provided by Mr. John Butler, PFC Butler’s brother.
Freeport Journal-Standard, May 25, 1967: 18-Year-Old Durand Pfc. Dies In Action
The Davis Leader, May 26, 1967: George Butler First Casualty
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund—The Wall of Faces: George Richard Butler
Vietnam Veterans Memorial—The Virtual Wall: George Richard Butler
Honor States: George Richard Butler
Burial Site: Find a Grave

< Previous Hero | Next Hero >