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| Clifton Lewis Butler, Jr. |
| No. 13213 • 19 August 1920 – 11 September 1991 |
| Died in Salt Lake City, Utah, aged 71 years |
| Interment: Salt Lake City Mausoleum (cremation) |
 BORN IN MUKOGEE, OKLAHOMA, Cliff Butler got some college under his belt at Oklahoma A & M before entering USMA via 1942 and Sully’s. He also had considerable scouting experience, and his musical background covered both playing and arranging in dance bands of the era. As our Howitzer notes, Cliff had little trouble in our class. He became the brigade color sergeant, played in the Cadet Concert Orchestra for four years, and was active all four years in the Debating Society. Yet, as he himself would mention, he liked solitary pursuits and was a member of the Fishing Club. Graduating just above the middle of the class, he chose Anti-Aircraft Artillery.
Cliff was a battery commander when the 128th AAAW Battalion joined Third Army, and he started a trek across France, Germany, and Austria supporting various Armored Divisions of Patton’s Forces. By January 1945, he was a major and battalion executive, with a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After combat ended, he spent the next two years attached to the Consulate in Munich, looking after 250,000 displaced persons. It was there he met and married Pat, mother of his two children. In 1947, he transferred to the Air Force, got a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering at Michigan, and started a long career with guided missiles and the space program. In 1952, he left the Pentagon for four years at Holloman Air Force Base doing missile testing for future space flights; it won him an Air Force Commendation Medal.
From Florida, Cliff moved to Fort Douglas, Utah, to be the deputy commander of the Desert Test Center. Here he met and married Dot, his wife and companion for the next twenty-three years. His final move was back to DARPA in 1968, where he worked on devices to help the troops see better in the jungles of Vietnam. During that critical period of the war, he traveled back and forth to Saigon with improved devices for the ground troops. In 1969, he was finally retired for physical disability; however, he continued his space work as project manager within Owens-Illinois, designing and emplacing a 36-inch telescope for a C 141 aircraft, a job requested by NASA. Later, for more than ten years, he worked for the Small Business Administration, advising persons going into business or those who were in trouble. He also was a volunteer at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center for many years. The retirement years were good ones for Cliff, despite heart problems, bypass surgery, and an artificial knee. He became an expert on Space-A travel and found a gift for languages in his travels. Cliff is survived by his wife Dot, his son Cliff III, his daughter Susan Styger, three stepchildren, and 12 grandchildren. As his son and daughter said in Cliff’s eulogy, “Mankind — not just family and friends — is at a loss with his passing, but all have gained so much by his living. A beacon of light has dimmed. Our hero is gone. Our father, Colonel Clifton L. Butler, Jr.” — Classmates |
Originally published in ASSEMBLY, November 1992 |
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In 1959, Cliff went to Vandenberg AFB to activate and command the 6594 Satellite Launch Squadron, which made the first “Blue Suit” DOD Satellite Launch. Two years later, he came back to Andrews as executive officer to the Deputy in USAF Systems Command (basically in Research & Development); by then he wore eagles. Then it was back to the 6595 Aerospace Test Wing, with jobs in personnel, manpower, testing, and plans. The first heart attack hit him during this period. A transfer to Patrick Air Force Base for two years resulted in a Legion of Merit for work involved with the increasing accuracy of the Minuteman Missile.