John E Butts
John was born on the 4th of August, 1922, in Medina, New York, where he and his five brothers were raised and attended Medina High School. John played football in school and he joined the Army National Guard at the age of 17 in 1939. He trained at Fort McClellan in Alabama, was then assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 108th Infantry, and was sent to Hawaii in February of 1942. John then attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on the 29th of November, 1942, at the age of 19.
John was deployed in support of the South African Campaign, at his request, and went on to fight in the Invasion of Sicily, where he was the platoon leader of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. His actions during the Battle of Normandy not only found him wounded three times, but his actions would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
Lieutenant Butts heroically led his platoon against the enemy in Normandy, France, on 14, 16, and 23 June 1944. Despite being painfully wounded on the 14th near Orglandes and again on the 16th while spearheading an attack to establish a bridgehead across the Douve River, he refused medical aid and remained with his platoon. A week later, near Flottemanville Hague, he led an assault on a tactically important and stubbornly defended hill studded with tanks, anti-tank guns, pillboxes, and machine gun emplacements, and protected by concentrated artillery and mortar fire. As the attack was launched, Lieutenant Butts, at the head of his platoon, was critically wounded by German machinegun fire. Although weakened by his injuries, he rallied his men and directed one squad to make a flanking movement while he alone made a frontal assault to draw the hostile fire upon himself. Once more he was struck, but by grim determination and sheer courage continued to crawl ahead. When within ten yards of his objective, he was killed by direct fire. By his superb courage, unflinching valor and inspiring actions, Lieutenant Butts enabled his platoon to take a formidable strong point and contributed greatly to the success of his battalion's mission.
When John died, he was only ten yards from his objective and while the entire German force had concentrated on stopping him, the squads that he had ordered to flank them successfully took the hill. John's five brothers all served in the military during the war and his brother Charles was stationed nearby at the time of his death. He was able to visit him before he was buried in the US Military Cemetery in Sainte-Mere-Eglise on the 25th of June, 1944. His Medal of Honor was issued posthumously on the 19th of July, making him the first of his division to receive it, and John Edwards Butts was disinterred four years later and brought back to the States and was re-interred into the St Mary's Cemetery in Medina, NY on the 7th of July, 1948 with a full military escort.
