The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Edward Butler.

The Wall › Panel 12W › North Carolina › James Edward Butler

JAMES EDWARD BUTLER

Chief Warrant Officer 3 · U.S. Army

June 13, 1936 – March 20, 1970

Service record

James Edward Butler, of Buies Creek, North Carolina, served as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the U.S. Army. He was lost on March 20, 1970, in South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 12W, Line 24 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 12W · Line 24

Position of Panel 12W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
June 13, 1936
Home of record
Buies Creek, North Carolina (Harnett County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 20, 1970
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Presumed Dead
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
First reported
Missing

Context · from the records

What was happening

20 names on the Wall carry the date March 20, 1970. In March 1970, 625 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 35 of its members that month.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 12W, Line 24

Same unit, same day

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.