Paul Porter Butler was born April 1, 1912 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota to Patrick Henry Butler (1876-1946) and Sepha M (Porter) Butler (1869-1949). Patrick was born in Iowa and Sepha in Illinois. They were married August 23, 1902 in LaMoure, North Dakota and had four children: Helen (1903-1992), Elizabeth (1907-1985), Charles Patrick (1909-1989) and Paul.

The family relocated from North Dakota to Denver, Colorado in 1927. Patrick was a lawyer and Sepha maintained the household. Paul attended and graduated from the University of Denver. He attended graduate school in Colorado studying civil engineering and aerologist engineering at Annapolis.

On December 31, 1938 Paul married Montana Nelle Stewart (1915-2006) in Castle Rock, Colorado. Paul registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 in Denver. He was employed by the US Bureau of Reclamation and was described as 5’11”, 175 with light complexion and brown hair and eyes. His mother is listed as his next of kin.

Paul and Montana had a daughter Jean born about 1942. In Denver on December 16, 1942 he enlisted in the US Navy Reserve. He was a Lieutenant A-V(S) (Aviation Officer) and served at the Adak Naval Air Station in Alaska for nineteen months at the time of his death.

PBY-5A aircraft, Bureau No. 48386, took off from Army Air Base, Cold Bay, Alaska. PBY-5A crashed into the northeast slope of Old Woman Mountain, Naval Air Station, Kodiak, Alaska, at 1331 on 3 October 1945.

During the steep climbing turn to the left after over shooting a downwind attempt to land on runway 25, Lt.Comdr. SMITH, in an attempt to gain sufficient altitude to clear the surrounding hills, pulled the nose of the plane too high and the plane stalled. There was insufficient altitude to recover from the stall and the plane crashed nose first.

Lieutenant Paul Porter BUTLER, A-V(S), USNR, (216261), who was killed in the crash, had been on active duty for a period in excess of thirty days. At date of death he was travelling under orders to report to Naval Air Training Bases, Corpus Christi, Texas. He was a passenger.

Lieutenant BUTLER's body was found in the after bunk compartment. Identification was positively made by Commander Elmer F. LOWRY, (MC), USN, Medical Officer, Naval Operating Base, Kodiak, Alaska.

15 people were on board, 8 were killed instantly.

Lt. Butler was laid to rest in the Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado. He is remembered at the Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora, Colorado (Row 46, Column 4, Panel 3) and the US Navy Memorial, Washington, DC.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice Lt. Butler.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

++http://www.kadiak.org/navy/1945sep_dec.txt++

Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002

Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Ancestry.com. Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, Illinois) · 22 Oct 1945

http://navylog.navymemorial.org/butler-paul-6

www.coloradofreedom.com