CHARLES T. BUTLER, CDR, USN

Charles Butler '53

Date of birth: October 16, 1928

Date of death: June 14, 1967

Age: 38

Lucky Bag

From the 1953 Lucky Bag:

CHARLES THOMAS BUTLER

Paintsville, Kentucky

'Uncle Charlie' was born and raised near the stills of Kentucky. Before coming to Navy, he attended the University of Kentucky and Carnegie Institute of Technology with a 19 month hitch in the Marine Corps thrown in between. Being a great lover ... of sports, he made the varsity sub squad two years. In his spare moments, he read the newspaper, memorizing it from cover to cover. C.T. would have preferred "Lost John and his allied Kentuckians" for the Bing Dance, so it was no small wonder that his wives removed the tubes from the radio on the days that the "Bancroft Moonshiners" broadcast. The most hilarious event of the year; Charlie and Portuguese with a Kentucky accent.

CHARLES THOMAS BUTLER

Paintsville, Kentucky

'Uncle Charlie' was born and raised near the stills of Kentucky. Before coming to Navy, he attended the University of Kentucky and Carnegie Institute of Technology with a 19 month hitch in the Marine Corps thrown in between. Being a great lover ... of sports, he made the varsity sub squad two years. In his spare moments, he read the newspaper, memorizing it from cover to cover. C.T. would have preferred "Lost John and his allied Kentuckians" for the Bing Dance, so it was no small wonder that his wives removed the tubes from the radio on the days that the "Bancroft Moonshiners" broadcast. The most hilarious event of the year; Charlie and Portuguese with a Kentucky accent.

Loss

Charles was lost on June 14, 1967 when died of injuries sustained following ejection from his damaged RA-5C Vigilante near Naval Air Station Sanford, Florida.

Other Information

From the September-October 1967 issue of Shipmate:

Cdr. Charles T. Butler, USN, died on 14 June as the result of injuries suffered in an aircraft accident at the Naval Air Station, Sanford, Fla. He was undergoing refresher training in the RA-5C Vigilante in preparation for carrier qualifications and subsequent assignment as executive officer of Reconnaissance Attack Squadron Nine in USS SARATOGA at the time of the accident. Memorial services were held at Paintsville, Ky., his home town, with interment in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on the 20th.
Cdr. Butler was posthumously promoted to the rank of commander on 20 June. He had attended Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Kentucky, and served in the Marine Corps before entering the Naval Academy, from where he was graduated in 1953. He served in USS INGRAHAM, then completed basic air training at Pensacola, Fla., followed by advanced training at Corpus Christi, Tex.
He had duty with Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 8, Attack Squadron 151 as electronics and special weapons officer, then became assistant training officer on the staff of Commander Fleet Air at Alameda. Following a two-year course at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, Calif., he became weapons officer, U. S. Naval Weapons Evaluation Facility at Kirkland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, N. M.
He was awarded the Air Medal and Navy Commendation Medal for meritorious performance of duty during combat flights performed in Vietnam with Reconnaissance Attack Squadron Five, and also held the United Nations and Korean Theatre Medals. He joined the staff of Commander Reconnaissance Attack Wing 1 in May 1966.
He is survived by his widow, Barbara Ann, and five children, Sharon Kaye, Mary Lee, Richard Wallace, John Charles and Robert Winston, of 108 Crystal View South, Sanford, Fl.; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Butler of 520 Highland Ave., Paintsville, Ky.

From Wikipedia (Naval Air Station Sanford):

On June 14, 1967, RA-5C BuNo 149314, assigned to Reconnaissance Attack Squadron THREE (RVAH-3), crashed at NAS Sanford during Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP). During a touch-and-go landing, the aircraft sustained in-flight ingestion of a loose clamp into the starboard engine with subsequent foreign object damage (FOD) and fire. Both crewmen ejected. The pilot, CDR Charles Thomas Butler, was killed; the Naval Flight Officer/Reconnaissance Attack Navigator (NFO/RAN), ENS John B. Smith, survived.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.