CWO Jame Butler was finally laid to rest April 30, 2000 at a local cemetery in
Lillington, NC.
BUTLER, JAMES EDWARD
REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04 SEPT 97
CWO Jame Butler was finally laid to rest April 30, 2000 at a local cemetery in
Lillington, NC.
Name: James Edward Butler
Rank/Branch: W1/US Army
Unit: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 214th Aviation Battalion, 164th
Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade
Date of Birth: 13 June 1936 (Lillington NC)
Home City of Record: Buies Creek NC
Date of Loss: 20 March 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 095900N 1062045E (XS475038)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1G
Refno: 1575
Other Personnel In Incident: Robert G. Cozart (remains returned)
REMARKS: IR SAYS BOTH CREWMEMBERS KILLED
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 2000.
SYNOPSIS: On March 20, 1970, Capt. Robert G. Cozart, pilot, and WO James E.
Butler departed Vinh Long, South Vietnam aboard an O1G (serial #51-12899) at
1016 hours on a visual reconnaissance mission over Vinh Binh Province with a
stop at the Province capitol of Phu Vinh. At 1028 hours, a radio
transmission was received from WO Butler advising the Team 72 Tactical
Operations Center that they were airborne and en route to Tra Vinh. This was
the last communication with the crew. The aircraft never landed at Tra Vinh.
Upon receiving notification that the aircraft was missing, a province-wide
search was initiated. All immediate search efforts were unsuccessful.
Vietnamese civilians, however, reported that an aircraft had been downed in
the vicinity of Tra Vinh. Local forces with U.S. advisors, U.S. troops,
coastal patrol boats and light aircraft conducted extensive search efforts
from March 20 through March 27. During the search efforts, one control
communications set and one control radio set were located, but were never
identified as positively being from Capt. Cozart's aircraft. However, they
were of the sort used on the O1G.
According to Butler's wife, a Vietnamese civilian had reported the crash,
prompting the search in the area. Another Vietnamese civilian report
indicated that the pilot of the plane (Cozart) had been killed in the crash
and the Viet Cong killed or wounded the other crewman (Butler) and either
took the bodies to cang Long Base area for display or threw them into the
river and dismantled the aircraft. Another Vietnamese civilian report
indicated that part of the plane was located but a September 21, 1970,
search was aborted due to booby traps. The tail section of the aircraft was
finally recovered and identified October 23, 1970.
The United States Government has classified both Cozart and Butler as
"Category 1," which means that there is certain evidence to indicate that
the enemy forces know the fate of the Americans. In the Peace agreement
signed in Paris in 1973, the Vietnamese agreed to release all American
prisoners of war and account for the missing. They have not done so. The
U.S. Government has named the return and accounting of Americans "highest
national priority", yet has dealt with the issue with less than "high
priority."
On August 1, 1989, the U.S. announced that remains returned by the
Vietnamese had been positively identified as those of Buster Cozart. It is
has been widely known for several years that the Vietnamese maintain a large
store of remains from which to select shipments to the U.S. when it is
politically favorable to do so. Buster Cozart - living or dead - was a
prisoner of war for nearly 20 years. Although the uncertainty his family has
had to endure is now at an end, they may never know how - or when - Buster
died. The fate of James E. Butler remained unknown until years later.
===========================
Monday, May 1, 2000
Friends, family bid farewell to Vietnam War casualty Butler
By Allison Williams
Staff writer
LILLINGTON -- James E. "Jimmy" Butler is home from the Vietnam War.....
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000rDTRYEA4
On September 4, 1997, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Warrant Officer 3
James Edward Butler, missing from the Vietnam War.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Butler joined the U.S. Army from North
Carolina and was a member of the 199th Aviation Company. On
March 20, 1970, he was an observer aboard an O-1G Bird Dog on a
visual reconnaissance mission over Vinh Binh Province, Vietnam.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Butler's aircraft went down for unknown
reasons at some point during the mission, and he was killed in
the incident. Search and rescue efforts were launched when the
Bird Dog failed to return, but were unsuccessful. In April 1989,
the Vietnamese government returned a set of unidentified remains
to U.S. custody. In 1997, modern advances in forensic techniques
allowed for the returned remains to be identified as those of
CW3 Butler.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Butler is memorialized on the Courts of
the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.