JUNE 23, 2025 – After Allied troops landed in France in 1944, Army 2nd Lt. John Edward Butts and his unit faced heavy fighting as they tried to seize the continent back from German occupation. Butts gave his life so his fellow soldiers could accomplish that mission. For his sacrifice, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Butts was born Aug. 8, 1922, in Medina, New York, to Jerry and Anna Butts. He had four brothers, all of whom served in World War II.
In his youth, Butts joined the Boy Scouts and became both a patrol leader and a member of its bugle corps. He eventually grew to be almost 6 feet tall and played football at Medina High School.
On Oct. 12, 1939, Butts enlisted in the New York National Guard. A 1945 article in the New York newspaper The Buffalo News stated that he left high school during his senior year to do so but was able to complete his studies while serving and received his diploma in 1942.
Butts was called up to active duty in October 1940. After training at Fort Ord, California, he was stationed in Hawaii before attending officer candidate school. In November 1942, at age 19, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, making him one of the youngest officers in the Army’s ground forces at the time.
Butts was assigned to the 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, and was eventually sent with his unit to fight in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. In October 1943, the division shipped to England to prepare for the invasion of Normandy, France.
On June 11, 1944, five days after the D-Day invasion, the regiment landed on Utah Beach and quickly moved inland to continue the push into German-occupied territory.
Butts was seriously injured three days later, then again, June 16, while leading an attack to set up a bridgehead across the Douve River. Both times, he refused medical attention and remained with his platoon.
A week later, the platoon was near the commune of Flottemanville-Hague when Butts led an assault on a tactically important hillside. The area was heavily defended by German tanks, antitank guns, pillboxes and machine gun nests, as well as concentrated artillery and mortar fire.
Just as the platoon began to attack, Butts was critically injured by machine-gun fire. However, he still rallied his men and directed a squad to approach the Germans from the flank. Butts then went by himself to assault the enemy from the front, drawing the enemy’s fire away from the squad.
Butts was struck again by gunfire, this time in the stomach, but “by grim determination and sheer courage,” according to his Medal of Honor citation, he continued to crawl forward. He got within 10 yards of the enemy when he was hit a third time and died.
Butts’ sacrifice enabled his platoon to take the enemy’s strongpoint. It was a major factor in his battalion’s ability to achieve mission success.
On Aug. 29, 1945, Butts’ parents received the Medal of Honor on their son’s behalf from Army Brig. Gen. Ralph K. Robertson during a ceremony at the Medina Armory, where Butts first enlisted.
Butts was initially buried in Normandy, but his remains were brought back to the U.S. in 1948. He was reinterred at St. Mary’s Cemetery in his hometown.
Butts’ legacy is not forgotten. In 1957, an airfield at Fort Carson, Colorado, was renamed the Butts Army Airfield in his honor. A year later, a street was named for him at Fort Benning, Georgia. A park and a monument in Medina were also dedicated to him in 1980.
Butts’ Medal of Honor and his other service medals are on display at the public library in his hometown.
By Katie Lange, DOD News