William Ormond Butler

William Ormond "Bruce" Butler (23 September 1895 – 29 October 1962) was a United States Army Air Force major general. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in April 1917 and was commissioned in the Field Artillery Branch. After service on the Western Front in World War I, he transferred to the United States Army Air Corps in 1920. During World War II, he commanded the Eleventh Air Force in Alaska.

Early life William Ormond "Bruce" Butler was born in Marshall, Virginia, on 23 September 1895, the son of Robert Ormond Butler, an engineer, and Mary McGeorge Hume. They returned to Mary's ancestral home in Marshall for the birth of each of their three children. The family was living in Marietta, Ohio, where Butler's father was engaged in the construction of a new dam, when Butler heard that Congressman George White was conducting examinations for entry to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Butler passed the examination and secured an alternative appointment, and ultimately secured an admission.

World War I Butler entered West Point on 14 June 1913. He played American football as a lineman on the West Point Cadets football team, which won the annual Army–Navy Game in all four years that he played.

Butler retired from the Army on 31 January 1946 with the rank of major general due to a heart condition.

Death and legacy Over the following years, Butler was frequently hospitalised in the base hospital at Maxwell Air Force Base. He lived on a plantation in Prattville, Alabama nearby Maxwell Air Force Base. In 1962 he flew to Alamo, California, where his daughter Anne lived. He died at her home there on 29 October 1962. He was survived by his wife Helen Daniell, daughter Anne and sons William Ormond Butler Jr. and Edwin D. Butler. He was buried in the local cemetery in his home town of Marshall, Virginia.

Dates of rank