Helen Ebling Daniell and William Ormond Butler
WILLIAM ORMOND BUTLER, son of MARY MCGEORGE HUME and ORMOND BUTLER, was born September 23, 1895 in Marshall, Fauquier, Virginia,456 and died October 29, 1962 in Alamo, Contra Costa, California.250, 4207 He is buried in Marshall Cemetery, Fauquier County, Virginia.456
He married HELEN EBLING DANIELL on April 26, 1917.2565 She was born February 4, 1892,456 and died December 26, 1973.456 She is buried in Marshall Cemetery, Fauquier County, Virginia.456
Children of HELEN EBLING DANIELL and WILLIAM ORMOND BUTLER:
Personal Information
William O. Butler
- graduated from United States Military Academy West Point, New York in April 20, 19174207, 6615
- served in the United States Air Force from 1917-1946 and retired as a Major General4207
Military Service
William O. Butler
Newspaper Articles
Cincinnati Enquirer, April 15, 19176615
Ohio Boasts of Four Cadets Who Will Be Commissioned
West Point, N. Y., April 15. — Of the 130 cadets who will be graduated prematurely on April 20, four of them are from the commonwealth of Ohio. They are H. A. Nisley, W. O. Butler, C. D. Lewis, and P. W. York. All four of these young men, who have spent the best part of four years at the Military Academy, will be commissioned as Lieutenants in the regular army. They are likely to get the rank of First Lieutenant, too, for the huge army to be formed will take every available man for appointment in the Officers' Corps, and the West Point class of 1917 is certainly the best trained and most likely lot of the great number to be commissioned.
The Ohio cadets who are going out in April instead of June, as was planned, are a popular quartet at the academy. Butler, is a football man with a national reputation. He has played tackle on the Army eleven four years and was one of the best of the many men who have filled that position in Army football.
William Ormond Butler is 21 years old, and represents the Fifteenth Ohio District. His home is at Marietta, Washington County. He, too, was admitted June 14, 1913. Butler also ran high in the class standing. At the last published roll he was No. 24. In philosophy he stood 16, in chemistry 15, in drawing 53, in engineering 23, in law 41, in spanish 81, in ordnance and gunnery 48. He is a Sergeant in H Company.
Wilmington Morning Star, July 28, 19183886
CAPT. BUTLER DECORATED.
Nephew of C. M. Butler Tells of The Live "Over There."
Decorated with the Croix de Guerre, Capt. William O. Butler, of Balloon Americain, B.2, a nephew of C. M. Butler, of this city, has just returned to his home in Philadelphia from the European battlefront, and the North American of that city prints an excellent half-tone cut of the officer with an interesting interview, giving some impressions of the life "over there" where so many brave American boys are even now battling for the cause of humanity.
The North American says that Capt. Butler "doesn't understand why he got it and he'd like you to get the impression that it was due to some mistake, but failing that he hopes that you will believe citations are just handed round like ice cream, in France, after the day's work is done." But with the assistance of his wife, the captain was induced to talk. His decoration is signed by General Passaga and was pinned on the young captain's breast by Commander Masquier. Capt. Butler graduated from West Point in the class of 1917 and was sent almost immediately to France where he was transferred from the artillery and made artillery observer with one of the French baloon units. In August he got his captaincy and was made commandant of the first company of America Ballon observers.
Captain Butler in the Philadelphia paper pays high tribute to the Americans who have gone into the air service; he says they take to it as little boys take naturally to swimming. "Do our men hate the Germans, really hate, you want to know?" he put to the interviewer. "Well all I need to say to you is that our men have been in France; that's the answer. Anyone who's been in France has got just about one big wish left in him and that's to kill Huns to the limit. Oh, don't you bother about our guys not wanting to get into it from real down-right hate! Their fingers just itch on their guns when they see some of the things the gentle Hun has done."
Capt. Butler is to remain in the country for a few months overseeing instruction work at one of the camps and then will be back to his company in France. "Do I want to go?" he asked. "You bet I do! And that in spite of that little new first baby that came after I left and was five months old when I first saw it."
Obituaries
Major General William O. Butler, USAF (Ret), died in California at the home of his daughter Anne, Mrs. Gerard Grady, on 27 October 1962 at the age of 67. He had flown to California with Helen, his wife, from Montgomery, Ala. after having been recently released from the Maxwell Air Force Base Hospital. Burial was with full military honors by the Air Force at his home town and birth place, Marshall, Va. He was the first of the Class of 1917 to join the Air Service and the last of those intrepid ones to survive.
Bruce’s father, a civil engineer, and his mother both having deep family roots in the State of Virginia returned to the ancestral Monterey Farm home for the birth of each of their three children. This farm had been in the possession of his mother's family since before the American Revolution. The present home was built in 1867 on the foundations of the old home.
The family was living in Marietta, Ohio where the father was building a dam when Bruce learned that Congressman George White of that District, later Governor of Ohio, was holding examinations for the United States Military Academy. Bruce was given an alternate appointment and was successful in gaining admission.
As one of the youngest members of the Class of 1917, "He still has”, as Louie Ford, a teammate but who played in the back field wrote, “the distinction of playing on the team that defeated the Navy in football all four years of his cadet days. This was made possible by a stalwart forward wall where Bruce played. His alert, superb and hard driving force as a lineman helped carry the Army team and in our First Class year it was the best team of all. Bruce was a quiet fellow who needed little urging but had that indominable will to do more than his share. He was never found wanting when the play came his way.”
Bruce kept growing throughout his military career. From graduating Number 33 in his class at West Point he was Number 3 at the old Air Corps Tactical School and then Number 1 at the Command and General Staff School.
In France early in World War I his classmates in the First Infantry Division learned that Capt. William O. Butler had command of their Balloon Company. Riding over to his Company on horse back to verify this, I found it true, and although his company had no horses to ride, nor did he need one, for he had that balloon. He did a great job for us from up there.
My path crossed again with Bruce in Manila, P.I. in 1930 where in the Manila Club the mint julep flowed smooth and strong.
During World War II from April 1942 until September 1943 Bruce was Commanding General of the 11th Air Force in Alaska. During this time the Japanese occupied Attu and Kiska and also were driven off. In the American Heritage History of Flight, General H.H. (Hap) Arnold quotes a sentence from one of his letters from Bruce, of that time, which he said summed up the problems of all the Army Commanders, “I Need Everything.” In England Bruce was Deputy Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force; returned to the United States to take over the B 29 Bomber program and a tour also at the Maxwell Air Force Base with the Eastern Flying Training Command. His last active duty was in Panama where a strained and diseased heart forced his retirement in 1945 and thereafter he spent much of the remainder of his life in the Maxwell Air Force Base Hospital. He had his home on a nearby plantation at Prattville, Ala.
Bruce’s serious illness was learned in the spring of 1962 when he wrote to his classmates apologizing that he would be unable to attend the 45th reunion at West Point because of his being in the hospital.
Fast friendships were made wherever he went. Bruce was one of those illustrious sons of West Point and we are proud that he was a member of the Class of 1917. He is survived by the Cadet Girl he married, Helen Daniell from Williamsport, Pa; a daughter Anne, (Mrs. Gerard Grady); two sons, Maj. William O. Butler Jr. (Ret), Montgomery, Ala., and Edwin D. Butler, a Delta Airlines pilot; grand children, and a sister Frances, (Mrs. E.C. Collins) who lives on the home place, Monterey Farm, Marshall, Va.4207
Census Records
| Date | Location | Enumerated Names |
|---|---|---|
| June 5, 19002260 | Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky |
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| April 26, 19102261 | Parkersburg, Wood, West Virginia |
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| April 8, 19402703 | Perris, Riverside, California |
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