An official website of the United States government. Here's how you know. 
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Unit:
1st Armored Division, 81st Reconnaissance Battalion
Date of Birth:
December 1, 1914
Hometown:
Eskridge, Kansas
Date of Death:
2/14/1943
Place of Death:
Kasserine Pass, Tunisia
Awards:
Silver Star, Purple Heart
Cemetery:
Clinton W. Butefish was born on December 1, 1914, to Roy and Lena Butefish. He grew up on a family farm north of Eskridge, Kansas. His grandparents left Berlin, Germany, in the late 1800s to immigrate to Kansas. Growing up, Butefish briefly attended school in Topeka, Kansas, before returning to the family farm in Eskridge and later entering the military.
Butefish enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 8, 1938, during the height of the Dust Bowl in Kansas. Farming was difficult, and many young men looked for different opportunities to make a living. He was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, for two years and then at Fort Knox, Kentucky. As part of the newly created 1st Armored Division, Butefish received training as a radio technician.
In 1941, he was stationed in Northern Ireland. While there, he learned of his father’s passing at the age of 55 from pneumonia after many years of bad health.
Butefish and the 1st Armored Division, also known as “Old Ironsides,” landed in North Africa as part of Operation Torch. After landing in Oran, Algeria, the 1st Armored Division was stationed in central Tunisia to guard against an Axis counterattack. After being forced out of Egypt, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel launched an attack on Allied defenses in Tunisia along the Atlas Mountains.
On February 14, 1943, German Panzer divisions attacked American positions held by the 1st Armored Division in Faïd Pass. Rommel hoped to push the Allies back and prevent them from launching offensives into southern Tunisia.
Butefish was killed in action near Faïd Pass in what would become the Battle of Kasserine Pass. The Eskridge Independent wrote, “According to reports nine enemy planes attacked the Kansan’s company, bombing and straffing [sic]. He remained at his post operating the radio in a field vehicle until the enemy planes struck, then voluntarily manned the vehicle’s machine gun until a bomb landed in the vehicle.”
“1AD History.” 1st Armored Division. Accessed February 27, 2016. www.bliss.army.mil/1AD.
1st Armored Division. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, World War II Operations Report 1941-1948, Record Group 407 (Box 12040); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
Anderson, L.E. Return to the Rapido: 81st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Armored Division. Bennington, VT: Merriam Press, 2015.
Atkinson, Rick. An Army at Dawn. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007.
Butefish Family History. 1864-1971. Courtesy of Cheryl White.
“Clinton W. Butefish.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed February 14, 2016. abmc.gov/node/391230#.VwHH4xMrLdQ.
Clinton W. Butefish, Official Military Personnel File, Department of the Army, RG 319, National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.
Clinton W. Butefish, Individual Deceased Personnel File, Department of the Army.
This profile was researched and created with the Understanding Sacrifice program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 31 federal memorials, monuments and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the United States.
Since March 4, 1923, the ABMC’s sacred mission remains to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at our sites.