Posted by BG RM Ong (Ret) on May 19, 2016:

He was a soldier. He was the son of a soldier and the brother of a soldier. With this background we can begin to understand why "Butch" Wilson reacted as he did in an emergency -- an emergency which was endangering the life of one of the men under his command. During a night tactical road march near Kirchgoens, Germany, on 30 March 1964, Lieutenant Norton B. Wilson Jr. was leading his platoon alongside a railroad embankment. As a train approached, one of his men, for some unknown reason, remained on the railroad tracks in spite of the shouts of the other men warning him to get out of the path of the train. Lieutenant Wilson, without regard for his own safety -- and apparently realizing that the man would certainly be killed unless he got off the tracks -- quickly climbed the embankment and onto the tracks attempting to push the man to safety. Tragically, in the darkness and with the uncertain footing, Butch stumbled, and both he and the man he was trying to save were killed. Norton Bailey Wilson Jr. known by all of his friends as Butch, entered the U.S. Military Academy in July 1959. He was appointed to the Academy from the 4th District, State of Washington, and graduated with the Class of 1963. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry, he was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Germany following completion of the Infantry Basic Course, and the Airborne and Ranger Courses at Fort Benning, Georgia. He had been on this assignment, the beginning of his military career, less than three weeks when his life was so tragically ended. Lieutenant Wilson was the third member of his family to graduate from West Point. His father, Colonel Norton B. Wilson, Ret., graduated in 1931, and his brother, Captain Daniel H. Wilson, was a member of the Class of 1960. Butch was born at Fort Bliss, Texas, on 7 March 1941. He attended schools in Virginia, Hawaii, and New York, as his father's military assignments moved the Wilson family from place to place. He graduated from high school in Highland Falls, New York, in 1959, and from there he left to fulfill his appointment to the Academy. Those of us who had the good fortune to have been his classmates shall always remember Butch with the greatest affection. His friendly manner, his forthrightness, and his sincerity were the hallmarks of a character that made us all proud to call him a friend and classmate. All of us who knew him will treasure in our memories the few short years we spent together, and we will forever regret the sad misfortune which cut short the military career he looked forward to with such eagerness, and for which he was so well qualified. Butch is survived by his wife, the former Phyllis Graziano, who is now residing in Washington, D.C. They were married in Highland Falls on 19 October 1963. Mrs. Wilson had the honor of receiving, at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on 19 November 1964, the Soldier's Medal in behalf of her late husband for the courageous act which took his life. His death was in the highest tradition of his Alma Mater, and we, his classmates, salute her and the young Lieutenant who was her husband. We also share with her the pride that accompanies the bestowal of this highest peacetime award to a soldier. -- A Classmate

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