Phillip N. Butler

Phillip Neal "Phil" Butler (born August 11, 1938) is a retired United States Navy officer and pilot. He was the eighth-longest-held U.S. prisoner of war (POW) held in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Butler, who was forced to eject after a mid-air explosion on April 20, 1965, was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam until his release as part of Operation Homecoming in 1973. Butler was one of the five POWs (with Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, Hayden Lockhart, Robert Peel, and Robert H. Shumaker) credited with establishing the tap code. The code enabled the prisoners to communicate with each other.

After his release, Butler earned a PhD in sociology and used his communication skills to provide leadership training in military and civilian life. Butler provided community service as President of Veterans for Peace. In October 2019 Butler was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame.

Early life
Phillip Neal Butler was born on August 11, 1938, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Lanier Elementary School, Wilson Jr. High School and Will Rogers High School, from which he graduated in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He logged enough flying hours to receive a commercial pilots license two months after his high school graduation. Butler attended the University of Oklahoma with a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship and then accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Navy training and early career
Phillip Butler graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1961 from the United States Naval Academy. Butler received his officer's commission and married Karen Olson the day after graduation. On assignment in Texas, Butler flew the single-seated fighter airplane, Grumman F-11 Tiger, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Butler was assigned to Naval Air Station Lemoore in California.

Capture
During his second West Pacific cruise, on the night of April 20, 1965, Butler launched from the USS Midway (CV-41) in his A-4C Skyhawk. His mission was to fly from the Gulf of Tonkin to Highway 1, the major transportation route that the North Vietnamese used to carry military supplies to their troops in the south. The bombing run was at night because that was when the North Vietnamese moved material. According to Butler's report his aircraft exploded due to a malfunction of the electrically-fused Mark-81 VT experimental fuses on the 250-lb bombs.

After ejecting, he covered over 70 mi in four days with nothing to eat or drink other than what he could find on the jungle floor. On the fourth day, the North Vietnamese, using dogs, were able to track him down and capture him. Butler went down near the North Vietnamese city of Vinh.



Butler was moved around to ten different prisons in North Vietnam over the next seven years and ten months.

Butler was first reported missing and then mistakenly reported killed in action. The erroneous news of his death was published in his home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 1965 Butler was placed in the same cell with Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, Lieutenant Robert Peel and Robert H. Shumaker. Harris taught the others a special code that he had learned at a survival training. This tap code enabled the prisoners to communicate with quiet taps on the walls of the cells.

After the death of Ho Chi Minh in September 1969 the treatment of the US POWs improved.

After release


After recovery from his injuries and a difficult divorce Butler attended graduate school while in the Navy. Butler earned a Ph.D. in Sociology at UC San Diego and worked as a Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant and a professor of management at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Butler retired from the Navy as a Commander in 1981.

Medals

 * Butler was awarded 2 Silver Stars (Silver Star Medal with Gold Star indicating two awards), In part it read ..." for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War In North Vietnam. During the period May to July 1967 Commander Butler's captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information or false confessions for propaganda purposes...by his determination, courage, resourcefulness and devotion to duty Commander Butler reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest tradition of the Naval Service and the US Armed Forces."
 * Butler was awarded a Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device and a Gold Star indicating two awards
 * Purple Heart with Gold Star indicating 2 awards
 * Two Legion of Merit awards "..for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services...while interned as a POW in North Vietnam..he performed duties involving highly classified material in an exemplary and professional manner. Through his zealousness and ingenuity, he generated new ideas and improvised techniques greatly enhancing covert operations.
 * Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device,
 * Prisoner of War Medal.

Awards and honors

 * Inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame 2019
 * Awarded Veteran of the Year by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors October 23, 2018
 * Baha'i Human Rights Award 2019 presented at the United Nations human rights day celebration

Business
Butler had a consulting and management company, Camelot Enterprises 1981–2000,  specializing in executive team building, interpersonal skills, planning, personal coaching and mentoring.

Veterans for Peace
Butler served as president of Veterans for Peace (1997–2000). Butler opposed the candidacy of fellow former POW John McCain in the 2008 US presidential campaign, supporting Barack Obama. He said that "John McCain is not somebody I would like to see with his finger near the red button".

Community service

 * Veterans for Peace chapter 46 of Monterey County
 * Coalition of Homeless Services Providers
 * Peace Coalition of Monterey County
 * Point Lobos State Reserve, docent for 29 years
 * Big Sur Land Trust Board member
 * Board member and president Monterey County AIDS Project
 * Board member The World Affairs Council of Monterey
 * Board member and chair of National Veterans for Peace (president 1997–2000)
 * Community Advisory Committee, California Department of Corrections, Soledad Prison / Training Facility
 * President and Founder of the Management Institute of Monterey
 * Ombudsman for Long Term Care
 * Commissioner and Chair of the Community Action Council of Monterey county

Writings by Phillip Butler

 * From Nationalist to Humanist. The Humanist Magazine March/April 1986 Vol 46, pp 23–32
 * AIDS awareness ; December 13, 1992. The Monterey County Herald guest editorial p 3A
 * Why I volunteer June 1, 1996, Monterey Bay community Links
 * No Tanks in Monterey 4 July Parade: War machines in city streets sends a wrong message June 27, 1999) Monterey County Herald
 * On Torture from someone who knows. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blog June 28, 2009
 * Three Lives of a Warrior 2010 Camelot Press ISBN 9781452885032
 * Ex-Viet POW Phil Butler on "3 Lives of a Warrior" Peter B Collins show October 19, 2010, PBC broadcast.
 * A Vietnam War POW takes America to task over its treatment of a Taliban POW. July 3, 2014. Monterey County Weekly.
 * Prisoner Swap re Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl 20 July 2014 Monterey County Weekly
 * A Gathering Storm Veterans for Peace newsletter  January 5, 2017