James Butler 1948
submitted by
In spite of the Greenfield references in this
article, I'm considering young James Thomas Butler a Gibson County boy. He
and his parents are buried in Shiloh Cemetery in Bradford. Myrlie Hampton was
his mother and Thomas Henry Butler was his father. They were in Gibson County
in the 1930 census. His grandfather, James Tilford Butler is buried at Davis
Grove Cemetery next to his (Young James Thomas Butler's) maternal
grandfather, Mose Henry Arthur.
From the Kingsport News, September 8, 1948:
Pilot Plunges To Death Over State Airport
Greenfield, Tenn. - AP - James Butler, 22,
plunged to his death near here Monday when his parachute snagged the wing of
his stalled airplane as he bailed out over the airport.
Butler, a former resident of Weakley County flew
here from Chicago with his wife to visit their families over Labor Day week
end. He was returning home alone.
The young pilot was forced back to the
Greenfield Airport by bad weather. He was preparing to land when his engine
went out.
Whipped to earth by the crashing plane, Butler
received fractures of the skull, leg and arm. He was taken to a hospital at
Martin and from there started to a Memphis hospital in an ambulance. He died
en route.
