Buck Compton

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Lore & Background

Compton's military service began in early 1943 after advanced ROTC training at UCLA was suspended. He completed officer candidate school at Fort Benning, Georgia, before deploying overseas in December 1943 with E Company. During Operation Overlord, he participated in the assault on a German battery of four 105 mm howitzers firing on Utah Beach under Richard Winters. Compton disabled the guns and routed the enemy, notably throwing a hand grenade that hit a German soldier on the back of his helmet with no arc. For this action, he was awarded the Silver Star. Later in 1944, during Operation Market Garden, a bullet traveled sideways through one side of his buttocks to the other. He returned to duty for the frozen Ardennes siege but was eventually evacuated for severe trench foot.

In Their Own Story

During the Battle of the Bulge, Compton faced the horrors of Bastogne. While Stephen E. Ambrose concluded he had been "unnerved" by watching friends Joe Toye and William Guarnere wounded by artillery, Compton wrote in his autobiography that he was not clinically shell-shocked as portrayed in media. He recalled hollering for a medic while thinking, "How are we going to help the wounded guys?...Maybe this is the time the Germans are really going to get us all." After returning from Europe in December 1945, he joined the Air Force Reserve in 1947, serving in the Office of Special Investigations and Judge Advocate General Corps until retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1970. His life after the war saw him rise from an LAPD detective to chief deputy district attorney, where he led the prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Reader's Guide

Lynn D. "Buck" Compton (December 31, 1921 – February 25, 2012) is best known for his service in Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. His combat record includes the Brécourt Manor assault, where he earned a Silver Star, and surviving a gunshot wound to the buttocks during Operation Market Garden. He was evacuated due to trench foot during the Battle of the Bulge but returned to Easy Company before his discharge in December 1945. Post-war, he became a police officer with the LAPD in 1946, joined the District Attorney's office in 1951, and served as chief deputy district attorney by 1964. In 1970, Governor Ronald Reagan appointed him an associate justice of the California Courts of Appeal, where he served until retiring in 1990. His exploits were featured in Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 book and the 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," where he was portrayed by Neal McDonough.

Did You Know?

• Compton was thrown off the set of Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times after angering the star.
• He played baseball alongside Jackie Robinson at UCLA and was named an All-American catcher in 1942.
• During Brécourt Manor, he threw a grenade with no arc that struck a German soldier on the back of his helmet.
• Actor Neal McDonough developed a friendship with Compton after portraying him and named his son Morgan "Little Buck" in his honor.
• Compton served as the lead prosecutor in the trial of Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.