Donald Malarkey called him “an honorary Toccoa boy, a good egg.”
Marcus Brotherton said, “He was a legend, kind and humble in demeanour, intellectually sharp in his recollections and insights.”
These quotes paint an image of a man, a friend. Let’s find out more.
Early Life
Lynn “Buck” Compton was born December 31, 1921, in Los Angeles. Parents Roby and Ethel Compton gave him the name Lynn after his grandfather Lyndley. The nickname ‘Buck’ arrived in high school. He took that nickname for himself. When he was young, he worked in the movies and was to brush shoulders with Mickey Rooney and Charlie Chaplin.
At UCLA, he initially focused on football throughout most of his college years, favouring LA City Champions. However, in his junior year, he transitioned to baseball and became a catcher for the UCLA baseball team, where he played alongside Jackie Robinson. Despite his shift to baseball, he continued to participate in football and notably competed in the Rose Bowl during his senior year. Then World War II changed everything.
WWII
When World War II broke out, Compton, who had been involved in ROTC, was sent to Columbus, Georgia after the Rose Bowl to undergo Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning. After graduating from OCS in 1943, he was assigned to the 176th Infantry Regiment, initially instructing flight classes before joining the regiment’s baseball team. Eager for combat duty, he volunteered for the Paratroopers and completed jump school at Camp Mackall with the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division.
Compton was then transferred to Easy Company, part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division, stationed at Aldbourne, England. He served as assistant platoon leader of 2nd Platoon, forming close bonds with his enlisted men, much to the concern of some officers, including Lt. Richard Winters.
He participated in Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944, losing his carbine during the jump but acquiring a replacement from an injured officer. In ‘Call of Duty’, Buck told of his jump. He said, “When I stepped out of the plane, I must have tumbled without realising it. In all my practice jumps, I had never before experienced anything like this. I knew that what I saw was the unopened parachute feeding out below my feet. And I was racing to the ground now – Headfirst.
During the Brecourt Manor Assault, led by Lt. Winters, Compton’s actions were pivotal, earning him a Silver Star for his bravery. Compton continued to serve throughout the Normandy Campaign and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, commanding 2nd Platoon upon their return to Aldbourne. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne where the horrors of war continued.
Buck talked in detail of Bastogne in his book and shared how it compared to the Band of Brothers series. As he talked of the shelling at Bastogne, he explained how chaotic the environment was.
“When I got up to survey what had happened, I couldn’t believe how my fifty yards had been ravaged. It looked like slaughter alley—huge trees blown down, ground ripped up, a whole bunch of guys lying all over the place, some motionless, some gasping, unintelligible words coming out of their mouths. It’s a terrible thing to see your guys like that. Death was everywhere. These were the first heavy losses we’d taken at Bastogne.”
He went on to explain, “In the series it shows me coming out of my foxhole to survey the damage. I scream for a medic, then drop my helmet and just stand motionless. In the next scene there’s a fury of activity around me while I’m sitting on a fallen tree with my head in my hands. Then it shows me lying on a cot in a field hospital. I’m in the fetal position in tears with Malarkey next to me, trying to read me a letter from back home to cheer me up. I appreciate the series for doing that (even though all but one of those scenes were fictionalized) because it shows the progression of a soldier who suffered from combat stress reaction, commonly known as shell shock.”
Later Life
Of his time in the war he explained, “Out of all the horror of war, the guilt of survival is one of the things that haunts me most to this day. I will never know why I survived when so many others did not. When it comes to understanding any of this, I have long since given up trying.”
On his return from the war, he came back to UCLA and played a final season for the baseball team. That was 1946. He turned down an offer to play minor league baseball and moved to his new career. He chose to pursue a career in law. He embarked on a career with the Los Angeles Police Department, eventually becoming a detective. Buck later joined the District Attorney’s office, where he achieved notable success, including prosecuting Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy. In 1970, he was appointed an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal by Governor Ronald Reagan, retiring from the bench in 1990. It was his law career that he was most proud of.
Family
Buck married Donna Newman in October 1947 and adopted two children, Syndee and Tracy. I interviewed his daughter Tracy who shared many memories. I asked her to describe her father with five qualities and she explained that she could give me five, but there were so many. Tracy described Buck as having a deep love for his family and country. She said he was highly intelligent with a determination to succeed and that his integrity and honesty were to be applauded.
Buck loved his family and in the dedication of his memoir states that family was ‘the greatest thing that ever happened to me.’
In failing health in January 2012, Compton suffered a heart attack and passed away on February 25, 2012, at his daughter’s home in Washington. His wife Donna had preceded him in death in 1994. Two daughters and four grandchildren survived him.
The last words belong to Buck. In his book ‘Call of Duty’ co-authored with Marcus Brotherton, Buck talked of the war,
“All it cost me was three years of my time, a small price to pay for living in this country. No one owes me anything. If your country calls you to fight, you’ve got a duty to go. That’s all I did. I see myself as an American citizen who was willing to help out anywhere that he could in order to win the damn war.”
Thank you for your service 1st Lieutenant Compton.
To the Compton Family – Thank you for sharing the life of this incredible man with the world.
