Nebraskans on the Front Lines
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Nebraska's National Guard:
Lt. Col. Miltonberger

Lt. Col. Miltonberger
Lt. Col. Butler Miltonberger, Commander of the Nebraska National Guard, in Europe.
Click here to see a video of what his men thought of him.
Lt. Col. Butler Miltonberger was a native of North Platte, Nebraska, and began his career as a private in June of 1916 when the National Guard was mobilized during the Mexican border dispute. During World War I, he fought with the Fourth Division in the Argonne and returned to North Platte as a first sergeant.

As a civilian, he worked in North Platte as a postman while also being engaged in bridge building, surveying, and road construction.

Miltonberger eventually worked his way up to become commander of the 134th Infantry and was promoted to the rank of major in 1933. In 1935 his unit was called into active duty during both the Omaha streetcar riot and the Republican River flood. He single-handedly captured Willard Brucks, an escaped killer who had broken into the Omaha armory to seize weapons. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1940.