Frank Butner Clay was the son of U.S. Army General Lucius Dubignon Clay (Honoree Record ID 207), military governor of the U.S. Zone of occupied Germany after World War II, and a grandson of U.S. Senator Alexander Stephens Clay (D-GA).

Clay graduated from Millard Prep School in Washington, DC, and was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, Class of 1942. While at West Point, he was a football player and captain of his boxing team.

In World War II, Clay served with the 1st Armored Division in Tunisia and Italy as a platoon leader, company commander and operations executive of the Division's 13th Tank Battalion.

After various peacetime assignments, and graduation from the National War College in 1961, he was sent to Vietnam, where he served about a year as a senior adviser to the 7th Vietnam Infantry Division. In 1967, he returned to Vietnam, where he served as commander of an advance party of the 101st Airborne Division.

Clay had also been Assistant Division Commander of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY, and Chief of Staff at the Army Communications Zone in Europe. In the latter position, he helped with the evacuation of U.S. forces from France after French officials decided to withdraw from NATO in 1967. He also served as President Kennedy's Military Adviser to the U.S.-Vietnamese Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1971. MG Clay retired from active military duty in 1973.

Medals, Awards and Badges

Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal with Combat Valor Device and 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge
Parachutist Badge

In Retirement

After his retirement from the Army, Clay devoted more time to his family, hobbies and interests, which included playing squash and tennis at the Chevy Chase Country Club. A student of the U.S. Civil War, he also visited and gave tours of battlefields.

Family

Clay's older brother, Lucius DuBignon Clay, Jr. (Honoree Record ID 695), was a General in the U.S. Air Force. His first wife, Patricia Adams Casey Clay (1 November 1923–1 January 1973), who died after 26 years of marriage, was the sister of U.S. Army Major Hugh Boyd Casey (Honoree Record ID 218923), who was killed in an airplane crash while serving as senior aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of the 3d Infantry Division Commander during the Korean War. They were, in turn, the children of U.S. Army Major General Hugh John Casey (Honoree Record ID 218930) of the Army Corps of Engineers, who happened to be the West Point roommate and good friend of General Lucius D. Clay, Sr.

Death and Burial

Major General Frank Butner Clay died of cardiac arrest at the Knollwood Military Retirement Residence in Washington, DC, on 30 December 2006. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17609349