Corporal Buettner was a medic with the Medical Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while tending his wounded comrades in South Korea on 24 April 1951 and died while a prisoner on 11 July 1951.

Buettner was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Medical Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.