Lynn Compton

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Lynn "Buck" Compton
b. 31 December 1921
Lynn Compton in the service
Nickname	Buck
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California
Years of service	1942-1945
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division,
Awards	- Silver Star - Purple Heart - World War II Victory Medal - Presidential Unit Citation (2OLC) - Orange Lanyard of the Royal Netherlands Army
Other work	Police Detective, District Attorney, Judge, Radio Commentator

Lynn D. "Buck" Compton (born December 31, 1921) is a retired California Court of Appeal Judge who served as the lead prosecutor in Sirhan Sirhan's trial for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy. During World War II, Compton was awarded a Silver Star while serving as a Second Lieutenant commanding the 2nd platoon of Easy Company in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, which gained him his promotion to First Lieutenant. His recent fame is from the book Band of Brothers, written by Stephen Ambrose. The book was also made into a miniseries on HBO, in which Neal McDonough portrayed him.

[edit] Prior to World War II

Compton was a star athlete at UCLA, where he was a catcher on the university's baseball team (Jackie Robinson was a teammate). He also played with the UCLA football team in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1943.

[edit] World War II, Easy Company

At UCLA, Compton also participated in ROTC, and in early 1943, he joined the Army and was assigned to E/506 in England prior to D-Day. During the action at Brécourt Manor, Compton and others, under the leadership of First Lieutenant Richard Winters, assaulted a German battery operating four 105 mm howitzers directed at Utah Beach, disabling the guns and routing the enemy. Compton was awarded the Silver Star for that action. Episode two of the miniseries Band of Brothers depicts this assault.

The former college baseball player is described by Dick Winters in Band of Brothers as throwing a grenade at a fleeing German soldier, roughly the same distance from home plate to second base. Well timed, the grenade explodes upon impact with the fleeing soldier's head, instantly killing the German.

Later that year, Compton was wounded while participating in Operation Market-Garden, the Allies' ill-fated attempt to seize a number of bridges in Holland and cross the Rhine River into Germany. He returned to his unit in time for the month-long siege that would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. In January 1945, Compton left Easy Company for another assignment. According to Band of Brothers, though ostensibly evacuated for severe trench foot, his transfer was due in part to combat fatigue, culminating when Compton witnessed two of his closest friends being badly maimed by artillery fire.

[edit] After World War II

After the war, Compton married and had two children. In 1945, he turned down an offer to play minor league baseball, choosing instead to concentrate on a career in the law. He attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and became a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. He joined the District Attorney's office in 1951 as a deputy district attorney, and was promoted in 1964 to chief deputy district attorney.

During his time with the District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy. In 1970, Governor Ronald Reagan appointed him as an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal. He retired from the bench in 1990 and now resides in Washington, where he does daily commentary for KLKI, a radio station in Anacortes, in the northwest corner of the state. In 2005, he appeared in an advertising campaign for repeal of the estate tax.