Howard Buford, Sacramento veteran who fought at Battle of the Bulge, dies at 104
Howard Buford insisted on enjoying his life, so some things didn’t change after he arrived last fall at Mercy McMahon Terrace, an East Sacramento assisted living facility.
Buford, who died March 26 at 104 of old age, had a philosophy forged in part by his service in one of World War II’s most memorable and bloody campaigns, the Battle of the Bulge. In a story The Sacramento Bee published on Christmas, Buford recounted his military service and how he lived his life.
“I don’t carry grudges around,” Buford said. “I don’t carry anger around. I tell jokes. I try to enjoy life.”
Yougita Bali, a resident care assistant who worked with Buford at Mercy McMahon, saw this firsthand. Even though Buford was receiving hospice care his entire time at the facility, he still exercised, had three meals a day with other residents and got to know people.
“Everybody loved him,” Bali said.
Buford’s World War II service
Born in the Los Angeles area on Aug. 17, 1921, Buford volunteered for the Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The results of an intelligence assessment delayed his combat deployment.
“I was a guy who had never done anything but play around,” Buford said. “I had a convertible and I knew girls all over East L.A., and I was living a happy life and I figured I was capable of working at a gas station or something. And I go in the Army, and they give me an intelligence test. Turns out I’m really intelligent. I just goofed off. So they sent me to college at Iowa State.”
Buford eventually became part of Easy Company of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, within the 101st Airborne Division. As part of this group, he arrived in Bastogne, Belgium, around Dec. 20, 1944. German forces quickly surrounded his unit. The siege would last until Gen. George Patton’s Third Army arrived on Dec. 26.
It was a snowy winter and men like Buford had to battle the elements.
“We built big bonfires to get warm,” Buford said. “Now, we’ve been up in the front, and they’re firing at us. Some of our buddies are getting hit. What the hell do you think we talk about back there? Girls. We don’t talk about the war. We talk about girls.”
After the war ended, he returned to the Los Angeles area and was self-effacing about his service.
“I’m glad I was in the Army,” Buford said. “I felt like it was an obligation. It was a worthwhile experience and all that. But if you look at my uniform, you don’t see any medals.”
What brought Buford to Sacramento
Buford lived most of his life in Southern California, spending 72 years in Ventura. Along the way, he married, had four sons and did surveying work to build highways.
He also adjusted his life perspective, according to his son Tom Buford, a retired Sacramento city planner.
“As he aged, Howard came to recognize that friends were his lifeline,” Tom Buford wrote in an obituary for his father that ran in the Ventura County Star. “He made friends; he supported friends; he told his friends that he valued them, and they were an important part of his life.”
Howard Buford was living independently in Ventura until he suffered a fall last August. Tom Buford moved his father to Sacramento not long thereafter, first to his East Sacramento home and then to nearby Mercy McMahon.
Tom Buford said that he’d been amazed at how many Mercy McMahon staff knew and appreciated his father. This included Bali, a resident care aide who said she worked with Howard Buford the entire time he was at Mercy McMahon.
“He was a wonderful person, always happy, jolly, like making people laugh, telling stories about the war and stuff,” Bali said. “He was really a nice guy.”
Howard Buford got to know the residents, too.
“He made a number of friends,” Tom Buford said. “I’ve had numerous people that were living there tell me that they just really enjoyed him and he was cheerful and energetic.”
Buford remained active into his final weeks, speaking for several hours with multiple people who wanted to talk to him about his military service, Tom Buford said.
Howard Buford is survived by his three sons: Tom Buford, David Buford and Russ Buford. A fourth son, Scott Buford, died in 2025. Howard Buford was married for 50 years to Rita Buford until her death in 1997. He subsequently remarried. His second wife, Betty Benson, died in 2013.
Tom Buford said that a memorial service for his father is planned for June in Ventura. There aren’t plans for a Sacramento memorial.
