Marion Butler Fowler was born on June 9, 1896, in Orange County, North Carolina. Fowler enlisted in the National Army for service during World War I, on May 15, 1918 and was later commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and assigned to the 141st Infantry. He served overseas with the 141st from September 1918 to June 1919. In the fall of 1919, Fowler headed up recruitment organization efforts for a new machine gun company of the state militia in Durham, North Carolina. Serving as the company's commanding officer, he directed the machine gunners' actions in putting down an attempted lynching in Alamance County in July 1920. The affair caught state-wide media attention and, due to the death of a citizen, resulted in a widely publicized investigation. Butler died in Durham on August 14, 1970.