SW Kansas man inducted into National Guard Hall of Fame

When Col. Malen E. "Butch" Dowse was a senior in high school, a classmate tried to convince him to join the Colorado National Guard.
    Dowse thought he would probably join the U.S. Marine Corps after graduation, but his friend kept talking to him about signing up with the Guard instead. At one point, the friend told Dowse that the Guard's local battery commander needed a jeep driver.
    "I said, 'I might consider it then if I drive a jeep,'" Dowse said with a chuckle. "I went down and I saw the guys and met them, and they were just a great bunch of soldiers and patriots. And I thought, 'This is probably a pretty good deal.'"
    That decision led to a 38-year career with the National Guard, first in Colorado and then in Kansas.
    Earlier this month, the southwest Kansas native was inducted into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame, a project of the Topeka-based Museum of the Kansas National Guard. He is the 90th Kansas National Guardsman to receive the honor since 1993.
    Dowse told the Globe on Thursday that he could not imagine a higher honor than joining the Hall of Fame.
    "It's very humbling when there's lot of guardsmen who have come and gone over the past — and some still serving — that are really more deserving than I," he said.

A lifelong Guardsman
    Dowse was born in Dodge City and grew up in Copeland, but his family later moved to Grand Junction, Colo. He joined the Colorado National Guard in 1960.
    Two years later, he returned to Kansas and transferred to the Dodge City-based Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery unit.
    Dowse served as the battalion's administrative officer until 1985, when he became the executive officer for the 130th Field Artillery Brigade. The unit was later renamed the 35th Division Artillery.
    His subsequent career included a stint as the military personnel officer for the Guard's state headquarters, the Kansas State Area Command. After that, he served as the director of maintenance for three years.
    After retiring in 1997, Dowse became the director of the National Guard Association of Kansas, a position he held until 2005. He also became the association's insurance administrator in 1999 and continues to hold that position today.
    Dowse said the people whom he met in the National Guard — including the men he served with in Dodge City — influenced his decision to stick with the Guard for nearly 38 years.
    "I think the Guard's a great institution, and the 161st Field Artillery, headquartered in Dodge City — I just thought it was an outstanding unit," he said. "We often say we're one of the best-kept secrets in Kansas, and the unit did some outstanding things."
    Dodge City resident Tom Sanko, whose 32-year military career included 11 years with the Kansas National Guard, said he had worked with Dowse off and on during the 1980s.
    "He was the best commander I ever had," Sanko said. "His decisions were good, honest. He was honest with his people. He was just a good commander all the way around."
    Another former Kansas National Guard member, M.J. Straight, was part of the Dodge City unit for 22 years and worked with Dowse for about eight years.
    Straight said he was pleased, but not surprised, when he learned that Dowse had been inducted into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame.
    "I don't think that there's anybody that I was personally acquainted with that deserves the honor any more than Butch does," he said.

Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.