Burton Benjamin Lee was born in 1949 in a Naval Hospital, at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, North Carolina. He was born to Major Joe and Mary Lee. He spent his early life in California (1st - 5th grade), then moved with his family to a farm in Scio, Oregon. Burton Lee graduated from Scio High School in 1967.

The Lee family had a tradition of serving in the military, his father, Major Joe Lee retired after service in the Marine Corps in WWII and Korea. Burton joined the US Navy during the Vietnam conflict and served from 1968 to l971. He served as a Boiler Tender (BT3) on board the USS Chochran. While a BTSN he was onboard the DDG21 when in 1969 it answered the call to help save sailors from the fatally injured USS Frank E. Evans (DD754) after a collision with the Australian Aircraft Carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21).

While on the Chocran, it was in and out of the Vietnam theater numerous times off shore, and providing close to shore gunnery missions in support of ground units in Vietnam.

At the end of his enlistment, Burton Lee moved to Amarillo, Texas where he pursued his life-long trade in heating and air conditioning. Burton Lee passed away 25 October 2017, from complications of diabetes.