Custis Burton Jr. was born on February 28, 1913, in Hopewell, Fauquier County, Virginia. He was married to Elise Nora Davis Burton. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Marine Corps in 1935. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, and was part of the garrison on Midway Island during the naval battle that bore its name in June 1942.

Burton served as a Marine artillery regiment commander of the 11th Marines Regiment during the Battle of the Punch Bowl in the Korean War. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1959 and ended his military service as a Brigadier General. He went to work for the Executive Planning Corp., assisting them in establishing their Washington, D.C. office. He was vice president until his retirement in 1980. He was a member of the Army-Navy Club and the Retired Officers Association. BrigGen Burton died on October 16, 1991, and is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.