In Recognition of Veterans Day
The RESEARCH LIBRARY is Open & FREE

Veterans Memorial Cemetery
  KN-1894  

Born:  September 29, 1918 at New York, NY

Entered Service in the US Army from Jersey City, NJ

Earned The Medal of Honor During World War II For heroism April 17, 1945 at Nuremberg, Germany

First Lieutenant Burke was battalion transportation officer and had gone forward to select a motor-pool site, when he advanced beyond the lines of the forward riflemen. Detecting a group of ten Germans preparing for a counterattack, he rushed back to a nearby company, secured a light machinegun, and daringly opened fire on this superior force. From another angle a German machinegun tried to blast him from his emplacement, but First Lieutenant Burke killed this guncrew and drove off the survivors. He picked up a rifle dashed more than 100 yards through intense fire and engaged the Germans from behind an abandoned tank. He withdrew only long enough to replace his jammed rifle and secure grenades, then re-engaged the Germans. Finding his shots ineffective, he pulled the pins from two grenades and rushed the enemy-held building, hurling his missiles as the enemy threw a potato masher grenade at him. In the triple explosion the Germans were wiped out and Burke was dazed; but he emerged from the shower of debris, recovered his rifle, and went on to kill three more Germans. In four hours of heroic action, First Lieutenant Burke single-handedly killed 11 and wounded three enemy soldiers