b. 18/07/1917 Lee, Massachusetts. d. 15/02/2006 Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 13/10/1944 Wurselen, Germany.
James M Burt MOH
James Montross Burt (1917-2006) was born in Lee, Massachusetts, and graduated from Norwich University in 1939 at age 22 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. On campus, he’d belonged to Theta Chi, Epsilon Tau Sigma and the Glee Club and served on the staffs of the Guidon campus newsletter and the War Whoop yearbook, played football and ran track.
Burt commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army and started active duty in 1941. He fought in World War II campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Normandy and received his Medal of Honor for leadership in the slightly-more-than-monthlong Battle of Aachen. His Medal of Honor citation is unique in that he was awarded the medal not for a single act of valor, but instead for his actions during a 10-day period in October 1944.
He was presented with his Medal of Honor on 12 October 1945 by President Harry S Truman at The White House. James Burt later described his actions as thus : “I learned later it was the infantry battalion commander,” Burt said. “The infantrymen all knew what I’d done. Having done that, that must have been what inspired them to work for me and with me and cooperate so well when I, in effect, took them over.” Burt said he wasn’t afraid because he was too busy getting to the next minute, the next hour the next day to let fear take over. “And I guess if you let (fear) take over, you go downhill as a person and go downhill as a leader,” he said. “So, the simplest and the best is just not have any.”
After the war, Burt returned to civilian life, building a career in the paper industry. He’d later earn a master’s degree in education from Keene State College in 1969 and work as a mathematics and business instructor at Franklin Pierce College. He also served as military aide to Massachusetts governors Christian Herter Jr. and Paul Andrew Denver.
MOH CITATION:
Capt. James M. Burt was in command of Company B, 66th Armored Regiment on the western outskirts of Wurselen, Germany, on 13 October 1944, when his organization participated in a coordinated infantry-tank attack destined to isolate the large German garrison which was tenaciously defending the city of Aachen. In the first day’s action, when infantrymen ran into murderous small-arms and mortar fire, Capt. Burt dismounted from his tank about 200 yards to the rear and moved forward on foot beyond the infantry positions, where, as the enemy concentrated a tremendous volume of fire upon him, he calmly motioned his tanks into good firing positions. As our attack gained momentum, he climbed aboard his tank and directed the action from the rear deck, exposed to hostile volleys which finally wounded him painfully in the face and neck. He maintained his dangerous post despite pointblank self-propelled gunfire until friendly artillery knocked out these enemy weapons, and then proceeded to the advanced infantry scouts’ positions to deploy his tanks for the defense of the gains which had been made. The next day, when the enemy counterattacked, he left cover and went 75 yards through heavy fire to assist the infantry battalion commander who was seriously wounded. For the next 8 days, through rainy, miserable weather and under constant, heavy shelling, Capt. Burt held the combined forces together, dominating and controlling the critical situation through the sheer force of his heroic example. To direct artillery fire, on 15 October, he took his tank 300 yards into the enemy lines, where he dismounted and remained for 1 hour giving accurate data to friendly gunners. Twice more that day he went into enemy territory under deadly fire on reconnaissance. In succeeding days he never faltered in his determination to defeat the strong German forces opposing him. Twice the tank in which he was riding was knocked out by enemy action, and each time he climbed aboard another vehicle and continued the fight. He took great risks to rescue wounded comrades and inflicted prodigious destruction on enemy personnel and materiel even though suffering from the wounds he received in the battle’s opening phase. Capt. Burt’s intrepidity and disregard of personal safety were so complete that his own men and the infantry who attached themselves to him were inspired to overcome the wretched and extremely hazardous conditions which accompanied one of the most bitter local actions of the war. The victory achieved closed the Aachen gap.
BURIAL LOCATION: HILLSIDE CEMETERY, HANCOCK, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: SULLIVAN MUSEUM AND HISTORY CENTER, NORWICH UNIVERSITY, NORTHFIELD, VERMONT.
