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MEMBER: Harold M. Burke
EMAIL ADDRESS: Contact daughter Carolyn at moonlightflower2@sbcglobal.net
TRAINING:
Company A, 54th Training Battalion at Camp Fannin
in Tyler, Texas during April 1944.
This page was created by the daughter of
Pvt. Harold M. Burke :
http://moonlightflower.org/PvtBurke1.html
WWII ~ 2nd Division ~ Co B ~ 9th Infantry
Pvt. Burke One Of Two Wounded In
"Heartbreak Crossroads" Fight
Pvt. Harold M. Burke, husband of
Mrs. Gertrude Burke of 718 - 13th street and son of S. Burke of 2825 16th
street, was one of two men wounded in the heroic battle of "Heartbreak
Crossroads" staged by the Second Infantry division. Pvt. Burke, who received
the Purple Heart and the Infantry Combat medal for action in that battle is
now in a hospital in England. He has been in the service since Jan. 28, 1943
and has been over seas about six months.
"Stars And Stripes" Account
An account of the battle,
as published in "Stars and Stripes," follows: "They called it Heartbreak
Crossroads. It was a 24 pillbox chunk of the Siegfried line in the Monschau
sector, and for four days of bitter cold weather the Ninth infantry regiment
battered against its guns and wire and steel. Thirteen doughs finally cut a
path through acres of barbed wire, fought their way into a communications
trench directly linking two key pillboxes and for five nightmare hours stood
off both forces to help make possible the eventual capture of the position.
"Twenty-four hours after the crossroads was taken the Wehrmacht began its
winter offensive and the regiment had to leave its expensively-won pillboxes
to help halt the breakthrough. "On the morning of Dec. 13 the Ninth jumped
off against the solid belt of Siegfried fortifications. Halted by
multiple-covered expanses of twisted barbed wire, the regiment sent out 10
men. They crawled through a 40-yard belt of concertina wire in two layers
six feet high, under the machine gun fire and flanked by minefields. They
lost one man before they scrambled into the zigzag communications trench
directly under the guns of two pillboxes.
Nazi Ruse Thwarted
"Under cover of the first group of men, another group of six
men started out to cut wire. Two were wounded (including Pvt. Burke), but
two others opened a four-foot gap all across the field and joined the first
group in the trench. "During the next five hours, the Yanks beat off a
patrol from the pillbox on their right, thwarted a Nazi ruse to capture them
through a proposed truce parley, smashed a counterattack from the woods
beyond them, beat off a charge from the pillbox on their left and withstood
continued fire from both pillboxes and from other supporting positions. They
lost two dead and two wounded, but when darkness fell, they could go back to
the regiment and report the wire cut. "After an artillery barrage of 48
hours, the regiment's assault force went through the wire and smashed the
pillboxes. Hours later the German winter push started, and they left the
place and called it Heartbreak Crossroads."
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Click here for
the article as one long piece.
Note: judging from what is on the
back of this article, I am assuming it came from the Port Arthur News. But
then I cut the article out and don't remember that being the case. Also as
an added note: I received some information that states that these guys
uniforms were frozen and they nearly froze from the cold and the snow at
that time of year in Germany. When and if I get permission, I will upload
that information too. It's in a book about Heartbreak Crossroads and the 2nd
Infantry Division. Daddy Burke was a real war hero. He went to his grave
with shrapnel still in his heart. Can you imagine the pain he had to endure
his entire lifetime? He died at age 59 of a heart attack. Continue through
these pages for his Memorial page. My brother, Ronnie, and I consider
ourselves fortunate to have had two fathers: Charlie Bigler and Harold
Burke. Visit Charlie's pages too please. My brother, Ronnie, sent me this
email. I cried when I read it.
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Gertrude (Mother) Carolyn (me)
Harold (Daddy) Ronnie (brother)
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"Can't add much at this time
without some research. I can say that everyone needs to read the Stars and
Stripes essay of the circumstances and bravery of the 16 men that were sent
to cut the wire and make it possible for the events to unfold. Two killed,
two wounded but able to make it back and report the fence line had been
severed. Our Dad Harold being one of the wounded and able to return could
only make Camp Fannin proud to have had a part in preparing him for what was
ahead.
He was a member of without a
doubt the Greatest generation.
He always chose to do whatever was
better for the people in his life even if it was at a great sacrifice for
himself. Not a movie star, not a sports star just one of the thousands of
true American heroes that did what they were sent to do to protect the
rights and freedom of generations to come. He lives on thru his son,
daughter, grandsons and grand daughters that, because of the wounds received
made his life difficult to be normal, he chose a way to make their lives
better."
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These pages will be linked in
the Camp Fannin website soon. I sent a message in regards to linking to
their site on the next page. They are going to do a webpage for Daddy Burke
after my brother and I put information together for them. That is exciting
to me! I will be adding more WWII memorabilia to these pages. The next page
has a photo taken at Camp Fannin - Tyler, Texas on April 13, 1944. It is Co
54A. Hopefully some people will recognize a relative in the photo. I scanned
it in 4 sections and pieced it together. I plan to get it scanned and
resized at a copy shop so I can scan it all in one piece. Patience please.
The actual photo is about 12 inches by 36 inches. It's large. The memorial
page follows the Camp Fannin page.
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