James M Burt
On the 18th of July, 1917, James was born in Lee, Massachusetts. After high school, he attended Norwich University in Northfield Vermont, which is a private military college that historically was known as a source of cavalry officers and the birthplace of the Reserve Officer Training Corp. A new form of mechanized cavalry was being introduced and James was commissioned as an armor officer with the US Army when he graduated in 1939. He then entered active service in 1941 and was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, with the 66thArmor Regiment, 2nd Armored Division. When they deployed in support of World War 2, James served in North Africa, Sicily, and Northern Europe. By June of 1944, he had been promoted to Captain and was in command of Company B when they landed at Normandy and remained so until the end of the war. Unlike many, James didn't receive the Medal of Honor for actions on one specific occasion. Instead, his actions over the period of ten days would earn him the Medal of Honor and the citation reads:
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.
This battle was the largest urban battle that was fought by the US forces during the War and it ended in German surrender. James then received the Medal of Honor from President Truman in a ceremony on the 12th of October, 1945, one year after the Battle. This ceremony included thirteen others that received the Medal of Honor, including Desmond Doss and Thomas Atkins.
After the war had ended, James left the Army and spent most of his time with his first wife Edythe and their four children in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. He would visit the 2nd Armored Division many times at Fort Hood in Texas, as well as traveling to West Germany. The 3rd Battalion of the 66th Armored Regiment had been nicknamed “Burt's Knights” and he was eventually made an honorary Colonel. James became a mathematics and business instructor at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire after a career in the paper industry and after earning a Master's Degree in Education.
James Montross Burt died on the 15th of February, 2006 at the age of 88 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and is buried in the Hillside Cemetery in Hancock, New Hampshire.
