Maurice L Britt
Maurice was born in Carlisle, Arkansas, on the 29th of June, 1919. He attended and graduated from Lonoke High School in 1937 and went on to attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Here he had a scholarship for both football and basketball and he also was a member of the Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps. When he graduated in 1941, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and he received a commission to Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the Army Reserve. Maurice had also professionally played football during the 1941 season with the Detroit Lions and in December of that year, he entered active duty service at Camp Joseph T Robinson in North Little Rock.
Maurice had received a partial deferment in order to finish out the football season and once that was complete, he attended training at Fort Lewis in Washington, Fort Ord in California, and the newly founded Camp Pickett, which is now Fort Pickett, in Virginia. With the 30th Infantry Regiment, Maurice deployed to North Africa on the 23rd of October, 1942. He was a platoon leader with Company L, 3rd Battalion during the invasion of North Africa and along with the rest of the Western Forces, was under the command of Major General George S Patton Jr. Once Casablanca was secured, the 3rd Battalion was assigned to personal guard duty for the Casablanca Conference in January of 1943. Specifically, this guard duty was for Sir Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt.
Six months later, Maurice was part of the amphibious invasion of Sicily on the 10th of July, 1943, and took part of the longest foot marches in modern military history. This was a 54 mile march from Gela to Palermo and the 3rd Battalion did it in just 33 hours and they captured Palermo on the 22nd of July. Two months later, Maurice took part in his third amphibious assault landing at Salerno, Italy, as part of Operation Avalanche. He was still a platoon leader with Company L but took command of the company once his commander was wounded and evacuated. He received a Silver Star for his actions during the capture of Acerno, as well as the first of four Purple Hearts he would receive. Maurice then led his company across the Volturno River on the 29th of October, which was the first of several defensive lines prepared by the Germans to buy time for them to prepare their strongest defensive line just South of Rome, and he also received a Bronze Star for his actions. Two weeks later, Maurice would display actions while assaulting Monte Retundo that would earn him the British Military Cross, the Italian Military Medal for Valor, a battlefield promotion to Captain, and the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Disdaining enemy hand grenades and close-range machine pistol, machine gun, and rifle, Lt. Britt inspired and led a handful of his men in repelling a bitter counterattack by approximately 100 Germans against his company positions north of Mignano, Italy, the morning of 10 November 1943. During the intense fire fight, Lt. Britt's canteen and field glasses were shattered; a bullet pierced his side; his chest, face, and hands were covered with grenade wounds. Despite his wounds, for which he refused to accept medical attention until ordered to do so by his battalion commander following the battle, he personally killed 5 and wounded an unknown number of Germans, wiped out one enemy machinegun crew, fired 5 clips of carbine and an undetermined amount of M1 rifle ammunition, and threw 32 fragmentation grenades. His bold, aggressive actions, utterly disregarding superior enemy numbers, resulted in capture of 4 Germans, 2 of them wounded, and enabled several captured Americans to escape. Lt. Britt's undaunted courage and prowess in arms were largely responsible for repulsing a German counterattack which, if successful, would have isolated his battalion and destroyed his company.
Maurice had one more invasion to be a part of and that would be at Anzio on the 22ndof January, 1944 as part of Operation Shingle. In order to get a German machine gun nest destroyed, he got into the open and started doing calisthenics so that the Germans would open fire on him and expose their position. In my opinion, the fact that a Captain, a company commander, would do something like this is not only comically insane but is also what a real leader looks like. This maneuver worked and from that point on, that intersection area where he did this was known as Britt's Junction. Maurice would be injured near Latina the following day, resulting in the loss of part of his right arm and his actions earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, making him the first infantryman to be awarded the top four valor awards by the US Army in World War 2: the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star. Maurice was evacuated to the States for medical treatment and while he was recuperating, he was sent on a war bond tour before receiving an honorable discharge on the 27th of December, 1944.
After the war, Maurice attended the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville for a short time before working at a furniture manufacturing company and then running a company that produced aluminum building products. After spending twenty years in the manufacturing business, he decided to get into politics. Maurice was elected Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas in 1966 and was re-elected in 1968. He was then appointed to be the district director of the Small Business Administration from 1971 to 1985 by the Nixon administration. He sought out one more gubernatorial race in 1986 and it did not end successfully. Maurice had three daughters and two sons with his wife Patricia and was a cousin to the actress Dorothy Lamour. Maurice was 76 when he died of heart failure on the 26th of November, 1995 in the John L McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital. His open casket was placed in the State Capitol Rotunda, making him one of two Lieutenant Governors in state history to do so. His medals were placed on a nearby table and his favorite rocking chair was placed next to him with his Army coat hanged on it. The casket was out for six hours with an Army Sergeant at his head during that time and services were held at the Calvary Baptist Church of Little Rock, where he had been a member. Maurice Lee Britt is buried in the Little Rock National Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas: Section 20, Grave 319.
