HomeMy WebLinkAboutBurt, JoeBy Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
In the military, the first sergeant is the mother hen,
father confessor, disciplinarian, encourager and ultimate
judge of all things affeci<ing the lives of the enlisted men
entrusted to his care. Joe Burt of Bryan held that position
in the military for more than 20 years -starting the day
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Burt recently celebrated his 90th birthday with a large
gathering of family and friends at his favorite watering
hole and restaurant, Fickey's. Burt had this to say:
"I was born in Randolph, Texas, on January 23,
1918, which is about 10 miles outside of Bonham, Texas.
I attended school in Bonham until I graduated. After
graduation I went to work at Southwest Pump Company in
Bonham making gasoline pumps for filling stations. I had
just married when a recruiter for the Texas National Guard
convinced me that I could pick up some easy money if I
joined. I joined in 1938, but in 1940 the president ordered
our unit, the 36th Division, to be mobilized. My orders
called for my enlistment to end in one year.
"My enlistment was to end on December 11, 1941. I
was home in Bonham getting things set up so I could return
to my old job and to arrange for my wife and I to move
back into our home. On Sunday afternoon, December 7,
1941, I walked into my parents' home when my Dad said,
`The Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor.' I walked past him
to the kitchen when his words registered with me. I went
back into the living room and said, `What did you say?' His
response was the same, and he also said,'The army called
and they want you back in Brownwood immediately.'
"I returned that night, and the next day I reported to
the colonel. He pulled out my discharge papers and said
he was going to have to tear them up. I asked if he would
let me tear them up, which he did. I was a staff sergeant at
the time but was promoted that day to tech sergeant and
was told to gather my platoon and report to C Company,
which was to be an anti-tank company. When I reported,
the CO told me I was to be the first sergeant. In one day's
time I went from being discharged as a staff sergeant to
being promoted to tech sergeant and then promoted to
first sergeant. It was a position I was to keep until I retired
in 1961, 20 years later.
"We were part of the 36th Division, known as the
I` `Texas Division.' Originally we were almost all Texas boys,
but new recruits started coming into the division. We
i trained for combat but didn't get our M10 tanks until we
were in Virginia and on our way overseas. We headed for
North Africa aboard an old banana boat loaded with our
tanks. The second week we passed through the Straits
of Gibraltar on our way to Algiers. We were told this was
because the whole time we were trying to unload the !,
Germans were bombing us. They caused us to drop one :
of our tanks in the water. We trained outside Algiers and
as part of that training we spent some time chasing the
German General Rommel all the way out of Tunisia. After
doing that, we pulled back and trained for the invasion
of ttaly. We landed on Sicily first but didn't have much
resistance there. Our next landing was at Salerno, and 1
Salerno was a d'rfferent story.
"Salemo was tough going from day one. We didn't
know if we were going to be able to keep the ground we
had or not. The orders that came down to us said what >.
we knew was our situation. Those orders said 'Fight or
drown.' I lost six of my men at Salerno, but we held it and
moved on north chasing the German army.
"We by-passed Rome, but it seemed that the further
north we went, the deeper the mud became. It was north
of Rome that I met my Waterloo. I slipped and fell down
this ravine, landing on some rocks. I was unable to walk
and was sent to a hospital. By this time I had lost 18 of my
men and wasn't able to catch back up with them till near
the end of the Italian campaign.
"I was assigned temporary duty in the hospital and
other areas that needed some supervision until I received
my orders to go home. I boarded a freighter to come home,
and for the next two weeks we ran into storms. That ship
did everything but do somersaults. We landed at Newport
News, Virginia, on July 4,1945, and I was out of the army
by July 11,1945. That original one year enlistment turned
into five years.
"I soon found that my.old job in Bonham wasn't as
fulfilling as being a first sergeant in the army, so I re-
enlisted into the Army Air Corps, which was to become
the Air Force. One of my duty stations was Bryan Air Base
until it closed in 1959. The army had now been integrated,
but one outfit had a 'white line.' The base commander
dismissed their CO and first sergeant and assigned a new
CO and me. We had that `white line' erased in about 10
days. You just need to know how to talk to some people.
I received the Air Force Commendation medal for clearing
that problem."
Burt's career would involve duty stations on the
forefront of the Cold War, including radar stations in Alaska
where temperatures reached 56 degrees below zero to
planes that were loaded with atomic bombs every day. He
retired after 23 years of service in 1961.
"After I retired, my son was attending A&M, so we
bought a home here and have been in Bryan since. That
time in the war turned me into a man and an effective first
sergeant. I enjoyed the service and I enjoyed serving my
country."
Joe Burt s name is found on the Brazos Valley Veterans
Memorial. If you want to have a name added to the Veterans