Lt.
Col. Louis Francis Burleson
By Donald Burleson; Thanks to Don for writing this about
his father one of our WWII Veterans
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By Donald Burleson; Thanks to Don for writing this about
his father one of our WWII Veterans
Louis Francis Burleson was born on November 30th 1914
in a farm house in New London North Carolina. Louis was
the last child of Corinna and J. V. Burleson, being born
when J. V. was 44 years-old. Louis was a very athletic
young man and earned high school letters in football,
basketball and baseball. After graduation Louis went to
live in New York City after his graduation from high school.
In 1936 Louis joined the US Army Air Corp and went to
Hickam field in Hawaii, where he learned aircraft mechanics
and served as pitcher for the Army team in Hawaii.
Gifted with a photographic memory and a natural ability
in mathematics, Louis supervised poker games in the wealthy
casinos on Waikiki beach. By taking 10% of each pot to
keep the game honest, Louis earned over $1,000 per month,
far more than his meager military pay of $36/month. By
1938, Louis was promoted to sergeant, earned a solo pilots
license and had a nice off-base apartment, where he hired
a Navy Captain's wife to do his cleaning.
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In 1939 Louis F. Burleson was transferred to Kirtland
Field in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was there in
1941 that he met Virginia Griffiths, who he married
in September, less than 90 days before Pearl Harbor
and the outbreak of WWII. His new wife, Virginia
(Ginger) Griffiths was a native of Ireland, and
was born on Feb 15th, 1920 in Dublin. She immigrated
to the United States with her mother Geraldine to
New York City in 1921. Less than a week after their
wedding, Louis was promoted to Technical Sergeant
and transferred to Clark Field in the Philippines
where he was assigned to the 19th bomb group of
the 5th Air Force as chief mechanic for the fleet
on several dozen B-17 bombers. It was at Clark Field
where Lou first encountered combat when he fought
the Japanese on December 7th, 1941. Listening to
radio reports of the destruction of Pearl Harbor,
the radio announcer said that Clark Field had also
been bombed. Taking the hint, the B-17s were moved
to a safer area, but less then 10 minutes after
the announcement a wave of more than 50 Japanese
bombers devastated Clark Field, destroying more
than half the U.S. air power in the Pacific theater.
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As
the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Louis fled
to Luzon where the last holdouts prepared a stand
against the Japanese invaders. After General Macarthur
was order to leave Luzon, morale declined as the
Americans were short on food and supplies and vastly
outnumbered by the Japanese.
Clark Field, December 1941 Louis was ordered to
take the last ship from Luzon, leaving his compatriots
to face certain defeat. Those left behind were captured
and were forced to march north though the jungle
in the infamous “Bataan Death March”.Louis
Burleson fled with the 5th Air Force to New Guinea,
and later to Australia in early 1942. |

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The 19th bomb group suffered heavy losses from the
daring daylight raids and they sought to undertake
a new bombing method that would minimize casualties.
During his time in Australia, Louis flew fifty-two
combat missions as a gunner and flight engineer
in the remaining B17 bombers. He received the Distinguished
Flying Cross on two occasions, each time for meritorious
valor in combat, and also received the Air Medal.
Louis F. Burleson’s first Distinguished Flying
Cross commendation reads:
LOUIS F. BURLESON, 6882468, Technical Sergeant,
Headquarters Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group (H),
Air Corps, United States Army. For extraordinary
achievement while participating in the aerial flights
in the Southwest Pacific Area from December 8, 1941
to
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November
9, 1942. During this period, Sergeant Burleson participated
in more than fifty operational flight missions during
which hostile contact was probable and expected. These
flights included long-range bombing missions against enemy
airdromes and installations and attacks on enemy naval
vessels and shipping.
Throughout
those operations, Sergeant Burleson demonstrated outstanding
ability and devotion to duty. As a gunner on the B17’s,
Lou's expert marksmanship with the 50 caliber machine
guns sent many Japanese fighter planes crashing into the
Pacific Ocean. Louis Burleson once stated that he believed
that he shot down at least ten enemy aircraft using a
technique that he discovered from the nighttime bombing
raids. Unlike the B-17 which has a protecting inner lining
to seal-up bullet holes, the Japanese fighters did not
have this feature. By loading his machine gun with incendiary
rounds he was able to explode the fighters with a well-placed
shot into the wings. |

Actual Photo of the B-17 mission over Rabaul
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Louis Burleson was cited for extraordinary heroism and
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after he invented
flare racks for the B-17 that allowed the 5th Air Force
to do night bombing mission, saving the lives of many
crew members.
Major Bernard Schriever, a newly-mint | | |