Joseph Edward Burns – Captain, United States Army

BURNS, JOSEPH EDWARD (Age 87)
Died on February 3, 2003, at Annaburg Manor in Manassas, Virginia.

Captain Burns was born July 26, 1915 to Giles Francis and Mary Loretto (Donahue) Burns, of Port Carbon, Sckuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Stephen’s School and graduated from St. Stephen’s High School (both in Port Carbon) in 1933. During his high school career, he participated in the basketball program. He played on the team which consisted of his brother, Leo, and 12 other players and Coaches Edie O’Toole and John Nolan.

From 1934 to February 1940, Mr. Burns worked as a weighmaster at Frackville Coal Company at Cumbola, Pennsylvania. On March 1, 1940, he began working as a temporary employee at the Internal Revenue Service and later, at the Railroad Retirement Board and Works Projects Administration, both in Washington, DC, until he was drafted in the Army Infantry on November 13, 1941.

After Basic Infantry and administrative training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, he was assigned as cadre at the Infantry Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning, Georgia, for approximately 27 months and then to a replacement center in New Guinea to await further reassignment. These included combat situations on both Philippine Islands of Leyte and Luzon, respectively and resulted in awards of a Combat Infantry Badge and a Silver Star Medal for “gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.” He was also awarded a Bronze Star Medal along with a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second award of the Bronze Star Medal. Both awards were for “”meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy during World War II.

He is predeceased by his wife, Etheldria Burns. He is survived by three sons, Joseph E. Burns, Jr. of Manassas, Virginia, Francis Xavier Burns of Lovettsville, Virginia and Gerald P. Burns of Manassas, Virginia; eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Funeral Mass will be held at All Saints Catholic Church, 9300 Stonewall Road., Manassas, Virginia, on Monday, February 10, 2003 at 1 p.m. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery on February 18, 2003 at 2 p.m.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard