Medal of Honor: Frank Burke - World War II - April 17, 1945

Name: Frank Burke (also known as Francis X. Burke)
Rank: First Lieutenant
Branch: U.S. Army
War: World War II
Unit: 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division
Date of Action: April 17, 1945
Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Summary of Action

On 17 April 1945, First Lieutenant Frank Burke distinguished himself during brutal street fighting in Nuremberg, Germany.

The 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry was engaged in destroying determined German resistance inside the symbolic stronghold of Nazism.

Burke was serving as battalion transportation officer and had gone forward only to select a motor-pool site.

Instead of remaining behind the lines, he voluntarily advanced beyond the riflemen to join the battle.

Spotting roughly ten German soldiers preparing a local counterattack, he raced back to an American company, seized a light machine gun and ammunition, then returned alone to engage them.

He opened fire on the superior force, scattering them despite return fire from rifles, machine pistols, and rocket launchers.

When another German machine gun attempted to kill him from a different angle, Burke destroyed that crew as well.

Turning next to enemy infantry inside ruined buildings, he grabbed a rifle and sprinted more than one hundred yards through intense fire to engage them from behind a disabled tank.

A sniper nearly shot him from a cellar only twenty yards away.

Burke charged the basement window, emptied a full clip into it, then plunged through the opening to finish the fight inside.

He briefly withdrew only long enough to replace a jammed rifle and gather grenades.

When rifle fire proved ineffective against another occupied building, he pulled the pins on two grenades, rushed the structure, and threw them just as the enemy hurled a grenade at him.

The triple blast killed the defenders and left Burke dazed beneath falling debris.

He rose, recovered his rifle, killed three more enemy soldiers, and then calmly shot down a charging machine-pistol gunman.

Returning toward American lines, Burke joined a platoon in a thirty-minute firefight that repulsed another German force.

He then moved to another unit and helped destroy resistance centered around a 20mm gun.

In four hours of combat, Burke personally killed eleven enemy soldiers, wounded three more, and played a leading role in actions causing twenty-nine additional enemy casualties.

His fearless initiative and extraordinary combat skill hastened the fall of Nuremberg in his battalion’s sector.

Medal of Honor Citation

BURKE, FRANK (also known as FRANCIS X. BURKE)

He fought with extreme gallantry in the streets of war-torn Nuremberg, Germany, where the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, was engaged in rooting out fanatical defenders of the citadel of Nazism. As battalion transportation officer he had gone forward to select a motor-pool site, when, in a desire to perform more than his assigned duties and participate in the fight, he advanced beyond the lines of the forward riflemen. Detecting a group of about 10 Germans making preparations for a local counterattack, he rushed back to a nearby American company, secured a light machinegun with ammunition, and daringly opened fire on this superior force, which deployed and returned his fire with machine pistols, rifles, and rocket launchers. From another angle a German machinegun tried to blast him from his emplacement, but 1st Lt. Burke killed this guncrew and drove off the survivors of the unit he had originally attacked. Giving his next attention to enemy infantrymen in ruined buildings, he picked up a rifle dashed more than 100 yards through intense fire and engaged the Germans from behind an abandoned tank. A sniper nearly hit him from a cellar only 20 yards away, but he dispatched this adversary by running directly to the basement window, firing a full clip into it and then plunging through the darkened aperture to complete the job. He withdrew from the fight only long enough to replace his jammed rifle and secure grenades, then re-engaged the Germans. Finding his shots ineffective, he pulled the pins from 2 grenades, and, holding 1 in each hand, rushed the enemy-held building, hurling his missiles just as the enemy threw a potato masher grenade at him. In the triple explosion the Germans were wiped out and 1st Lt. Burke was dazed; but he emerged from the shower of debris that engulfed him, recovered his rifle, and went on to kill 3 more Germans and meet the charge of a machine pistolman, whom he cut down with 3 calmly delivered shots. He then retired toward the American lines and there assisted a platoon in a raging, 30-minute fight against formidable armed hostile forces. This enemy group was repulsed, and the intrepid fighter moved to another friendly group which broke the power of a German unit armed with a 20-mm. gun in a fierce fire fight. In 4 hours of heroic action, 1st Lt. Burke single-handedly killed 11 and wounded 3 enemy soldiers and took a leading role in engagements in which an additional 29 enemy were killed or wounded. His extraordinary bravery and superb fighting skill were an inspiration to his comrades, and his entirely voluntary mission into extremely dangerous territory hastened the fall of Nuremberg, in his battalion’s sector.