WW2 Fallen 100: WW2 Fallen - Bryant Burnett, 2nd Infantry Division

Private Bryant Burnett served in the 37th Field Artillery Battalion attached to the 2nd Infantry Division.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154296394/bryant-burnett
https://www.ww2online.org/image/2nd-infantry-division-taking-cover-german-fire-riverbank-germany-1945

Bryant Burnett, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.

Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org.

This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers.

Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Bryant Burnett, Jr. was born on 29 Aug 1920 to Bryant Burnett, Sr., a plasterer from Tennessee and Bertha O’Banion from Arkansas. Bryant had one brother Eldridge born in 1918. Eldridge was a fireman who died as a result of a homicide on 23 May 1943. His sister Pansy was born in 1912, and Helen in 1911.

Bryant completed schooling through the 7th grade.. In 1940 Bryant was working as a carpenter’s helper.

Bryant Burnett enlisted in the Army on 15 Oct 1940 at Houston, Texas and was attached to the 37th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Division which was reactivated 1 October 1940 at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

The 37th Field Artillery Battalion participated in the campaigns at Normany (D-Day), the Battle of the Bulge including the Ardennes and N. France, Central Europe and Rhineland.

The 2nd Infantry Division was transferred from Fort Sam Houston to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in November 1942 where it trained until it deployed to Ireland in October, 1943. As part of the buildup for operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion, it spent ten months in Ireland undergoing more extensive training. On 7 June 1944, D-Day+1, the Division came ashore in France at bloody Omaha Beach. It liberated the first of many cities, Trevieres, two days later. The Indianheads battled their way through the hedgerows of Normandy in very tough fighting. Later, after a fierce 21-day battle, the 2nd Infantry Division, fighting in the streets and alleyways, finally liberated the vital port city of Brest on 18 September 1944.

Once mop-up operations were complete in the Normandy region, the Division attacked east across France. From positions around St. Vith, Belgium, the Second was ordered on 11 December 1944 to attack and seize the Roer River dams. Having pierced the dreaded Siegfried Line, the Division was advancing when Nazi Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt unleashed a powerful German offensive in the Ardennes. Throughout this Battle of the Bulge, the 2nd Infantry Division, along with the 101st Airborne Division and others, held fast and preventing the enemy from seizing key roads leading to the cities of Liege and Antwerp.

The 37th FAB was awarded the Belgian Fourragere 1940 with two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army, one for the Ardennes and another for Elsenborn Crest (also called Elsenborn Ridge).

Resuming the offensive on 6 February 1945, the Division joined the race to annihilate the fleeing Wehrmacht.

Transferred from the First Army to Patton’s Third Amy, the Indianheads spent their last weeks of the European War in a dash through central Germany. By the end of April the 2nd ID had reached the German border with Czechoslovakia in the area of Waldmuchen. Pvt. Burnett suffered a severe head wound and was admitted to a hospital on April 29. Private Burnett died of wounds on May 1. We don't know the circumstances that caused his head wound, but it is possible that he could have been a forward artillery observer which would have put him in at the edge of the front lines on a regular basis. Or it may have been the result of an artillery gun recoil. The war in Europe ended seven days later. He was one of the last of more than 3,200 men lost during the war from the 2nd ID.

Private Burnett was awarded the following citations: Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Presidential Unit Citation, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

Bryant Burnett, Jr., is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Houston, Texas. He was 24 years old.

Note – Bryant’s headstone reads that he was a Pvt. his headstone application states he was a Pfc. at time of death. Roster of the dead in Texas states he was DOW (died of wounds) where another says KIA.

Thank you, Bryant Burnett, Jr. for your sacrifice. Let’s ‘Earn It” for Bryant.

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This profile was written by Linda Simpson. I have been an avid genealogist, researching my ancestry in Canada, France, Belgium, and Ireland for over 40 years. I am also a historian for The Seminole Nation, Indian Territory, and The Past Whispers. When I saw an article on Don’s project I knew I wanted to be a part of Stories Behind the Stars. What an amazing way to honor our fallen, by ‘Earning It’ for them.

This is one of the final 10 stories (5) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled MIA B-25 copilot Charles Cannon. You can read about Charles here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

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