- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of James Montgomery Burgess
- Creator:
- Pahr, Marilyn A.
Burgess, James Montgomery, 1924- - Date of Original:
- 2004-01-07
- Subject:
- Landing craft
Hu¨rtgen Forest, Battle of, Germany, 1944
Silver star
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1885-1945
Georgia Institute of Technology
United States. Army. Reserve Officers' Training Corps
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 4th
United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 12th. Company G
United Nations Convention against Corruption - Location:
- France, Cherbourg, 49.6425343, -1.6249565
France, Sainte-Mère-Eglise, 49.4117704, -1.32682478113355
France, Saint-Lô, 49.1157004, -1.0906637
Germany, Bad Tölz, 47.7610641, 11.5582933
Japan, Tokyo, 35.709026, 139.731992
Korea, Pusan, 35.1799528, 129.0752365
Luxembourg, Echternach, 49.8120961, 6.4214859
Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 49.8158683, 6.1296751
United States, Alabama, Calhoun County, Fort McClellan, 33.71076, -85.73733
United States, California, Contra Costa County, Camp Stoneman, 38.00742, -121.92107
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning, 32.35237, -84.96882
United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Fort McPherson, 33.70733, -84.43354
United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Fort Gordon, 33.42097, -82.16206
United States, North Carolina, Cumberland County, Fort Bragg, 35.139, -79.00603 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, James Burgess describes his experiences in the Army during World War II and Korea. He trained in Exmouth, Exeter, and Portsmouth, England. In the week before the invasion, all the troops were gathered into a marshalling area behind barbed wire, with no communications in or out. He describe the landing at Utah Beach and subsequent march through flooded marshes. He was wounded in the leg by shrapnel and spent a month in a hospital in England. He rejoined his unit in October and later received a battlefield commission. During the Battle of the Bulge, his unit helped relieve the 101st Airborne at Bastogne. The weather was terribly cold and tank drivers had to use flamethrowers to get the ice off the tank turrets. His division crossed the Rhine at Worms and was at Bad Tolz when they heard of President Roosevelt's death; they thought it was German propaganda. After the Battle of the Bulge, the unit went from village to village, riding in tanks and sleeping in homes. The airport in Munich had been bombed so badly that the Germans paved over the grass median of the autobahn and used it for a runway, hiding the planes in the nearby trees. While in Munich, he and two other lieutenants walked through Dachau. Even though it had been liberated for a few weeks, the inmates had not left. He describes seeing an army film crew there. His unit traveled home in Liberty Ships to New York City, where they were met with a hero's welcome. After the war, he graduated from Georgia Tech and got married. His wife gave birth to twins one day before he was ordered to go to Korea as a Reservist. He was attached to the 1st Marine Division as an intelligence officer and spent his time in Korea screening prisoners and refugees. He describes several artifacts in the interview, including a "Deutschen Mutter," a cross that was presented to German mothers for exemplary motherhood. He acquired the cross when his unit entered a hospital full of pregnant women during World War II. He also comments with pride on the current 4th Division, who captured Saddam Hussein.
James Burgess was in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II and in Korea.
JAMES MONTGOMERY BURGESS WWII Oral Histories January 7, 2004 Atlanta History Center Interviewer: Marilyn Parr Transcriber: Joyce Dumas [Tape 1, Side A] Interviewer: Today is Wednesday, January fourteen, two thousand four. My name is Marilyn Parr and we're at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Could you tell us your name and your date of birth, sir. Burgess: My name is James Montgomery Burgess and my date of birth is May thirty, nineteen twenty-four. Interviewer: And were you born here [inaudible]? Burgess: I was born in Athens, Georgia. Interviewer: Athens, Georgia. Could you tell us just a little bit about your early upbringing? Burgess: Well, we didn't live in Athens very long. I don't remember that. I grew up basically in the South, mostly in Atlanta and I've lived here, except for two or three times when in my business I was in other cities. This has been my home all along. I lived in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia. I graduated from North Fu - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/312
- Additional Rights Information:
- This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Extent:
- 52:31
- Original Collection:
- Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center - Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
