Cpl. William Edison Burns Jr.

    In Maywood, he lived at 808 South 9th Avenue and attended Proviso Township High School.  He was a member of the Proviso graduating Class of 1938.  While a student at Proviso, he was interested in music, basketball and ice skating.  After high school, he attended college for a year before he was employed by the Continental Can Company in Chicago.

     Bill was a member of the 33rd Tank Company of the Illinois National Guard and was called to federal service in November of 1940.  He trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Camp Polk, Louisiana, before being sent to the Philippines in October of 1941.

     When war came in December of 1941, William served as a member of the motorcycle reconnaissance detachment and was a dispatch rider for the 192nd Tank Battalion.  As a member of this unit, he carried messages between the various companies of the 192nd.  While under heavy enemy fire from enemy machine guns, aerial bombing and artillery fire, he made numerous trips to the front lines units delivering messages and guiding other messengers.  By doing this, he showed utter disregard for his own personal safety  while performing his duties.     

    During the evening of April 8, 1942, Bill informed his friend, Sgt. Ray Vadenbroucke that had been selected to drive one of the two jeeps that were to carry the officers of General King's staff to negotiate the surrender of the Filipino and American forces on Bataan.  Since he did not know if he would return from this mission alive, Bill asked Ray to inform his parents that he had done his best during the Battle of Bataan.  

     On April 9, 1942, Bill drove the jeep which carried Col. Everett C. Williams and Major Marshall H. Hurt to notify the Japanese that General King intended on surrendering the Filipino and American Forces on Bataan.  He returned to the American lines with Major Hurt to bring the news that the Japanese were willing to accept the surrender of General King's troops.  

    Bill next drove the jeep carrying Col. Collier, a member of General King's staff, to the meeting with General Kameichiro Nagano to discuss the terms of surrender.  During this trip up the East Road, the two jeeps were attacked by Japanese planes.  This was done despite the fact they were carrying white flags.  Bill saved his own life and that of Col. Collier when he swerved his jeep sharply to the left as a Japanese plane strafed them.  He continued to play this game of "cat and mouse" with the Japanese planes until a Japanese reconnaissance plane acknowledged them and kept the other planes away. 

    With the surrender of Bataan, Bill took part in the death march and was held as a Prisoner of War at Camp O'Donnell.  Sometime between April 12 and May 1, while a POW at Camp O'Donnell, Bill was one of 100 POW's selected to go to Camp Olivas on a work detail. 

    The men on this detail were selected because they were in good physical condition.  These men drove trucks down to Bataan to bring back vehicles that had been abandoned and disabled by the retreating Filipino and American forces.  Each truck had a driver and three men assigned to it.  The men would hook three vehicles together and tow the damaged vehicles to San Fernando. Each man would sit in a vehicle and steer it.  From San Fernando, the men would drive the vehicles to Manila where the vehicles were loaded onto ships bound for Japan.

    While working on this detail, Bill was one of five men selected by the Japanese to be sent to the hospital because of illness.  Bill and Charles Peterson, another member of Company B, were considered so ill that they were placed in isolation.  According to Capt. Harold Collins of the 192nd, Cpl. William Edison Burns died on July 3, 1942, from malaria and yellow jaundice at Camp Olivias.  The document written during the war at Bilibid Prison states Burns died at Olivias between the 6th and 10th kilometer markers of the Apayao River.

    After his death, Sgt. Bob Peterson and Pvt. Harry Noworul, both of B Company, convinced the Japanese to allow them to bury Bill outside of San Fernando.  The two men carried his body two miles from the town where they buried him in a secluded spot.  After the war, the Burns Family requested that Bill's remains be returned to the United States. Since his father had moved to California, Bill was reburied at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in Section N, Site 2387, in San Bruno, California.

     Cpl. William E. Burns Jr. was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Silver Star for meritorious achievement and gallantry in action.   

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