Thomas John Burns

There were three Burns boys growing up in the 1930s in a Philadelphia neighborhood called Southwark, and they attended Southwark School. The name dates back to the colonial era when it was an area by the river just south of the original city limits, but since 1969 it has been known as Queen Village.

Tom’s brothers were Joseph, born in 1923 and Robert, in 1928. Their father, Frank, listed his occupation in 1930 as a teamster in a hauling business, but he died of an aortic aneurysm in 1938 at age 39.

When Joe registered for the draft in 1942 his employer was the Philadelphia Navy Yard but he went in the Army in November and survived the war. Tom enlisted in February, 1943 and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division. The 4th had just been established that month, with Tom’s Regiment, the 23rd, being the nucleus. 

The Division departed from San Diego in January, 1944 and helped capture Saipan and Tinian, two of the Mariana Islands. They were given time later in the year to recover in Hawaii and prepare for their next battle, Iwo Jima.

This was a major step in the Allies’ island-hopping strategy where they would take an island, establish a base, then launch an attack on the next target. But Iwo Jima was a hard-fought victory, with 6800 Americans killed and nearly 20,000 wounded. From mid-February to late March the 4th Division lost more than 40 percent of its strength due to death and injuries.

Corporal Burns was killed during the first ten days of the struggle. A newspaper obituary for him was published on April 20, 1948 which meant that his remains had arrived home. His mother ordered a granite military marker for his grave in Section 18, but a photograph is currently unavailable. All of his family members were buried elsewhere.