Donald Ray Burns (1929 - 1996)

Colonel Don Burns was a Prisoner of War for 2284 days during the Vietnam War.

Biography

Colonel Don Burns served in the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War
Service started: Mar 1954
Unit(s): 335th Fighter Day Squadron; 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Service ended: 1977

Birth and Early Life

Col. Donald Ray Burns was born on 2 January 1929 in Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Texas, USA to Charles Oscar Burns (1900-1977) and Lizzie Mae Gober (1902-1993).^[1][2][3]

Siblings

1. Francis Merle Burns born 20 October 1924 in Frost, Navarro, Texas, USA. He married Ursula Ann McGinniss (1926-2014) on 24 April 1954 in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri. Frank died on 4 August 2003 in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, USA.
2. Loyce Annette Burns, called Annette, born 12 March 1938 in Palo Pinto County, Texas, USA. Annette married Sam Dexter Lackland (born 1934) on 21 October 1959 and divorced on 18 December 1980 in Smith County, Texas.

Education

Don was called the All American Boy, working at a newspaper route, playing football at Mineral Wells High School, from which he graduated in 1946.

He attended and graduated from Midwestern University in 1950, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business.

Marriages and Family

He married twice.

1. Dorothea Marguerite Unknown on 1 June 1950. 8 months after his return from over six years in prison in North Vietnam, they divorced. It was final on 28 November 1973 in Palo Pinto County, Texas.^[4]
2. Margarite Laurene Nemie on 11 September 1976 in Fort Monroe, Fort Monroe, Virginia. ^[5]It was the second marriage for both he and Margarite. She came to the marriage with two children from her first marriage to a Mr. Jacobs. The children were Michael Jacobs and Michelle Jacobs.

Children of the Burns-Unknown Marriage

1. Rebecca Dee Burns born 22 August 1956. She married Forrest R. Massie on 24 August 1984 in Bexar County, Texas. They were divorced on 8 May 1989 in Palo Pinto County, Texas.
2. Darrell Edward Burns born 29 October 1959.

Military Service

Don enlisted in the United States Air Force on 24 March 1951. He entered OCS (Officer Candidate School) at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas on 1 October 1951 and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant on 21 March 1952.

He completed Aircraft Controller training at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and then went to the 656th Air Control and Warning Squadron at Saratoga Springs, New York from July 1952 to October 1953. In October 1953 he was accepted for pilot training and was awarded his pilot wings in October 1954 at Bryan Air Force Base in Texas. He completed Gunnery School and Combat Crew Training in the F-86 Sabre before serving with the 335th Fighter Day Squadron at Chitose Air Base in Japan from June 1955 to October 1957 and as the Flight Commander there with the 6029th Support Group from October 1957 to April 1958.

He was next assigned as an Intercept Controller with the 729th Air Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W) at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia from April to July 1958 and with the 728th AC&W Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina until December 1960.

Don completed B-66 Destroyer transition training and served as a B-66 pilot at Royal Air Force Sculthorpe, England with the 85th Tactical Bomb Squadron from March 1961 until August 1962.

He became an F-84 Thunderstruck pilot and served at Chaumont Air Base in France with the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron from August 1962 to July 1963. He moved with that squadron back to the states to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico as they were transitioning to the F-100 Super Sabre and then to the F-4 Phantom II until March 1966 when the squadron deployed to Southeast Asia.

Major Burns flew combat missions with the 389th out of Phan Rang Air Base in South Vietnam from March to October 1966 and then again from October 1966 out of Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam.

Prisoner of War from 2 December 1966 to 4 March 1973. ^{[6] [7]}

He was hit by a surface to air missile (SAM) while flying his F-4C Phantom and forced to eject over enemy territory about 40 kilometers NW of Hanoi. His (WSO), Weapons Systems Officer, Lieutenant Bruce Chalmers Ducat, is said to have been shot by the North Vietnamese because he was so big that they were afraid of him. ^[8]Both men were captured according to Burns and Bruce was shot and killed almost immediately, but the North Vietnamese denied any knowledge of him and he remained in POW status for 11 years while his family waited first for him and then for the eventual return of his found body. Don was held in the Hỏa Lò Prison, or as the Americans called it, The Hanoi Hilton. ^[9]

Personal Military Honors

His Silver Star Citation

For the period December 1966: This officer distinguished himself by gallantry and intrepidity in action in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force during the above period while a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions, and propaganda materials. This individual resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths in a manner which reflected his devotion to duty and great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

1. Silver Star.
2. Legion of Merit with Bronze Cluster.
3. Distinguished Flying Cross with V Device and Bronze Cluster.
4. Bronze Star with V Device and 2 Bronze Clusters.
5. Purple Heart with Bronze Cluster.
6. Air Medal with 1 Silver and 3 Bronze Clusters.
7. Air Force Commendation Medal with 1 Bronze Cluster.

The full ribbon set is available here.

Retirement and Later Life

Don retired as a Colonel from the United States Air Force in 1977. He worked on his golf game and he co-founded the Lee Group.^[10]

Death and Burial

Colonel Burns died at his home of cancer on 26 April 1996 in James City County, Virginia, United States at the age of 67. ^[11]He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia with full honors. Find A Grave: Memorial #38962068

There is also a Memorial Rose Garden in his honor established at Woodland Park Cemetery in Mineral Wells, Texas.

Sources

• Texas Birth Index.
• Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1932.
• 1930 United States Federal Census on 15 April in Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Texas. Page 19b, Lines, 84-87. ^[12]
• Vietnam War, Casualties Returned Alive, 1962-1979.
• Texas Divorce Index. Divorce from Dorothea M. Burns
• Virginia Marriage Records.
• Virginia Death Records.
• Find A Grave Index.
• U.S. Social Security Death Index.
• Wyatt, Barbara Powers. We Came Home. Toluca Lake, CA: P.O.W. Publications, 1977.
• Veteran Tributes. [1]
• Ruston Daily Leader, Ruston, Louisiana on 23 December 1970, page 8 entitled: List of U.S. Prisoners in North Vietnam. They are broken down by state of record (not birth). Don is in the Texas section under Mineral Wells.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Vet Trib
2. ↑ TX Birth Rec
3. ↑ TX Birth Certificate
4. ↑ TX Divorce
5. ↑ VA Marr Rec
6. ↑ NAM POW list
7. ↑ Vietnam War Casualties
8. ↑ Narrative provided by Mrs. Margarite Burns, widow of Colonel Burns.
9. ↑ Wyatt, BP
10. ↑ Vet Trib
11. ↑ VA Death Rec
12. ↑ 1930: Burns, C. Oscar 22, head, road construction laborer; Lizzie M. 28, wife; F. Merle 6, son; Donald R. 1, son.

Acknowledgements