Major FRANCIS T. BURKE, received his Navy cross while a platoon leader with the First Marine Division on Pelelieu 19-20 September 1944. Assigned the mission of assaulting Hill 100, a heavily defended coral nose studded with caves and concrete pillboxes, Lieutenant Burke gallantly led his platoon in a furious attack and reached the summit of the hill. Immediately coming under fire from a field piece which caused numerous casualties, he quickly consolidated the nine remaining men of his platoon into a defense of the forward portion of the hill. Although he received a severe bayonet wound in a hand-to-hand encounter with an enemy soldier, he resolutely remained in his exposed position and continued to lead his men in desperate combat with numerically superior attacking Japanese forces. At dawn, with his automatic weapon out of action, his ammunition exhausted and his position raked by heavy machine-gun fire, he was ordered to withdraw his men to a new position. Lieutenant Burke’s indomitable fighting spirit, aggressive leadership and courageous devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Maj. Burke joined the Legion of Valor in 1961 and resides in Florida.