​SGT James Burn
US Army 1St Armored Division 176th AFAB
Korea April 1951-April 1953

 
James Burns was born in 1931 In Newington, CT.  During our talk Jim had a hard time remembering many details of his time in the service.  He had a brother and two sisters.  He graduated from Newington High School and was drafted in 1951.  He went to Fort Hood in TX for boot camp and later to Ft Knox for additional schooling as a mechanic.
 
Jim shipped out to Korea from California.  When he arrived, he said he was “above the 38th parallel” in an area called the Triangle.  The Iron Triangle was a key communist Chinese and North Korean concentration area and communications junction located in the central sector between Cheorwan and Gimwha.  The area was located 20 to 30 miles above the 38th parallel.  During the war the area was the scene of heavy fighting between the Chinese and the US 8th Army.  Jim didn’t talk about any fighting except for “you could hear the bullets whizzing by”.  He was assigned to the motor pool and was responsible for keeping the heavy equipment running.  Eventually Jim rose to the level of Sergeant and he had 10 men under his command.
 
Jim remembered when he first arrived everyone was living in tents.  His first job was to build barracks for all of the troops.  He also remembers one time going into town with the fellas and having a real good time.  He was driving the jeep on the way home and he ended up turning it over and causing some pretty good damage.  They turned it back over and got back to camp.  He went to bed expecting to be in a lot of trouble the next day.  But the men in the motor pool fixed the jeep and no one ever found about the damage.
 
Jim didn’t have much in the way of “memorabilia” from his time in Korea except for all of the letters he had written to his girlfriend and the love of his life, Susie who later became his wife of 56 years.  They both graduated from Newington High School and a few years after their marriage in 1954, they relocated together to Avon to raise their own family.   They raised one son and one daughter.  Apparently, Jim and Susie were very active in the community.   Jim was a traveling salesman and Susie worked as the Assistant Town Clerk for the Town of Avon.  Jim is a member of the VFW Post 3272, a member of the Prince Thomas Savoy Society and was President of the Avon Men’s Club, among several clubs he rattled off.  Susie was a past president of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary Post 3272 in Avon, the past secretary of the Senior Citizens of Avon, and was a member of the Prince Thomas of Savoy Society Ladies Auxiliary. Susie and Jim enjoyed traveling the country and Canada in their motorhome. After their trip to Hawaii, Susie and Jim were proud to say they had visited all 50 states.
 
Susie passed away in January of 2012 and I think it left a hole in Jim’s heart.  He said, “I miss her every day.”  There was a picture on a shelf above Jim’s computer and I asked who it was.  “That’s my wife.  It reminds me of her every day.”