Profile in Courage: Lloyd L. Burke

Lloyd Leslie Burke was a soldier in the United States Army during the Korean War, where he received the Medal of Honor for his actions on October 28, 1951. 

In 1943, Burke was eighteen years old when he dropped out of Henderson State College now Henderson State University in Arkansas. He joined the United States Army and served two years during World War II with combat engineers in Italy. After being discharged, he joined the ROTC when he returned to Henderson State College, where the ROTC program today is nicknamed "Burke's Raiders." There he became a member of the Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity. 

In 1950, he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate. After accepting his commission, he was dispatched to Korea five months later. He became the commanding officer of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. When Chinese forces crossed the Yalu River, he managed to lead his platoon to safety and out of range from the Chinese troops. As a result of his action, he was awarded the Silver Star, which was later upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross and two Purple Hearts.

In October 1951, he turned his company over to another Captain and was preparing to leave Korean. In his pocket was a plane ticket and an eagerness to see his wife and infant son. But two miles away, his former company was in trouble as it was preparing to cross the Yokkpk-chon River. The company was hindered by a large and well-entrenched Chinese force entrenched on Hill 200. For the next two days, the battle raged as the 2nd Battalion's attacks were repelled continuously.

At first, Burke kept up with the reports. Eventually, he could no longer tolerate what was going on and decided to enter the front lines. As he stated, "I couldn't see leaving my guys up there without trying to do something."

When he was at the base of Hill 200, he was shocked to witness his company's strength reduced to thirty-five traumatized survivors. He described the condition of his company clearly: "These men were completely beat. They lay huddled in foxholes, unable to move. They all had the thousand-yard stare of men who'd seen too much fighting, too much death." Burke dragged up a 57 mm recoilless rifle and shot three rounds at the closest enemy bunker. The bunker itself was a wooden-fronted structure covering a cave, which was dug into the overall hillside. The Chinese that were still alive crawled out of their trenches and attacked the American troops by hurling grenades. Burke aimed his M1 rifle at the trench line and shot at every Chinese soldier that rose to throw a grenade. Unfortunately, the Chinese were still throwing grenades. After having used an eight-round clip, Burke decided to take more drastic measures. As he recalled, "I considered myself a pretty fair shot, but this was getting ridiculous. I had to do something."

After laying down his rifle, he took a grenade and ran approximately thirty yards to the Chinese trench line. He avoided enemy fire by hurling himself at the base of a dirt berm that was two feet high. When the Chinese momentarily stopped firing, Burke jumped into one of the trenches with a pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other. He shot five or six Chinese soldiers in the forehead. He also fired at two Chinese soldiers from further down the trench. Afterward, he threw his grenade in their direction, jumped out of the trench, and placed himself against the dirt berm. The Chinese were aware of his location and began throwing grenades at his position. Most of the grenades thrown rolled down the hill and harmlessly exploded. Some of the grenades, however, did explode near his position. Burke himself managed to catch three grenades and tossed them back at the Chinese. At the same time, troops from Burke's company threw grenades with some of them exploding near him.

Burke abandoned the dirt berm by crawling off to the side, where he found cover in a gully. The gully itself ended further up Hill 200 at a Korean burial mound. After having edged his way up the hill, Burke peeked over the top of the burial mound. He saw the main Chinese trench, which was approximately 100 yards (100 m) away. The trench was covered in enfilade, was curved around the hill, and contained many Chinese troops. Surprisingly, the Chinese were relaxing, with some of them talking, sitting, and laughing, while others were throwing grenades and firing mortars. Burke went down the gully to Company G's position and told Sergeant Arthur Foster, the senior NCO, "Get them ready to attack when I give you the signal!" Burke then dragged the last functioning Browning model 1919 machine gun and three cans of ammunition back up the hill. On top of the burial mound, he mounted the machine gun, set the screw to free traverse, and prepared his 250-round ammunition box. He began firing at the nearest part of the Chinese trench, where the mortars were located. After Burke shot at all the Chinese mortar squads, then fired upon a machine gun emplacement. Burke then fired up and down the trench at Chinese soldiers, too shocked to react. Eventually, the Chinese fled down the trench in a panic. Burke continued to fire until his Browning jammed. While he attempted to clear his weapon, an enemy soldier started throwing grenades at him. He not only ignored this, but he also ignored the grenade fragments that tore open the back of his hand. Eventually, he was able to clear his weapon and kill the Chinese grenadier.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Foster led a small group to Burke's location and was told by him to provide extra firepower. Burke and the others were convinced that they were under siege from a full-sized force instead of a few adamant skirmishers. As the Chinese retreated, Burke wrapped his field jacket around the Browning's hot barrel sleeve and tore the 31-pound weapon off its tripod. He then wrapped the ammunition belt around his body, walked towards the trench, and fired upon retreating units. Sergeant Foster and his men followed him. When Burke ran out of Browning ammunition, he used his .45 automatic and grenades in order to clear out bunkers. At Hill 200, Burke managed to kill over 100 men, decimate two mortar emplacements, and three machine-gun nests. For his actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on April 11, 1952

Burke also served during the Vietnam War until a helicopter he was flying in was shot down. This forced him to return to the United States and undergo hospitalization for a long period of time. 

Overall, he spent thirty-five years in the U.S. Armed Forces, served as the Army's liaison officer to the United States Congress, and retired with the rank of full colonel in 1978.

He died on June 1, 1999, at the age of 74 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.