SSgt. Burnett C. James (center, in uniform) with his family after the presentation of the French Legion of Honor in San Antonio this past November.
Spotlight on Elders with Burnett C. James
Durant, Okla. - Few people embody the definition of Tvshka–a Choctaw warrior–as fully as Burnett C. James. This decorated Army veteran of the pivotal World War II Battle of the Bulge was one of 19 veterans bestowed with the French Legion of Honor at a ceremony in Texas this past November.
The ceremony, where James was presented the medal by the Consul General of France, highlights the story of a man whose accolades were seldom told outside of the family circle.
James, who goes by “Charlie,” attended Jones Academy as a youth. It was here that he received his draft papers in 1944. The Garvin native returned home to visit his mother before heading off to various military training camps and, eventually, England and France on the front lines of some of the biggest battles in history.
“You’re just there and you do what you have to do,” James said of being drafted into the war. “I came up out in the country so I didn’t know much about what was going on in the world.”
During basic training, he exhibited mastery as a machine gunner, so military officials assigned him to the task. It was a rocky relationship initially: Twice he lost the gun, once after losing his ammo while fleeing German tanks and another when a member of his crew fell asleep. The big gun was recovered both times.
But it was this very task – spraying bullets at the German front line – which earned him a Silver Star for gallantry in action. His version of the incident is recounted in “Stalwart and Strong,” an unpublished history of his military service compiled by daughter-in-law Dorris Soule James.
“We were marching through the woods on ‘Company Front,’ all moving forward at the same time. We came to a barbed wire entanglement, four or five feet high. We had to stop. We were pinned down,” James said. “I just happened to see a hole in the barbed wire where a shell had hit it. I had my machine gun on my hip and a belt of ammo over my shoulder. I thought I could make it through the hole….and I did. I was firing as I went through the hole, forcing the Germans to take cover. I was going on the old theory that ‘fire superiority rules.’ Two or three riflemen followed me. They weren’t firing, but were in position to do so. I started spraying the area in front of me from side to side.”
Soon, the German unit surrendered – but not before James spotted a rifleman in a fox hole with his gun trained on the Choctaw. Turning to face him would force the German to shoot, so he played it cool for a minute until the final gunman surrendered as well.
James also saw some of the Nazi concentration camps before his return to the U.S. He served another year in the Army after the war, finishing with the rank of Staff Sergeant.
James settled in Arizona and his extended family includes two children, nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He now lives north of Dallas near his son.
At the French Legion of Honor ceremony this year, held at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, James was joined not only by his family, but one of his best “wartime” friends, PFC Eldon B. Gracy. They had not seen each other in 60 years.
Heroism runs deep within the James family. Jesse A. James, Charlie’s father, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for an equally daring dead of “extraordinary heroism” in France during World War I, according to military records. Brother Sam James also was awarded a Silver Star, according to family.
Also, James’s first cousin Owen Mambi was killed in the Battle of the Bulge around the same time that James was in action in the area in early 1945. Mambi’s name appears on the war memorial at Tvshka Homma.
“I’m just proud to have been a part of it,” James said, adding that his father Jesse also received the French honor for his role in liberating that nation in World War I. “I’m proud of that, but I’ve never talked about it before. We were just trying to be patriotic like everyone else. It was just something that came along that you had to do.”