THE WALL OF FACES

Dear SP5 John Lawrence Burgess, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, Sir

Curt Carter

Uncle John-
It is nice to see so many people honor your memory.
I know Louise Lutes Burgess- my grandmother and your adopted mother (Jim Burgess and Louise Burgess adopted you as a little boy) never gave up hope that you might return back to Michigan. Louise Burgess worked tirelessly with State and Federal authorities to find answers on what exactly happened to you in the crash 1970. She believed you might still be alive and in captivity - she never gave up on trying to locate where you were.
I personally remember you as a young man laughing & teasing my sister and I -we were little girls- and playing "hide and go seek" in the fields by Grandma Roses farm near Cedar, Michigan.
Grandma Burgess did not live long enough to see you return home and watch when you were buried in Arlington with honors, but I know that she held onto the hope you would return someday.
Welcome back Uncle John. Such a brief life but you left behind a legacy.
Tracey Maroney

On June 30, 1970, SP5 John L. Burgess was the crew chief of a UH-1H helicopter on a command and control mission when it was hit by enemy fire, crashed, and burned near the Cambodia/South Vietnam border in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam. The other individuals aboard the aircraft included 1LT Leslie F. Douglas, Jr., 1LT Richard Dyer, SFC Juan Colon-Diaz, and PFC Goosman. PFC Goosman, who was thrown clear of the aircraft (he was probably the door gunner), was the only survivor of the crash. PFC Goosman later stated that he pulled the aircraft commander clear of the aircraft, but because of the fire, was unable to free any of the crew members or the one passenger from the aircraft. Goosman was able to determine that no one else had survived the crash. He remained at the scene of the crash site until friendly troops arrived to secure the aircraft wreckage. The remains of the four crew members were placed in four body bags and evacuated. Major Knudson, who arrived shortly after the crash, landed in a secure LZ adjacent to the crash and picked up Goosman and the 4 body bags. They were transported directly from the crash site to medical facilities located at Camp Gorvad, Phuoc Vinh, South Vietnam. Graves Registration at Camp Gorvad forwarded the four body bags to the mortuary at Than San Nhut to undergo autopsies. At the mortuary, as identification was conducted, it was determined that they only had 3 sets of remains rather than four. While processing the remains at the mortuary, it was discovered that one of the body bags contained portions of the upper torso and another bag contained portions of the lower torso of the same individual. After this discovery, they were combined and positive identifications made of the three individuals, Douglas, Dyer and Colon-Diaz. Than San Nhut Mortuary never received any remains correlating to SP5 Burgess, and it was believed that the remains of Burgess were either burned beneath the wreckage of the aircraft or incinerated in the fire which engulfed the aircraft after it crashed. The mortuary suggested another search of the crash site area, but additional searches were not considered possible because of enemy presence in the area. When a final review of aerial photographs was made in 1973, there was no evidence of the crashed aircraft. In 2013 Burgess’ remains were positively identified and interred at Arlington National Cemetery. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org; image from wikipedia.org]

I use to fly with John sometimes. I will always remember John as a friendly and A1 guy.

John is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in a group burial.