Winfred Sylvester Burns was born 17 May 1919 in Laytonsville, Montgomery, Maryland. He was the youngest of three children of Sylvester Burns and Annie Brown. His father was a farmer and died in 1925. Winfred’s mother remarried Homer Allnutt in 1927 and had another daughter. In 1930, Winfred was living with his maternal aunt and uncle in Damascus, Maryland. In December 1939, he enlisted as a Private in the Third Cavalry, US Army, and was stationed at Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia.

At some point between 1940-1944, Winfred married Alberta Virginia Phelps. In July 1942, some of the enlisted men in the 3rd Cavalry were assigned as a cadre to the 331st Infantry, 83rd Infantry Division at Atterbury, Indiana. This was a permanent change of station for them; Winfred was listed as a Staff Sergeant in Company L. In December 1943, he was hospitalized for chancroid (bacterial infection on the genitals) and returned to duty.

The unit went overseas to England in April 1944. The unit was held in reserve until after D-Day and entered France on 19 June but could not land troops and supplies until the 23rd due to the weather. They landed across Omaha Beach and took over defensive positions near Carentan. On the 4th of July, the regiment moved south toward Sainteny, a short four-mile march that turned into a six-day battle claiming over 1,400 casualties in the first 24 hours.

Winfred was killed in action at age 30 on 4 July 1944 in Normandy, France, by an artillery shell fragment. He earned the rank of Tech Sergeant. His body was returned to Maryland and reinterred in the Montgomery United Methodist Church Cemetery in Damascus in 1948.

Alberta remarried twice and died in 2003 in Maryland.

REFERENCES

United States Census, 1920, 1930, 1940.

The Daily Mail, 19 December 1939, p. 4.

http://kb8tt.net/brothers/

https://83rdinfdivdocs.org/documents/331st/various/Hq_Ft_Oglethorpe_SO_176.pdf

U.S., World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954.

WWII Army and Army Air Force Casualty List.

U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945.

U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970.

The Baltimore Sun, 27 June 1948, p. 20.

The News, 28 July 1944, p. 10; 26 June 1948, p. 5.

Findagrave.com

Winfred S Burns