Tank commander from Ogden memorialized on 75th anniversary of World War II feat
Patricia Larson, daughter of WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, holds her fathers hat for a portrait in her Ogden home on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75h anniversary of the event.
Patricia Larson, and her father, WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, on Sept. 3, 1939. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows in front of his mother's home on Taylor Avenue in Ogden before he left to go overseas. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Patricia Larson, daughter of World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, visits her father's gravesite in May 1960 in Germany. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Purple Hearts belonging to WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows. In 1944 the Ogden local led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows possibly at Fort Polk Louisiana on Feb. 21, 1943. A year later Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
A Silver Star belonging to World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows. In 1944 the Ogden local led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Patricia Larson, daughter of Word War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, holds her fathers hat in her Ogden home on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Tawna Halbert, great grand daughter of World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, visits his gravesite in Germany. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows in Warminster, England on May 19, 1944. That year Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Word War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows in uniform. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows's leather photo folder containing a picture of his wife, Melba, and daughter, Patricia. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows's leather photo folder containing a picture of his wife, Melba, (left) and daughter, Patricia. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, left, with a fellow solider. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Gorge Vogel, great nephew of WWII Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows poses for a portrait on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
Patricia Larson, daughter of World War II Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows, holds her fathers hat for a portrait in her Ogden home on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. In 1944 Burrows led the Army recon team that took the first German town, a momentous event, during World War II. The German town of Roetgen is unveiling a monument to honor Burrows and his team on the 75th anniversary of the event.
An American tank passes German dragon's teeth barriers during World War II. Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows of Ogden, a tank commander, led the first American capture of a German town on Sept. 12, 1944. The German town of Roetgen is commemorating the feat on its 7th anniversary.
OGDEN — A tank commander from Ogden who led the first American capture of a German town during World War II is being memorialized on the 75th anniversary of the feat.
Relatives of Lt. Richard Spencer Burrows are traveling to Roetgen, Germany, for ceremonies marking the U.S. 7th Army’s milestone breakthrough into the Nazi homeland.
Burrows commanded the 3rd Armored Division tank platoon that burst into the small town on the Belgian border at 2:51 p.m. Sept. 12, 1944, according to a division history written by Capt. A. Eaton Roberts in 1949.
Photo supplied Patricia Burrows Larson
Burrows
His daughter, Patricia Burrows Larson of Ogden, last saw her dad before he shipped out to train for the European war. She was 8 years old.
After the American forces moved past Roetgen, Burrows became apparently the first American ground casualty on German soil, felled by a German sniper after he stepped down from his tank to examine a road obstruction.
Burrows already had been wounded in France. He was posthumously awarded two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star.
Before the war, the Ogden native was produce manager at Stimpson’s Market at 26th Street and Monroe Boulevard.
Then, before joining the Army, “Spence” Burrows was an ordnance specialist at the Ogden Arsenal in Clearfield, Larson said.
“It was crucial to the war effort,” Larson said. “He didn’t have to go, but he enlisted.”
Burrows, already 32, had graduated from Weber Junior College and the Army sent him to officer training school. He went into combat in France after D-Day in June 1944.
“The last time I saw him, my mom and I went down to the railroad station in Ogden,” Larson said. “We were on the platform of the train and told him goodbye.”
In the push into Germany, Burrows was part of Operation Spearhead, commanded by Lt. Col. William B. Lovelady. Burrows’ platoon was part of the 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.
“What a great guy,” Larson said of her father. “He was a really nice dad.”
She remembers that on a family outing before he shipped out, Burrows was in his lieutenant’s uniform.
“I was amazed that the soldiers all over had to salute him,” she said.
George Vogel of Ogden, Burrows’ great-nephew, said the community of Roetgen — “a little town exactly the size of Tremonton” — is holding a memorial ceremony on Thursday and the local history society is hosting an event two days later.
He said the ceremonies commemorate Burrows and his fellow soldiers, as well as the first German soldier who was killed there in the ground invasion. A monument to Burrows and his men will be unveiled and the town will dedicate a memorial park.
“I think it is so nice that the German people want to do this,” Larson said.
Vogel said he learned of the town’s plans only after he began researching his great-uncle’s history a few years ago.
“I had heard the story growing up and just wanted to kind of figure out more about it,” Vogel said. “To be honest, I was into military vehicles and knew he was a tank commander.”
He asked about Roetgen and Burrows in online forums and learned that organizers had been trying to find relatives of Lt. “Burroughs.”
Apparently some records of the conflict used the English spelling of Burrows, Vogel said.
Vogel, 53, and his wife visited the town a few years ago. They also went to the nearby Henri-Chapelle cemetery that holds the remains of Burrows and 10,000 other U.S. soldiers.
Vogel said he had mixed feelings about telling Larson of the Roetgen commemoration.
“It was a significant event in history, but it was where her dad died, and in that way it was a tragedy,” Vogel said.
“I’m happy that her dad is getting a little notoriety,” he said.
Larson, who is an 85-year-old former state legislator, said her father wrote a “sad” letter home in June 1944.
“He told my mother he was so concerned about his men — he called them his boys,” she said. “Everyone was so tired, sleeping in trenches with the beetles and bugs.”
He also wrote about what he wanted to do when he got home and told his wife how much he loved her and their daughter. Plus, he hoped the couple would have more children.
“He told my mom she should get married again if he didn’t come back,” Larson said. “She never did.”
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