Born in May of 1923 James R. B-U-R-N-E-T-T grew up in Lansing and upon graduation, joined the United States Army with dreams of commissioning. With the war raging, he was pulled from Officer Candidate School in late 1944 to become a late war replacement for the 417th Regiment which sustained heavy losses in February of 1945. Joining HQ-Co, 417th, 76th Division in March of 1945, James was authorized two bronze campaign stars and the Combat Infantryman's Badge for his service. Interestingly enough, after serving on occupation duty with the 787th AAA BN, he was released from service as a T/4 overseas in April of 1946 for Civil Employment in the ETO hence the patch on the non-combat sleeve.
James went on to have a distinguished career at Michigan State University as a Professor of Zoology until his unfortunate passing on August 23, 1987.
Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport on August 16, 1987, about 8:46 pm EDT, resulting in the deaths of all six crew members and 148 of its 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl who sustained serious injuries. It was the second-deadliest aviation accident at the time in the United States. It is also the deadliest aviation accident to have a sole survivor.
This group comes with much of his original laundry marked
combat gear, his complete uniform, hundreds of photos and his original scrap
book.
