Pfc. Lee R. Burgess was born in Moody Texas in 1920. He worked as a farmhand prior to enlisting in the US Army on 22 January, 1942. He was a member of the 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. The 47th were part of the amphibious landings for Operation Torch in November 1942, seeing combat in North Africa and then Sicily. The 9th Division moved to England in November 1943 and landed in Normandy on June 10th, 1944. The unit participated in the hedgerow battles and the drive to close the Falaise Gap. Burgess was wounded by artillery fragments in the leg and elbow on the 8th of August and was in the hospital until December, just in time to join the regiment for the Bulge. On 8 March 1945, soldiers of the regiment became the first infantry troops to cross the Rhine River, doing so at Remagen. The 47th was tasked with enlarging the northern sector of the Remagen bridgehead encountering heavy resistance around the town of Bruckhausen. During the fighting of 10 March 1945 Burgess was hit by artillery fragments in the back resulting in his untimely death. He was considered MIA for 10 days until his body was recovered and identified.
This historic group consists of his official government engraved cased Purple Heart, an original photograph of Burgess in uniform and the original Purple Heart award authorization for the 8 August 1944 wounds. Also accompanying the group is a large amount of paperwork from the archives. Condition of medal is excellent along with other pieces. The Purple Heart case shows some minor crackling to surface of lid.
