Oral History Interview with John Burks, June 27, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Burks. Burks was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on 17 January 1923. After graduating from high school in 1940, he attended the University of Oklahoma until October 1942, at which time he joined the US Army Air Forces. He began a pilot training program, but the Army terminated it. In August 1943, he underwent basic training at Sheppard Field, Texas for twelve weeks. In November, he went to gunnery school at Laredo Air Field in Texas. He was then sent to March Field, California where he was assigned to a B-24 crew as the ball turret gunner. In April 1944 the crew flew to Wheeler Field, Hawaii where they underwent advanced training with the 26th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group, 7th Air Force. In September 1944 they moved to Kwajalein where they participated in bombing missions over Truk and Wake Islands. During October 1944 they moved to Guam where they flew forty missions over various islands including seventeen missions over Iwo Jima in preparation for the invasion. Burks relates his personal experience of capturing a Japanese soldier while on Guam. He returned to the United States in March 1945 and received his discharge. He went into the Army Reserves and was reactivated in 1948. He remained in the Army thirty-three years and tells of his experiences in Korea and Vietnam. He retired as a colonel in 1976