Medal of Honor Monday: Army Col. Lloyd L. ‘Scooter’ Burke

Army Col. Lloyd L. “Scooter” Burke served on active duty for 30 years and saw three wars. He received the Medal of Honor in 1952 for the courage and leadership he displayed as a young officer during the Korean War. 

Burke was born Sept. 29, 1924, in Tichnor, Arkansas, to Arthur Dewey Burke, a lumber mill foreman, and Betty. He was the second oldest and had four siblings: Claude, Dorothy, Donna and Betty. His family nicknamed him Scooter because, as a child, he was always scooting around the house and yard. 

In 1930, his family moved to Clarendon, Arkansas, and a few years later, they moved down the road to Stuttgart, Arkansas. After graduating from Stuttgart High School in 1942, Burke enrolled at Henderson State Teachers College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. However, he dropped out in 1943 to enlist in the Army. 

He served two years in Italy as a combat engineer during World War II, rising to the rank of sergeant.  

After being honorably discharged on Jan. 28, 1946, he returned to Henderson State, majored in chemistry and joined the ROTC program.  

In 1946, he married Virginia Fletcher, and they had three children. They divorced in February 1975, and three years later, Burke married Maxine Hardin. 

Following graduation in June 1950, Burke was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant, just as the Korean War was starting. After infantry officer training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, and boarded a troop transport ship to South Korea. 

On Nov. 26, 1950, near Samso-ri, North Korea, his unit encountered an enemy roadblock on a ridge, manned by Chinese soldiers who had recently come to the aid of their communist ally. 

Burke led his company in five attacks that cleared the impasse, earning him the Distinguished Service Cross — the second-highest Army medal for valor. 

From December 1950 to January 1951, the soldiers battled south of the 38th Parallel to establish defensive lines against overwhelming enemy forces.  

On Oct. 28, 1951, Burke’s unit was on Hill 200 near Chong-dong, North Korea. His Medal of Honor citation states that intense enemy fire had pinned down leading elements of his company when Burke left his command post to rally and urge the men to follow him toward three bunkers impeding their advance. 

Dashing to an exposed vantage point, he threw several grenades at the bunkers and then returned for an M1 rifle and the grenade projection adapter, which allowed him to fire grenades instead of throwing them. 

He made a lone assault — killing the crew of a bunker. He lobbed grenades through the opening of another bunker and, with his pistol, killed three of its occupants who were attempting to surround him.

Ordering his men forward, Burke charged the third bunker, catching several enemy grenades in midair and hurling them back at the enemy. Inspired by his display of valor, his men stormed the hostile positions but were again pinned down by increased fire.  

Grabbing an M1919 Browning machine gun and three boxes of ammunition, Burke dashed through the impact area to an open knoll, set up his gun and poured crippling fire into the ranks of the enemy, killing approximately 75.  

Although wounded, he procured more ammunition and destroyed two mortar emplacements and a machine-gun position with his accurate fire. Cradling the weapon in his arms, he then led his men forward, killing about 25 more enemy forces and securing the objective.

After being treated for his wounds, he flew back to the U.S., where President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House, April 11, 1952. 

Burke chose to remain on active duty and was assigned as an infantry school instructor at Fort Benning from 1952 to 1955. He served as a company commander with the 13th Infantry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado, deploying to Smith Barracks in Baumholder, West Germany, until April 1958. 

He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, for two years, followed by four years as an Army staff officer at the Pentagon. In July 1964, Burke returned to Fort Riley and became the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. 

In June 1965, his unit deployed to South Vietnam, tasked with protecting Bien Hoa Air Base and the surrounding area. On July 22, 1965, while flying in a UH-1 Huey helicopter, enemy fire from the Viet Cong riddled the bird, causing it to crash. Burke sustained multiple back, foot and leg injuries that required months of recovery and surgeries. 

Following his recovery, he served as the chief Army liaison to the House of Representatives from 1966 until his retirement. He rose to the rank of colonel and retired June 30, 1978.  

After his retirement, Burke moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he and other veterans advocated for the building of the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. He participated in the memorial’s dedication in July 1995. 

Burke died of a heart attack June 1, 1999, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. 

In 2004, the U.S. Post Office in Stuttgart, Arkansas, was named for him, and in 2017, the youth services center at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, was dedicated to Burke. A highway historical marker also stands at his birthplace in Tichnor, Arkansas. Tichnor and Stuttgart claim Burke as their native son. The ROTC program at this alma mater is nicknamed Burke’s Raiders in his memory.

This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.