The current guardian of this Remembrance Page is Louis Burns, IV-Family.
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Location of Interment Calvary United Methodist Church Cemetery - Lewisburg, West Virginia
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
We had information that Lou was killed approximately 8 months after returning from Vietnam in a helicopter oil rig crash.
He had transfer orders 10/5/1970 from HA(L)-3 to NAS PT. MUGU, CA at the time, but got out of the Navy instead.
Other Comments:
It appears Lou had prior Enlisted Air Force service before the Navy:
----------------------Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Name: Louis Burns
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 1 Jul 1935
Death Date: 24 Jun 1971
SSN: XXX-XX-XXXX
Branch 1: AF
Enlistment Date 1: 17 Aug 1954
Release Date 1: 16 Aug 1958
Vietnam War/Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 Campaign
From Month/Year
June / 1969
To Month/Year
October / 1969
Description This Campaign period was from 9 June to 31 October 1969. In the Mekong Delta proper, Swift boat, PBR, riverine assault craft, SEAL, and Vietnamese ground units struck at the Viet Cong in their former strongholds, which included the Ca Mau Peninsula, the U Minh Forest, and the islands of the broad Mekong River system.
After raiding and harassing operations like Silver Mace II, the combined navies often deployed forces to secure a more permanent Vietnamese government presence in vital areas. In June 1969, for example, the U.S. Navy anchored a mobile pontoon base in the middle of the Ca Mau region's Cua Lon River. This operation, labelled Sea Float, was made difficult by heavy Viet Cong opposition, strong river currents, and the distance to logistic support facilities. Still, Sea Float denied the enemy a safe haven even in this isolated corner of the delta. The allies further threatened the Communist "rear" area in September when they set up patrols on the Ong Doc, a river bordering the dense and isolated U Minh area. Staging from an advance tactical support base at the river's mouth, U.S. and Vietnamese PBRs of Operation Breezy Cove repeatedly intercepted and destroyed enemy supply parties crossing the waterway.
By October 1969, one year after the start of the SEALORDS campaign, Communist military forces in the Mekong Delta were under heavy pressure. The successive border interdiction barriers delayed and disrupted the enemy's resupply and troop replacement from Cambodia. The raiding operations hit vulnerable base areas and the Sea Float deployment put allied forces deep into what had been a Viet Cong sanctuary. In addition, American and Vietnamese forces captured or destroyed over 500 tons of enemy weapons, ammunition, food, medicines, and other supplies. Furthermore, 3,000 Communist soldiers were killed and 300 were captured at a cost of 186 allied men killed and 1,451 wounded.