He was a victim of the Malmédy Massacre on 17 December 1944 when the German 1st SS Panzer Division machine gunned 84 captives at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmédy, Belgium.
According to his daughter, the official government information about his death reports that, "LM Burney died Dec. 20, 1944 of wounds received Dec. 17." Although the official death date is 20 December, he likely died on 17 December or soon afterward. The book, “The Malmédy Massacre,” by John M. Bauserman, reports that the first American army officials came upon the victims on the morning of 18 December and also reports that L. M. Burney’s body was found among the main group of victims and was later identified. According to the book, his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, suggesting that he probably died on 17 December or soon afterward at the spot where he was shot, that he was probably among the already dead victims in the field when army officials visited the following morning and that he was later found by an an army recovery unit that identified him.
PFC Burney was an ambulance driver in the 575th Ambulance Motor Company. As Germans approached Malmédy during the Battle of the Bulge, American commanders decided to evacuate a nearby field hospital. His ambulance and some others that were hauling wounded soldiers to the new hospital came upon a convoy of American combat vehicles at Baugnez Crossroads and fell in with the convoy because they were headed the same direction. Germans in the 1st SS Panzer Divison surprised the convoy and took out the lead and tailing vehicles, trapping everyone in between. Germans rounded up everyone in the convoy and placed them in a field next to the road where they opened fire on them with machine guns in accordance with orders from SS commanders that no prisoners were to be taken. After finishing with the machine guns, the SS soldiers went through the field and finished off anyone who still showed signs of life with a pistol shot to the head.
L. M. Burney’s fate and the fates of others, including those in other units, is described in the above named Bauserman book, page 56. (Note that at various places in tables at the end of the book PFC Burney and other ambulance drivers are incorrectly grouped with combat units. They appear to be correctly placed when mentioned in the text within the book.)
Another ambulance driver from the 575th Ambulance Company, Howard E. Nixon, told in his memoir, “An Ambulance Driver’s Experiences in World War II,” that he and L. M. Burney debated over whose turn it was to take the next load of wounded soldiers as they evacuated the field hospital. He finally gave in and let L. M. Burney take the load. Nixon reported years later that, “It would have been me if I had taken that load. I think of that often.”
Bio by Lynn E. Garn
According to his daughter, the official government information about his death reports that, "LM Burney died Dec. 20, 1944 of wounds received Dec. 17." Although the official death date is 20 December, he likely died on 17 December or soon afterward. The book, “The Malmédy Massacre,” by John M. Bauserman, reports that the first American army officials came upon the victims on the morning of 18 December and also reports that L. M. Burney’s body was found among the main group of victims and was later identified. According to the book, his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, suggesting that he probably died on 17 December or soon afterward at the spot where he was shot, that he was probably among the already dead victims in the field when army officials visited the following morning and that he was later found by an an army recovery unit that identified him.
PFC Burney was an ambulance driver in the 575th Ambulance Motor Company. As Germans approached Malmédy during the Battle of the Bulge, American commanders decided to evacuate a nearby field hospital. His ambulance and some others that were hauling wounded soldiers to the new hospital came upon a convoy of American combat vehicles at Baugnez Crossroads and fell in with the convoy because they were headed the same direction. Germans in the 1st SS Panzer Divison surprised the convoy and took out the lead and tailing vehicles, trapping everyone in between. Germans rounded up everyone in the convoy and placed them in a field next to the road where they opened fire on them with machine guns in accordance with orders from SS commanders that no prisoners were to be taken. After finishing with the machine guns, the SS soldiers went through the field and finished off anyone who still showed signs of life with a pistol shot to the head.
L. M. Burney’s fate and the fates of others, including those in other units, is described in the above named Bauserman book, page 56. (Note that at various places in tables at the end of the book PFC Burney and other ambulance drivers are incorrectly grouped with combat units. They appear to be correctly placed when mentioned in the text within the book.)
Another ambulance driver from the 575th Ambulance Company, Howard E. Nixon, told in his memoir, “An Ambulance Driver’s Experiences in World War II,” that he and L. M. Burney debated over whose turn it was to take the next load of wounded soldiers as they evacuated the field hospital. He finally gave in and let L. M. Burney take the load. Nixon reported years later that, “It would have been me if I had taken that load. I think of that often.”
Bio by Lynn E. Garn
He was a victim of the Malmédy Massacre on 17 December 1944 when the German 1st SS Panzer Division machine gunned 84 captives at Baugnez Crossroads outside Malmédy, Belgium.
According to his daughter, the official government information about his death reports that, "LM Burney died Dec. 20, 1944 of wounds received Dec. 17." Although the official death date is 20 December, he likely died on 17 December or soon afterward. The book, “The Malmédy Massacre,” by John M. Bauserman, reports that the first American army officials came upon the victims on the morning of 18 December and also reports that L. M. Burney’s body was found among the main group of victims and was later identified. According to the book, his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, suggesting that he probably died on 17 December or soon afterward at the spot where he was shot, that he was probably among the already dead victims in the field when army officials visited the following morning and that he was later found by an an army recovery unit that identified him.
PFC Burney was an ambulance driver in the 575th Ambulance Motor Company. As Germans approached Malmédy during the Battle of the Bulge, American commanders decided to evacuate a nearby field hospital. His ambulance and some others that were hauling wounded soldiers to the new hospital came upon a convoy of American combat vehicles at Baugnez Crossroads and fell in with the convoy because they were headed the same direction. Germans in the 1st SS Panzer Divison surprised the convoy and took out the lead and tailing vehicles, trapping everyone in between. Germans rounded up everyone in the convoy and placed them in a field next to the road where they opened fire on them with machine guns in accordance with orders from SS commanders that no prisoners were to be taken. After finishing with the machine guns, the SS soldiers went through the field and finished off anyone who still showed signs of life with a pistol shot to the head.
L. M. Burney’s fate and the fates of others, including those in other units, is described in the above named Bauserman book, page 56. (Note that at various places in tables at the end of the book PFC Burney and other ambulance drivers are incorrectly grouped with combat units. They appear to be correctly placed when mentioned in the text within the book.)
Another ambulance driver from the 575th Ambulance Company, Howard E. Nixon, told in his memoir, “An Ambulance Driver’s Experiences in World War II,” that he and L. M. Burney debated over whose turn it was to take the next load of wounded soldiers as they evacuated the field hospital. He finally gave in and let L. M. Burney take the load. Nixon reported years later that, “It would have been me if I had taken that load. I think of that often.”
Bio by Lynn E. Garn
According to his daughter, the official government information about his death reports that, "LM Burney died Dec. 20, 1944 of wounds received Dec. 17." Although the official death date is 20 December, he likely died on 17 December or soon afterward. The book, “The Malmédy Massacre,” by John M. Bauserman, reports that the first American army officials came upon the victims on the morning of 18 December and also reports that L. M. Burney’s body was found among the main group of victims and was later identified. According to the book, his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, suggesting that he probably died on 17 December or soon afterward at the spot where he was shot, that he was probably among the already dead victims in the field when army officials visited the following morning and that he was later found by an an army recovery unit that identified him.
PFC Burney was an ambulance driver in the 575th Ambulance Motor Company. As Germans approached Malmédy during the Battle of the Bulge, American commanders decided to evacuate a nearby field hospital. His ambulance and some others that were hauling wounded soldiers to the new hospital came upon a convoy of American combat vehicles at Baugnez Crossroads and fell in with the convoy because they were headed the same direction. Germans in the 1st SS Panzer Divison surprised the convoy and took out the lead and tailing vehicles, trapping everyone in between. Germans rounded up everyone in the convoy and placed them in a field next to the road where they opened fire on them with machine guns in accordance with orders from SS commanders that no prisoners were to be taken. After finishing with the machine guns, the SS soldiers went through the field and finished off anyone who still showed signs of life with a pistol shot to the head.
L. M. Burney’s fate and the fates of others, including those in other units, is described in the above named Bauserman book, page 56. (Note that at various places in tables at the end of the book PFC Burney and other ambulance drivers are incorrectly grouped with combat units. They appear to be correctly placed when mentioned in the text within the book.)
Another ambulance driver from the 575th Ambulance Company, Howard E. Nixon, told in his memoir, “An Ambulance Driver’s Experiences in World War II,” that he and L. M. Burney debated over whose turn it was to take the next load of wounded soldiers as they evacuated the field hospital. He finally gave in and let L. M. Burney take the load. Nixon reported years later that, “It would have been me if I had taken that load. I think of that often.”
Bio by Lynn E. Garn
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PFC MED DEPT
WORLD WAR II
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Source: Craighead County Genealogy Website
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