ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - Martina Burger, mother of Cpl. Dale A. Burger wipes a tear away during the building dedication ceremony in honor of her fallen son held March 1 at at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Photo by: Pvt. Andrew Keirn
Posted on 03/11/2006 4:03:45 PM PST by SandRat
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (March 9, 2006) -- A solemn ceremony to dedicate a building honoring Cpl. Dale A. Burger Jr. was held March 1 at the Marine Detachment, U.S. Army Ordinance Center and Schools at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Officers of Burger’s former command spoke on the leadership and selfless actions Burger exuded while leading Marines in Iraq.
His mother was presented Burger’s Silver Star for his heroic actions that ultimately led to his death.
Burger’s Marine Corps career began on Parris Island, S.C. He completed his basic and infantry training and was then stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.
Before deploying to Iraq, Burger completed mountain warfare training in California. During the training, several Marines succumbed to hypothermia. Burger selflessly used his own body heat to raise the body temperatures of the other Marines until he too required medical attention. For his heroic actions during the training, Burger was awarded a Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
While in Iraq during the second battle of Fallujah, Burger’s battalion was involved in intense house-to-house fighting. Burger’s squad leader was injured during the fighting, and Burger stepped up to assume the squad leader’s duties. While leading an assault against a fairly large group of insurgents held up in a building, he was wounded and evacuated for medical treatment. Three days later, Burger volunteered to return to his Marines and continue to fight by their side despite his injuries.
Burger was so eager to return to his Marines, he showed up with no gear and no weapon. He had just caught the first ride he could to meet up with the rest of his platoon, said Maj. Brett Clark, Cpl. Burger’s former company commander.
After returning, Burger’s platoon was involved in yet another firefight, during which he came upon three critically wounded Marines. Inside a house, numerous insurgents were barricaded behind fortified positions, keeping the Marines pinned down and not allowing other leathernecks to advance and save the injured Marines. Burger showed remarkable heroism and valor by charging into the house to recover the fallen Marines, according to his Silver Star citation. While returning fire, Burger was mortally wounded by an insurgent’s bullet.
Martina C. Burger, said that she knew her son was the type of person who would have acted that way.
“Everything that I heard today was nothing new,” said Martina Burger. “it’s what I expected from him.”
Martina Burger knew her son was a very compassionate person. He used to follow her to Meals on Wheels to help deliver food for the needy on Christmas morning while his sisters were opening gifts.
“I knew that there was something exceptional about this young man, but I didn’t know how exceptional until I heard about everything he had done in Iraq,” Martina Burger said.
She said her son was a humble man. He probably would have been embarrassed to see the ceremony in his honor.
“He’s probably saying, ‘They’re making too much of nothing because I was just doing my job,’” she said. “This is a great honor to our family. It’s been really hard. When you’re son dies, it’s like your heart gets ripped apart.”
Clark spoke at the ceremony about the actions of Burger. He spoke to the audience of Burger’s exceptional leadership and sacrifice.
“He was a fantastic Marine, and that’s an understatement,” Clark said. “It was my honor to serve with him."
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And, yes...I did.....
Very sad.
Semper fidelis is not just a slogan.
Dale's page
http://dale.followjenslife.com/
JULY 9 1983 – NOVEMBER 14 2004
Dale is my baby brother and he died on Sunday. I’m not a very good writer but I want everyone to remember him. It’s hard because in my head he is still a baby I can’t really believe that this has happened. I want everyone to know who he was.
A MARINE’S STORY
If any of you know my family you know that we are a Marine family. My father, Dale Sr., was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran. Dale always wanted to be a Marine too....
BTTT
Corporal Dale Burger Jr. and his father shared more than just a name. Both joined the Marines at 17 and both were combat veterans. As a boy, Burger dressed up in his dad's uniform for Halloween. He helped care for his father after the older man became an invalid a decade ago.
Father and son now share one last thing, a gravesite. Killed November 14, 2004, in Iraq, Dale Jr., 21, of Bel Air, Maryland, was buried Monday at Arlington National Cemetery next to his father, a Vietnam veteran who died in May at 54.
"He said, `If anything happens to me, I want to be buried near my dad,'" said the younger man's mother, Martina Burger.
The Pentagon reported 135 U.S. troops killed in November as of Tuesday morning, matching April of this year for the deadliest month since fighting began in March 2003.
Many, like Burger, were killed in the street-to-street fight to retake the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah or during gunbattles in cities such as Baghdad and Mosul. Others were killed by snipers, in accidents or from shrapnel sprayed by roadside bombs. Some died where they were hit; others succumbed at stateside military hospitals.
Dale Burger Jr. took part in the initial assault on Iraq in 2003. He was just days away from the end of his second tour of duty when he was killed. He was wounded in the arm by shrapnel recently but told his mother he planned to return to the fighting. She urged him not to, but he said his unit was short on men and needed him.
"He died doing what he believed in," Martina Burger said. "He's my hero. I'm just so proud of him."
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