Richard Eugene Burres was born in Indiana on March 2, 1926. His parents were Maurice Eugene Burres (18 Mar 1901 27 Aug 1964), who was born at Greenville, Darke County, Ohio; and Irene Isabell (Loetz) Burres (later Irene I. Houts) (2 Jul 1904 18 Jan 2001), who was born at Howe, LaGrange County, Indiana. His parents married at Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana on June 27, 1925; they divorced on April 19, 1929. In 1940 he lived with his mother at the home of his maternal grandmother, Lena S. (Berns) Loetz, at 2517 Sherman Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana. His mother was manager of a retail dress store. On March 8, 1947 his mother married Ralph G. Houts (19 Apr 1905 Mar 1978) at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
He completed four years of high school, and worked in an unskilled manufacturing job. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Fort Thomas, Newport, Kentucky, on March 21, 1944. His home of record was 2517 Sherman Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
After training, he was assigned as tail gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Daniel C. Smoke Jr. The Smoke crew completed B-17 operational training at Biloxi, Mississippi, and was sent to Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia, where they were assigned a new B-17 for the deployment to England. They were assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived at Station 137 by February 26, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On March 19, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched thirty aircraft to bomb a communications center at Zwickau, Germany. The Smoke crew flew B-17G 43-38038 on this mission. Because of poor weather over England, the Group assembled into formation over A-71, the Allied advanced landing ground near Clastres in northeastern France. Sgt Burres and his eight crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft collided with Lt John R. Virgin's B-17G 43-37969 'Beverly Jean' during formation assembly. All of Lt Virgin's crew bailed out and survived, but none of Lt Smoke's crew was able to bail out. Sgt Burres and his crewmates perished in the subsequent crash of their aircraft near Couvron, France.
The dead were buried initially at the temporary U.S. Military Cemetery Champigneul #1 near Chalons-sur-Marne, France. (Chalons-sur-Marne was renamed Chβlons-en-Champagne in 1998.) Sgt Burres' obituary was published in the Fort Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel and the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette on June 14, 1945. His remains were returned to the United States and reinterred at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Sturgis, Saint Joseph County, Michigan, on November 3, 1948.
B-17G 43-38038 crew:
Smoke Jr, Daniel C 2/Lt Pilot KIA
Pendarvis, George H F/O Copilot KIA
Olsen, Gunnar K F/O Navigator KIA
Strong, John H 2/Lt Bombardier KIA
White Jr, John Sgt Engineer KIA
Stone, Harold J Sgt Radio Operator KIA
Sala, David W Sgt Ball Turret Gunner KIA
Koepsell, Elmer E Sgt Waist Gunner KIA
Burres, Richard E Sgt Tail Gunner KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com