Frank Burke ( Medal of Honor ) Francis Xavier " Frank " Burke ( September 29 , 1918 – September 6 , 1988 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military ' s highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in World War II . Biography . Francis Xavier " Frank " Burke entered active duty in the U . S . Army from the New Jersey National Guard in Jersey City , New Jersey , and by April 17 , 1945 was the Transportation Officer , as a first lieutenant , in D Company , 1st Battalion , 15th Infantry Regiment , 3rd Infantry Division . On that day , in Nuremberg , Germany , he repeatedly engaged German forces alone during the fight to capture the city . For these actions , he was awarded the Medal of Honor nine months later , on January 9 , 1946 . Burke reached the rank of Major before leaving the Army . He died at age 69 and was buried at the Brigadier General William C . Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Arneytown , New Jersey . The barracks complex housing 1st Battalion 15th Infantry on Kelley Hill , Fort Benning , is named " Burke Barracks " in honor of 1LT Burke . It consists of a Charge of Quarters soldier center ( building 9140 ) and three main barracks buildings ( 9141 , 9142 , 9143 ) housing up to 96 soldiers per building , 288 soldiers in the entire complex . Medal of Honor citation . Burke ' s official Medal of Honor citation reads : He fought with extreme gallantry in the streets of war - torn Nuremberg , Germany , where Company D , 1st Battalion , 15th Infantry , was engaged in rooting out fanatical defenders of the citadel of Nazi sm . As battalion transportation officer he had gone forward to select a motor - pool site , when , in a desire to perform more than his assigned duties and participate in the fight , he advanced beyond the lines of the forward riflemen . Detecting a group of about 10 Germans making preparations for a local counterattack , he rushed back to a nearby American company , secured a light machinegun with ammunition , and daringly opened fire on this superior force , which deployed and returned his fire with machine pistol s , rifles , and rocket launchers . From another angle a German machinegun tried to blast him from his emplacement , but 1st Lt . Burke killed this guncrew and drove off the survivors of the unit he had originally attacked . Giving his next attention to enemy infantrymen in ruined buildings , he picked up a rifle dashed more than 100 yards through intense fire and engaged the Germans from behind an abandoned tank . A sniper nearly hit him from a cellar only 20 yards away , but he dispatched this adversary by running directly to the basement window , firing a full clip into it and then plunging through the darkened aperture to complete the job . He withdrew from the fight only long enough to replace his jammed rifle and secure grenades , then re - engaged the Germans . Finding his shots ineffective , he pulled the pins from 2 grenades , and , holding 1 in each hand , rushed the enemy - held building , hurling his missiles just as the enemy threw a potato masher grenade at him . In the triple explosion the Germans were wiped out and 1st Lt . Burke was dazed ; but he emerged from the shower of debris that engulfed him , recovered his rifle , and went on to kill 3 more Germans and meet the charge of a machine pistolman , whom he cut down with 3 calmly delivered shots . He then retired toward the American lines and there assisted a platoon in a raging , 30 - minute fight against formidable armed hostile forces . This enemy group was repulsed , and the intrepid fighter moved to another friendly group which broke the power of a German unit armed with a 20 - mm gun in a fierce fire fight . In 4 hours of heroic action , 1st Lt . Burke single - handedly killed 11 and wounded 3 enemy soldiers and took a leading role in engagements in which an additional 29 enemy were killed or wounded . His extraordinary bravery and superb fighting skill were an inspiration to his comrades , and his entirely voluntary mission into extremely dangerous territory hastened the fall of Nuremberg , in his battalion ' s sector .