Columbia provided more than her fair share of World War II heroes, but one of the more exceptional ones was T. Moffatt Burriss. Burriss served in the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division — a regiment that saw more combat than most. Out of the 127 men in his company, only 27 survived. In Strike and Hold, Burriss recounts his experience through North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as being one of the first American soldiers to enter Berlin.
When the United States entered the war at the end of 1941, the country severely lacked military preparedness. The Germans and Japanese had spent years creating a military juggernaut that, at the outset, seemed unstoppable. Both governments completely controlled their populace with the intention of also controlling the world. The democracies of the free world led by the United States relied upon citizen soldiers — men thrust out of their careers and peaceful lives and into the fierce and savage fighting of combat.
Moffatt Burriss was one of these citizen soldiers. Up until Dec. 7, 1941, Burriss taught physics at Orangeburg High School, after only the year before graduating from Clemson. Burriss had a reserve commission, and shortly after the Day of Infamy, he was called up and ordered to report to Fort Benning, Georgia. After rigorous paratrooper training, Burriss, a lieutenant now, was sent to North Africa with his regiment. On July 9, 1943, Burris and his men were dropped behind enemy lines in Sicily and had their first exposure to combat.
From Sicily to the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944, Burriss and his company saw heavy fighting. He lost the majority of his men and witnessed the horror of watching close comrades in arms get blown apart. From the outset, Burriss had a gut feeling that he would make it and come out okay. “Wherever I was, whether in a foxhole at Anzio or sleeping on the ground in Holland, I still said my prayers and asked God to protect me and bring me back safely to my wife, family, and friends,” he said. Burriss lived in Columbia until his death in 2019 at the age of 99.
Out of all the incredible and near death experiences he had, the most astounding occurred as the U.S. Army was poised to take Berlin. Orders from Eisenhower, however, forbade them from crossing the Elbe River. Burriss, a company commander by this time, got impatient. He and two other men decided to take a jeep and see what was on the other side. After going 40 miles without seeing a German soldier, they came upon a huge force with thousands of German soldiers, tanks, and military vehicles coming straight at them. When they came head to head with this force, Burriss told Lt. Gen. Felix Steiner, commander, 3rd Panzer Corps, that he would accept their surrender. The lieutenant general was dumbfounded. “Why should I surrender the 3rd Panzer Corps to three American soldiers?” he asked. Burriss told him that behind him was the American Army and behind the lieutenant general was the Russian army. “Who would you rather surrender to?” Burriss retorted. With that Lt. Gen. Steiner pulled out his pistol. Burriss thought that this might be the end, but Steiner handed it to Burriss with the barrel pointing back at Steiner — an act of surrender.
Written as a memoir and published in 2000, Strike and Hold came out when many World War II veterans were still alive. Today very few remain — only a little more than 100,000 out of the 16.1 million who served. As we find ourselves in tumultuous geopolitical times with war ever a threat, Strike and Hold illustrates how the leading democracy of the world can rise to the occasion and triumph over the most formidable of authoritarian regimes.