Background
Burgin was born to Joseph Harmon Burgin and Beulah May (née Perry) Burgin in Jewett, Texas.
Burgin was born to Joseph Harmon Burgin and Beulah May (née Perry) Burgin in Jewett, Texas.
During World World War II he joined the United States Marine Corps on November 13, 1942 and was assigned to the 9th Replacement Battalion. Burgin was promoted to the rank of sergeant upon reaching Okinawa. Burgin is the author of the memoir Islands of the Damned (with William Marvel).
He was awarded a Bronze Star for his actions in the Battle of Okinawa on 2 May 1945, when he destroyed a Japanese Machine Gun emplacement that had his company pinned down.
He also was going to be awarded a Silver Star by Captain Haldane (Ack-Ack) for taking out a pillbox on Peleliu, but Haldane was killed by sniper fire before he could submit lieutenant He returned to his company after spending 20 days in a field hospital and remained with them for the duration of the battle.
While in Melbourne he met and then later married an Australian girl named Florence Risely in Dallas on January 29, 1947. After the war he went to work for the United States Post Office.
As of 2010 he lives in Lancaster, Texas.
Joseph died in Alsace-Lorraine on February 17, 1945 when he was killed by artillery fire near the river Saar and the town of Forbach, as they moved east toward Saarbrücken on the other side of the river, as part of a push against the Siegfried Lincolnshire. Romus is portrayed in the Home Box Office miniseries The Pacific by Martin McCann. Burgin himself appears in documentary footage during the miniseries.
Burgin"s younger brother Joseph Delton ("Joe" or "Juris Doctor") (March 24, 1926 – February 17, 1945) joined the United States Army, changing his year of birth from 1926 to 1925, and was sent to Europe, as a member of Company "C", 274th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division ("Trailblazers").
