Harry Burke, among the 'Chosin Few' of the Korean War, dies at 93

Like many veterans of his era, Harry Burke Jr. was reluctant to discuss with his family his time in Korea, despite his service with the famous Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

Burke's daughters said he never directly mentioned the war to them. Later in life, however, he shared his experience with documentarians and became active in reunion activities of the "Chosin Few," veterans who fought in the most gruesome battles of the Korean War.

Burke died Sept. 6 at the age of 93. He was born in Detroit to parents Ida and Harry Burke Sr. His father was a World War I veteran, and several of his mother's brothers also served. Within a year of his birth, the family moved to Minnesota. He graduated from high school in 1947 and worked at the Ford Motor Co. plant before enlisting in the Marine Reserves in 1948.

Called to active duty in 1950, Burke was sent to Camp Pendleton in California for training. By September, he shipped out to Korea.

His company landed in Incheon, South Korea, and joined U.S. forces as they swiftly moved into North Korea, pushing their way to the mountainous northern border with China under the command of Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur. They arrived in early November as a harsh winter set in.

In a 2010 interview with MPR, Burke described the brutally cold conditions. "I was a bazooka man," he said. "And on the 11th of November, it turned way below zero. And it stayed that way all the rest of the time we were there.

"We were never told the temperature, but when Minnesotans would freeze their feet off and no longer could keep up, we knew it was cold."

Fox Company helped to secure the Toktong Pass, the only escape route left for the other regiments. But the unit's stand came at a heavy cost. "When I left after five days, 83 of us out of the 240 were able to walk away," Burke said.

The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir would go down among the most iconic battles in Marine Corps history.

Just 21 when he returned home, Burke had matured a great deal in a short time. "That experience makes a man out of you," he told documentarians for the Korean War Legacy Foundation.

With the war behind him, Burke graduated from Dunwoody Institute and became a mechanical technician for Honeywell.

In 1954, he married Ruth Carlson, and they had four daughters. The family moved to Bloomington in 1956 and became charter members of St. Stephen Lutheran Church when it opened three years later.