Members of the James Waldrop Chapter National Society of the American Revolution recently honored the late Commander Mary Jean Burch as its Women in History Award for 2008.

The various branches of the Burch family have been in Fayette County since the 1880s and have all excelled at whatever they chose to do.

Their ancestors arrived in America in the 1600s and its men have always fought in whatever wars the country was experiencing.

John Burch Jr. was a Revolutionary soldier, serving from Henrico County, Virginia. William Henry Burch served in the War Between The States and was killed in battle in Virginia.

In World War II there were 10 Burch men from Fayette County who served and one woman, Mary Jean Burch. All 11 returned home safely. Other Burch men served in Korea, the occupation forces in Germany, the Berlin Blockade crises and Vietnam. These also returned home safely.

Of the ten children in Mary Jean's family, all of them graduated from Fayette County High School, and all ten began college with nine of them graduating.

Mary Jean was born June 18, 1922, the daughter of Walter Lee and Verna Roberts Burch. She was one of four girls and six boys in the family and they resided in the Inman community and in Fayetteville during the years their father was the County Ordinary, a position now known as Probate Judge.

She earned an elementary teachers certificate from Young Harris College in 1941 and was graduated from the University of Georgia in 1943 with a degree in home economics. She then went to work as a nutritionist.

With most of her brothers in service, and only making $90 a month in education, she decided to join the Navy as an Apprentice Seaman in 1943.

Needless to say, her dad had a difficult time adjusting to his daughter being in the military. He later came to realize that the Navy was aware of her capabilities and that she could take care of herself.

She first trained as a communications specialist in Milledgeville. She was then transferred to cryptography when superiors noticed her sharp mind.

During World War II, she was stationed at Pearl Harbor, encoding and decoding Navy messages. She also served in London during the tense days of Lebanon, Cyprus and the Suez crises.

In all, she served through three wars, World II, Korea and Vietnam, serving a total of 31 years with the Navy.

In 1958 she went to the recruit training command for women at Bainbridge, Md., where she was staff administrator. She had approximately 2,400 WAVE recruits annually and a military staff of 50 enlisted women and six women officers.

Chosen for officer candidate school in Newport R.I., her rank was Lt. j.g. Her first duty as an officer was in Norfolk, Va., where she was in charge of the communications center for the NATO staff.

She was then stationed again at Pearl Harbor as deputy chief of staff for communications over the Pacific Fleet. It was at this time that the atom bomb was exploded on Bikini and Hawaii was the relay point. She was on watch when it happened and Washington D.C. wanted word of the explosion in about three seconds. There's no doubt Mary Jean Burch met the deadline.

On her job reviews she was ranked on 16 qualities with her superior officer giving her the highest possible rank on all 16, "Is Not Exceeded."

In March 1972 she was promoted from Lt. Commander to full Commander. She was one of the few women commanders who worked her way up through the ranks.

She was retired from the United States Navy in 1974. Her service medals include Navy Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal with a bronze star, Good Conduct Medal with four bronze stars, American Campaign Medal WWII, WWII Victory Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, given for Outstanding Non Combat Meritorious Achievement or Service to the United States.

She lived in San Diego for a number of years until a stroke forced her to come home. She died March 3, 1999, at the age of 76 and is buried at the Inman United Methodist Church, along with a myriad of ancestors.

login to post comments