Eric T. Burri
Specialist, United States Army
November 27, 1983 – June 7, 2005
Age – 21
Wyoming, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
623rd Quartermaster Company, 1st Corps Support Command, Fort Bragg, NC
Killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq
Spc. Eric T. Burri joined the Army after graduating from Kelloggsville High School. The Army was Burri’s ticket to travel. His drive was sparked by a year Burri spent in Uruguay as an exchange student while in high school. He wanted to learn languages and meet different people. He was touched by the poverty he witnessed in Iraq and especially, the faces of the Iraqi children he saw on the street. He had said If he could, he would give them the shoes off his feet.
Eric went to serve in Kuwait where he was a parachute rigger and then, deciding to continue his military service, he went on to Baghdad, Iraq where he was a lead gunner on a supply caravan.
While overseas, Burri leaned on his trust in God. In an e-mail to his family, he wrote: “I know that all of you will keep me in your prayers and thoughts and also God will be watching my back.”
The 824th Quartermaster Company held a dedication ceremony on the seventh anniversary of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, renaming building number 8124 on Joint Base Balad the Eric Burri Rigging Facility. The base, informally known as Camp Anaconda, is one of the largest U.S. military installations in Iraq.
The Army specialist, who was from the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, was killed in June 2005 in Baghdad when a roadside bomb detonated near the vehicle in which he was riding. The building’s new name commemorates the work he did as a parachute rigger at the base where he would pack parachutes used on military equipment drops. He was only the second parachute rigger killed since World War II.
For the Burris, the fact that his name is on a building in Iraq is a reminder that the sacrifice of soldiers such as their son has not been in vain. “Some day, I would love to be able to go there and tour the land that he fought for and see this,” John Burri told The Grand Rapids Press. “We are just amazed that they think so much of him that they want to do this for him.”
Fifteen years after his tragic death, Burri was inducted into the Parachute Rigger Hall of Fame at Fort Lee, Virginia. Induction into the hall of fame is “considered the highest recognition among the Parachute Riggers” and was established to honor parachute riggers “who have made significant contributions to the Parachute Rigger field and/or were recognized by acts of heroism in combat.”
John Burri said many parents who lose their children have a fear that their kids will be forgotten. “This year is finally the thing that makes me feel I can rest comfortably now knowing they are not going to be forgotten,” Burri said. “Our men and women who gave their all are truly not going to be forgotten.”