Alexander Bradley Burns, for whom this Post is named was born in Downers Grove, Illinois to J.M. and Mary Burns. He had just graduated from high school when the war broke out and was one of the first to enlist in the Army. He joined Battery C of the First Illinois Field Artillery, later the 149th Field Artillery known as "Reilly's Bucks" named after Colonel Henry J. Reilly. This was part of the famous "Rainbow Division" which was composed of National Guard Units from all parts of the United States.
After 4 months of training at Fort Sheridan, Illinois the unit sailed to France where it was engaged in some of the largest battles of the War on the Western Front. Alec, as his friends called him, was wounded on March 10, 1918 near Fremenic in the Tuneville sector. He was repairing wire which ran from the advance position to the battery to direct fire on the enemy position. Alec had volunteered for work when extra heavy enemy shelling had caused several breaks in the wire. It was while he was in an exposed position that a shrapnel shell exploded directly over him, wounding him in 23 places. Alec died two days later and was buried in a small French cemetery. His body was later moved to one of larger U.S. cemeteries in France. The French Government conferred the Croix de Guerre on him posthumously. He was the first boy from Downers Grove and Du Page County to make the supreme sacrifice in the War.
