SSG John F. Burgess

30 November 1992, Antigua

Special Forces

Born in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Staff Sergeant John F. Burgess died on 30 November 1992 in a training accident near Antigua.

Burgess enlisted in the Army in 1987 as a Carpentry and Masonry Specialist. Upon finishing Basic Combat and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, he was stationed in West Germany with the 249th Engineer Combat Battalion. Completing Airborne School in 1989, he graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School the following year.

SSG Burgess was assigned as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant in 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, when he drowned during a water jump into the Atlantic Ocean.