This is the courageous man Robert Redford played in A BRIDGE TOO FAR

South Carolina lost one of its heroes Jan. 4 when World War II veteran Moffatt Burris died at age 99.  He was one of many heroes who helped save the world from tyranny in the 1940s.  He fought to liberate Sicily and at Anzio to free Italy.  But perhaps his most memorable exploits, described in his memoir "Strike and Hold," came as  paratrooper who participated in Operation Market Garden, a failed attempt to hasten the end of the war with a massive troop jump into Holland. 
This battle was later documented in the book "A Bridge Too Far" and the motion picture of the same name.  In 2016 Burris sat down with South Carolina Public Radio to recall his experiences, and we now present a few of those recollections again in his memory. 

Major Burris was the man who cursed the English Colonel who would not take his tank brigade across the bridge to fight the Nazis who had the 10,000 British Parachuters surrounded, after they were foolishly deployed at command of Montgomery. He obtained some inflatables and got his men (some of them) over as they were being shot at by Nazis. Then he met up with a Nazi division who were fleeing Berlin and the Russians. He had two officers and a jeep driver with him, and they talked the Nazis into surrendering. "You it rather be us or be the Russians?" Then later he was the first American into Berlin both times defying orders. He later met up with the British Colonel who he had called a scumbag coward for not taking his tank company across the Bridge. At that time the Colonel had become a "Lord" and confronted him again...

‎Ron Alexander‎ to Veterans Against Putintrumpism (VAP)

1 hr

This is the courageous man Robert Redford played in A BRIDGE TOO FAR (RIP 4 Jan. 2019 at age 99)
This battle was later documented in the book "A Bridge Too Far" and the motion picture of the same name. In 2016 Burris sat down with South Carolina Public Radio to recall his experiences, and we now present a few of those recollections again in his memory. In addition, Columbia historian Jack Meyer adds commentary on Operation Market Garden.