Hometown Hero: John Burson

Dr. John Burson was recognized at the Sandy Creek-Carrollton game by the Atlanta Falcons and National Guard for his many years of service in the military. Burson, a Carrollton native and Carrollton High School graduate, has been involved with the National Guard and Army since 1957. He has a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and a PhD from Georgia Tech, as well as a doctorate from Emory. He has served in both the chemical corps and medical corps and reached the rank of Colonel in the Army National Guard.

Initially, Dr. Burson was commissioned into the chemical corps in 1957. He served for 30 years, mostly in the reserves, and then retired in 1985. He was a professor of chemical engineering at Georgia Tech, and decided in 1971 to go to medical school. He had his own private practice in Carrollton and, eventually, Villa Rica when he noticed how out of date the medicine was in that area.

Burson wanted to join the medical corps after graduation, but the Army said he couldn’t transfer. Burson, a Colonel at this point in his career in the chemical corps, would have to resign and then be commissioned into the medical corps.

That’s just what he did, even though he lost his rank of colonel and was reassigned as a captain in the medical corps. “After a month they basically said I was too old to be a captain and so they made me a major,” Burson explained.

In 2005, 20 years after retired, the surgeon general called his house requesting his services in the Middle East. At 72-years old, Burson passed a physical and was deployed for a tour where he would be helping soldiers with head and neck injuries. Most of the people he worked with and treated weren’t even born before Burson had his medical degree from Emory.

He’s been deployed four times since 2005, most of that time helping American soldiers with head and neck injuries suffered in combat. However, he also spent some time in 2006 working in a prison camp where he cared for detainees and civilians alike. Burson is scheduled to go on another tour next July, around the time of his 80th birthday.