Colonel Thomas D. Burke, Jr. was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School 20 December 1944, Class Number 377. His first duty assignment was as Platoon Leader, Company D, 26th Infantry Training Regiment, Camp Croft, South Carolina. | His subsequent duty assignments include: Company Commander, 3349 Quartermaster Truck Company, Kyoto, Japan; Intelligence Staff Officer, Headquarters First Corps, Kyoto, Japan; Company Commander, L-E Service Company, 511th Airborne, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Company Commander/S-3, E Company, 2d Battalion, Headquarters, 503d Airborne, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Company Commander, D Company, 3d Battalion, Headquarters, 31st Infantry, Korea; Division G-2, Headquarters 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Instructor, Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, Nuclear weapons, Sandia Base, New Mexico; Brigade S-3, 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii; Executive Officer, 19th Infantry, 28th Infantry Division, Hawaii; Deputy Commander, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii; Commander Army Component, National Indications Center, Pentagon; Director, Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Test and Analysis Division, Korea; Commander, Hessen Support District, Germany; Deputy Commander, Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland. | His awards and decorations include: Legion of Merit (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star Medal (V Device and 1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Commendation Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Purple Heart (1 Oak Leaf Cluster).