DALLAS — Loved ones gathered Monday in Plano to remember a 100-year-old man with a remarkable story.
Burnett "Burnie" Sutter was a World War II veteran who fought in major battles across France and Germany and helped liberate a concentration camp.
Sutter, originally from Moline, Ill., died on Jan. 30 at Saddlebrook Memory Care, where he lived in Frisco. His Celebration of Life was held Monday at St. Andrew United Methodist Church. He was two weeks shy of his 101st birthday.
WFAA first met Sutter last year, as his family planned a way to properly commemorate his 100th birthday.
At the time, his daughter, Sandi Sutter Richards, felt that she was one of the few holding onto memories of her father's life that, for him, were beginning to fade with age.
While Burnie jokingly called himself an "old fart," his daughter wanted to keep the memory of his service alive. And she got quite the response from the Frisco community, which formed a 100-car parade for his birthday last April.
"I am just extremely proud of him, even though he's not always in the moment anymore, but I am and our family is," his daughter told WFAA at the time. "I just think we need to pass that along to our children what these people were able to do to save our freedoms that we have today."
Sutter landed on Utah Beach in Normandy with the 90th Infantry Division under General George S. Patton. He was a machine gunner in the 358th M Company.
He fought in many of the major battles across France and Germany, including the battles at Seves Island and Falaise Gap. He was part of Operation Cobra and the Moselle River Crossing.
On April 23, 1945, he was part of the American forces that liberated Flossenburg Concentration Camp near the then-Czechoslovakian border.
Sutter lived at Saddle Brook Memory Care in Frisco. And just a few days after his 100th birthday, 100 vehicles took part in a parade as he and other residents of Saddle Brook sat outside. Vintage vehicles, restored WWII Jeeps, and even a decorated golf cart or two paraded past Sutter as he waved and saluted. His three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren were at his side celebrating with him.
A scholarship in Burnie Sutter’s name has been established by the Families of World War II Veterans, a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring the heroic legacies of World War II veterans and those involved in the WWII effort.