Alexander Thomson Burr (November 1, 1893 – October 12, 1918) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in one inning of one game for the 1914 New York Yankees and was later killed in a military aviation training accident while serving with the U.S. Army Air Service in France during World War I. Born in Chicago, Burr was known as "Tom" to his friends. Press accounts throughout his life, as well as other memoirs, used this nickname, although many baseball references labeled him "Alex".
Biography
Tom Burr photograph from 1918 newspaper article on his death (Burr on right)
Burr returned to Williams College after his professional career ended, although by some accounts he went into business instead of returning to school.[1] He volunteered to serve in the war before ever graduating. He self-financed his trip to France where he volunteered as an ambulance driver before joining the aviation corps.[1] He was killed shortly before the war ended in an airplane accident on October 12, 1918, while serving in the United States Army Air Service in Cazaux, France. After colliding with a fellow pilot, Burr's plane crashed into a lake in flames; his body was recovered after 12 days.[1] He had been serving in France since November 1917 and was 24 years old at the time of his death.[5]
Burr was interred in American Expeditionary Forces Cemetery No. 29. During the years after the end of World War I, this cemetery was deconsecrated. Some of the bodies exhumed—including Burr's—were repatriated. Burr's final resting place became Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago.[6]
