Alton Alfred Burton, Class of 1941

This page is about the life of Alton Albert Burton, Class of 1941.

This is a “living” Memorium, meaning that you are encouraged to please send in photographs, remembrances, and other media (audio, video, documents, etc.,) to help honor Alton.

We start out with his senior photo (right) from Sayville High School June 1941. Alton lived at 72 Macon St., pictured below.

Alton was born November 25, 1925, in Washington Heights, a northern portion of the borough of Manhattan in New York City.

Alton’s mother, Winifred (McKinley) Burton, and father, Alfred Moses Burton were both from Jamaica, British West Indies. His only sibling, sister Enid, was born in Washington Heights a few years later. The family photo to the right depicts sister Enid, Mother Winifred, and Alton.

The family remained in Manhattan until Alton was thirteen years old when his father bought a home in Sayville, Long Island.

Being an inner-city boy, the sudden loss of all his friends, combined with the dramatic change in the environment was initially a nightmare to Alton. He recalls going outside and being startled as the lack of street lights or activity.

Per his family, however, Alton came to realize realized that his relocation to Sayville was the very best thing that ever happened to him. Sayville steered his life in a highly positive direction.

Alton and his sister Enid were among the few students of color at Sayville High School as evidenced in Sayville High School Freshmen Class, in 1938. Girls are in the top section, boys in the bottom section. Left to right, Alton, is in the top row, the eighth person.

Jumping ahead in time briefly, here is the Class of 1941 reunion photo in August 1975. Alton is in the top row, second from the right

Alton played in the High School Orchestra, as did his sister Enid Burton, class of 1942.

In Alton’s eulogy, his son Michael spoke of his father’s teen years in the almost exclusively white town of Sayville, stating; “Despite his Jamaican background, my father felt accepted. and did not endure the racism that was so prevalent in the United States at that time”.

Shortly after Alton’s graduation from Sayville High School, World War II broke out.

Alton was hired by Republic Aviation and trained as a blueprint layout worker.

Racism reared its ugly face when workers at Republic Aviation did not want to work with a man of color. Alton was subsequently moved to the riveting department, where he had his first encounter with the warplane, the P-47 Thunderbolt. Two co-workers of Italian descent supported and helped him excel. Alton’s team soon became the best on the production floor, and working on the P-47 would become a significant part of his future endeavors.

The P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II designed to battle Luftwaffe fighters. P-47. also served other Allied air forces, including France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons.

The republic Aviation poster to the right features a drawing of a bubble-top P-47 shooting down a plane.

The P-47 Thunderbolt is flying over a stylized view of the east coast of Asia, with Tokyo marked on the image of Honshu.

Entering the military, Alton was originally assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers. Photo right is his World War II registration card.

In 1942 he volunteered for the Army Air Corps. His love for airplanes soon prompted him to transfer to Tuskegee, Alabama for
flight training. At Tuskegee, he was initially trained as a bombardier navigator, for which he received his officer commission and was assigned to a B-25 bomber crew. At that time, however, Black aviators were not utilized in that role.

Alton was then reassigned to the Tuskegee flight school and trained and received his pilot wings for the P-47 Thunderbolt — the same airplane he had previously helped build on Long Island!

Alton distinguished himself during World War II as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, earning three awards.

Alton A. Burton’s service in WWII.

Source: “Islip town’s World War II effort”

Alton returned to New York City before heading to the SUNY Plattsburg, where he took pre-engineering courses. That move that turned out to be the very best thing in his life, as this is where he met his soulmate and future wife, Dr. Vashti Curlin, whom he married in 1949.

Alton then attended the University of Michigan’s engineering school and received his Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1950.

Soon afterward he earned his Masters’s degree at New York University and then his Professional Engineering license from the State of New York.

Following WWII and college studies, Alton’s engineering career started in 1952, eleven years after graduating from Sayville High school.

1952 was also the birth of his only son, Alton Michael Burton of New York City, who is a major contributor to the biographical sketch.

He was first hired by an engineering leasing firm that assigned him to work for the Port Authority of New York, and soon after he was employed there. His first assignment was in the Marine Terminal Department, which constructed shipping piers along the Hudson River waterfront in Brooklyn and New
Jersey.

February 1, 1964. Alton was featured on page one of the Brooklyn Amsterdam News.

June 1965 Alton was featured in a four-page article in Sepia Magazine, as the master planner of the civil engineering phase of the multi-billion dollar World Trade Center in New York City.

A Recognition of Twin Towers Engineer, Mr. Alton A. Burton

When the building of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was proposed in 1960, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller chose Clinton Hill resident Alton Burton, an African-American engineer, 1941 graduate of Sayville High School graduate of the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from New York University. At that time, he was already employed at the Port Authority as its lone Black engineer. A LOOK BACK …

Congressman Ed Towns’ tribute for the Congressional Record

December 2006

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Alton A. Burton, PE, a distinguished member of the New York City community. It behooves us to pay tribute to this outstanding leader and I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing his impressive accomplishments.

During the course of history, there have been a select few people known as visionaries. Mr. Burton is one of these visionaries that viewed our world not as it necessarily is, but as it can be.

Alton A. Burton was a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant, serving as bombardier, navigator and pilot during World War II. After distinguished service in our Armed Forces as a Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Burton pursued the power of ideas through higher education by obtaining a Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering. He also obtained a license as a Professional Engineer in the State of New York.

Soon after receiving his degrees and license, Alton A. Burton joined the staff of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in design engineering. Mr. Burton’s assignments included contract plans for various facilities, including marine terminals. Little did Mr. Burton know that he was being positioned by the hand of destiny for something more. During the 1950s and 60s, Mr. Burton toiled in the eye of the storm of civil and political unrest, a time of cultural, human and civil rights crises.

Against all odds, Alton A. Burton was able to understand the situation and conditions of a racially charged environment and era that would have been deemed impossible. In 1962, the late Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York appointed Mr. Burton the Chief Civil Engineer in charge of the planning phase of the multibillion-dollar project known as the World Trade Center.

In the minds of most Americans, the deeply disturbing images of the inferno that engulfed the Twin Towers and then the crumbling to the ground after being hit by two hijacked commercial airliners 5 years ago on 9-11-01 will never be forgotten. Most of us are unaware that over 40 years ago, Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton designed and fortified the infrastructure, which accounted for the reliability of the Twin Tower structures to withstand tremendous force, including that of an earthquake.

Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton and his team of civil engineers had no idea that some 40 or so years later terrorists would fly jets into the towers. Because of the fortification of the infrastructure, due to Mr. Burton’s vision and preparation for the unexpected, the towers, as damaged as they were, managed to hold—giving our first responders, EMS, NYPD, FDNY and other emergency units a grace period to do what they do best, save lives.

If not for Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton’s vision of a fortified infrastructure, the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers would have immediately toppled to the streets below. With steel beams heating to over 3000 degrees F, the infrastructure still managed to endure. The North Tower held for 1 hour, 42 minutes and the South Tower for 56 minutes before the total collapse. We note (with regret) that approximately 3,000 lives were lost that infamous day and we offer our sincere condolences to their families. However, keeping in mind Mr. Burton’s efforts to fortify the infrastructure with the best materials known to architectural and civil engineering at that time, between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals were safely evacuated from the towers and surrounding areas, so many more lives were saved.

Chief Alton A. Burton’s prolific civil engineering work carries with it profound moral and philosophical insight, possessing power without arrogance, bringing redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary as we honor the lives of those that were lost and their legacy by how we live. Alton A. Burton has risen at the age of 82 to become a Great American Hero, and we claim him as one of our own, both in title and in spirit.

As our nation moves forward with a unified purpose, we realize that purpose is perhaps more significant than outcome. It is what we all become in the process to embrace all of the opportunities this country has to offer as the real purpose. Alton A. Burton continues to live his life with purpose. The people of the city of New York, the United States of America and the world became a better place because Mr. Burton has given us all his best; and he has created a mark in American history and the world that cannot be erased.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that there are no words too magnanimous to fully describe our gratitude; we thank former Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton for inspiring modesty, selfless devotion of the advancement of humanity through his devoted service to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is incumbent on this body to recognize that in Alton A. Burton we have an outstanding citizen worthy of the highest respect and esteem from his community, the City of New York and our nation.

Source and credit: https://www.ourtimepress.com/a-recognition-of-twin-towers-engineer-mr-alton-a-burton/

Since the American Revolution, Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation.

In 2007, Alton received a Congressional Gold Medal for his service as a Tuskegee Airman, 994 African-American pilots who gained fame during World War II for their heroism escorting American bombers in raids over Europe and North Africa.

The below images of the front and reverse side of the Tuskegee Airmen medal is viewable at the NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Community/Third Floor, 3 053. The exhibition is titled “Double Victory: The African American Military Experience“

Youtube interviews; part one includes remembrances of Sayville High.

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part One

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part Two

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part Three

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part Four

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part Five

Alton A. Burton Interview – Part Six

The final bells tolled for Alton Alfred Burton at November 1st, 2018 with his loving wife of 69 years, Dr. Vashti Curlin Burton and son, Alton Michael Burton at his bedside.

The Burton and Jones family were kind enough to provide images from the wonderful program handed out at his memorial service. Here they are, in part;