The Story of Young Bussey

Most of us know the story of Alex Box but not many know the story of a great Tiger who died in World War II.
I read his story last night and thought I would share this.

Bussey played football at LSU on a scholarship arranged by Senator Huey Long. While there, he became a team captain and led LSU in rushing in 1937, and in passing in both 1937 and 1938. He and teammate Ken Kavanaugh were also invited to try out for the Chicago Bears.

Despite the time constraints of playing a sport and continuing to support his family via his milk delivery route, Bussey still managed to graduate with top grades and a degree in petroleum engineering.

Bussey was sent to Officer Candidate School, attained the rank of lieutenant (junior grade), and was assigned to USS Warren, an attack transport active in the Pacific Theater. He received a commendation from Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, for his actions as an assistant beachmaster during the Battle of Guam in 1944. Bussey also saw action at Kwajalein, Peleliu, Leyte, and Luzon, participating in a total of 10 amphibious assaults. He was then named Warren's head beachmaster for the upcoming Invasion of Lingayen Gul. By this point, Bussey had become pessimistic about his chances of survival; while home on leave shortly before the invasion, Bussey confessed to his older brother Keefer (himself a combat engineer in the Army) that he believed he "would not come out of his next landing alive," and gave Keefer his commemorative watch from the 1941 Championship Game. The night before General Walter Krueger's Sixth Army landed on the beaches of Lingayen Gulf, Bussey turned over his personal effects to Warren's chaplain, telling him, "Tomorrow I make my ascension. Will you see that my mother gets these?“

True to his prediction, Bussey was killed on January 7, 1945, when his landing craft took a direct hit from a Japanese mortar after getting stuck on a coral reef 75 yards from the beach. The blast threw Bussey and most of the crew into the water; eyewitnesses reported that Bussey was struck in his left shoulder and chest, and that his left arm may have been completely blown off. He was last seen signalling his men with his right arm to take cover. Most of the crew of the landing craft were rescued, but Bussey was not among them, and his body was never recovered.