Maurice Britt

Maurice Lee "Footsie" Britt (June 29, 1919 – November 26, 1995) was an American military officer, businessman, and politician.

He was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division during training at Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Ord, California, and Camp Pickett in Virginia.

The 30th Infantry came on shore and quickly secured the left flank of the 3rd Division and silenced Fort Blondin in the process which had been firing on the naval forces lying off the Moroccan coast.

The 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry executed one of the longest foot marches in modern military history, from near Gela northward to Palermo.

The 30th Infantry captured Acerno and he received a Silver Star for gallantry in action and his first of four Purple Hearts.

He graduated as the valedictorian of Lonoke High School in 1937 and entered the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he was supported by an athletic scholarship in both football and basketball.

He played professional football for the Detroit Lions in 1941 before entering active service with the U.S. Army during World War II, during which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and an Army Reserve commission as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry through Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps upon graduation in 1941.

He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Britt was selected in the 13th round of the 1941 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, who used the 115th overall pick of the draft to take him.

The 6'4" end signed a contract with the Lions and saw action in nine games during the 1941 season coming off the bench, scoring one league touchdown on a 45-yard passing play. He was unable to complete the season due to the outbreak of World War II.

Britt entered active duty in December 1941 as a second lieutenant at Camp Joseph T. Robinson in North Little Rock.

He received a partial deferment to entering active duty until after the 1941 football season.

He initially joined the 3rd Division and participated in coastal defense on the West Coast of the United States.

On October 23, 1942, the 30th Infantry and the 3rd Division embarked for North Africa.

On November 8, 1942, he was a platoon leader in Company L when the 3rd Infantry Division and two other U.S. Army divisions landed during the invasion of French North Africa under Major General George S. Patton, Jr. who was in command of the Western Forces.

Britt and his unit landed at the North African beach at Casablanca, French Morocco.

In January 1943, the 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry were assigned to personal guard duty for Sir Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Casablanca Conference.

At the end of the North African Campaign, the 3rd Division began training in Bizerte, Tunisia for the invasion of Sicily.

Britt continued to serve as a platoon leader during the amphibious invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943.

On September 19, 1943, Britt participated in the amphibious landings in Salerno, Italy during the invasion of Italy (Operation Avalanche).

This was his third amphibious assault landing of the war.

He took command of Company L after his company commander was wounded and evacuated.

On September 22, he led an assault on Acerno, Italy which was 10 miles from Salerno, and destroyed an enemy machine gun position.

By early October 1943, the whole of southern Italy was in Allied hands, and the Allied armies faced the Volturno Line, the first of a series of prepared defensive lines running across Italy from which the Germans chose to fight delaying actions, giving ground slowly and buying time to complete their preparation of the Winter Line, their strongest defensive line south of Rome.

Britt led his men in the river crossing on the Volturno River.

For his actions at Pietravairano on October 29, Britt received the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device.

For his actions above and beyond the call of duty on the assault of Monte Retundo on November 10, north of Mignano, in central Italy, he received the Medal of Honor, British Military Cross, Italian Military Medal for Valor, and a battlefield promotion to captain.

He was part of the initial invasion at Anzio on January 22, 1944 (Operation Shingle).

On January 23, in one instance at the Pontine Marshes,

Britt and his men were having difficulty locating German gun positions.

The 3rd Battalion marched 54 miles in only 33 hours.

Palermo was captured on July 22.

Britt led his men through the combat and extensive marching from Palermo to Messina in Sicily.

Britt served as the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas during the administration of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller from 1967 to 1971.

Rockefeller and Britt were the first Republicans to serve in the state of Arkansas's top two offices since Reconstruction.

He was born Maurice Britt in Carlise in Lonoke County in central Arkansas, the son of Maurice Lee and Virgie Britt.

His family moved from Carlisle to nearby Lonoke when he was a boy.

He received the nickname "Footsie" after winning a pair of shoes at a local fair as an adolescent; he had size-thirteen feet.

By November 11, the 30th Infantry and the 3rd Division had secured Casablanca.