B73633 Pte Burton, E. W. enlisted with the 48th Highlanders in Toronto in early 1940. Following training he boarded in Halifax for the UK disembarking at Liverpool on 22 May 1940 and joined the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders. He was attached for training to HQ 1 CIB (Intell) for 14 to 23 December 1941 returning to his position in BHQ. All members of the battalion were,  including A/Cpl Burton,  were charged 1 shilling for “Barracks Damages” in July 1942, a charge that was to be much higher until the regiment proved by its records that the damages had been in the barracks upon their arrival. On 1 May 1942 he was struck off strength of the battalion  to HQ 1 CIB. On July 10 1943  the battalion landed on the beaches at Pachino, Sicily and following the Sicilian Campaign sailed across the Straits of Messina to Reggio di Calabria. The War Diary of September 1943, records, on 16 September near Tiriolo in Calabria, that “Cpl Burton of the “I” section was sent out to recce roads ahead”. Cpl Burton remained with the battalion for the advance to Campobasso in October 43, the outflanking of Ortona in December 43 in which the battalion penetrated over 2 miles behind the German lines threatening the only road in or out of Ortona that was available to the Germans, and the position on the Arielli River in early 1944 conducting fighting patrols into the German Gothic line to determine their strength and locations.

On 10 April, 1944 Cpl Burton was SOS to hospital on the X-3 List. He returned to the battalion on 22 September and remained with the battalion through the Gothic Line battles, the Lamone River Crossing on 10 Dec 44 and the move of the 1st Canadian Division from Italy to the Netherlands in March 1945. Following a leave to the UK from 23 March to 2 April, Cpl Burton was with the battalion for the liberation of Apeldoorn during Operation Cannonshot (12 to 17 April). On 22 June 1945 he was struck off strength of the battalion to 144 CD – MD2.