As you no doubt are aware, SS JOHN BURKE was completely and instantly destroyed in the kamikaze attack, with the loss of all hands. There were 40 merchant mariners and 29 Armed Guard aboard. She was one of three Liberty ships lost to kamikaze attacks.
Mr. Snell's suggestion of obtaining information from the National Archives may not be helpful. It is true that the Archives has copies of crew manifests and of the separate Armed Guard commanding officer's reports from voyages of merchant ships during World War II. However these documents were filed only at the end of a voyage. Since JOHN BURKE was lost with all hands, the documents would have been destroyed in the attack and consequently never filed.
I did find the information that you seek in a more roundabout manner. The excellent website American Merchant Marine at War (www.usmm.org)has listings of merchant marine and Armed Guard casualties. The list of Armed Guard killed and wounded begins at http://usmm.org/armedguard.html. This page also lists the sources of the information found on the website. The listing is alphabetical by last name of the person killed or wounded but not grouped by name of vessel. Consequently I had to search and copy from each of 26 separate alphabetical indices to find the information. OK, it didn't take that long.
Anyway, here is the list. The columns show the name of the deceased individual, the name of the vessel, the date of loss, the individual's rank or rating, and the individual's home state, if known.
Ashley, Glenn E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c KS Bates, Robert F. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c OH Cardoza, Arthur John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA Davis, Shearon C. John Burke 12/28/44 GM3c NE Dolberg, Harry L. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NE Ellard, Robert E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c AL Ephland, Charles E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MO Ferrel, Ralph E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NV Font, Adrian M. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c LA Gordan, William E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NC Harrison, John C. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA Jarrett, Guy S. John Burke 12/28/44 SM3C AR Keniston, Theodore H. John Burke 12/28/44 SM3C MN Kimball, Milton A. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c IA Koehn, Frank S. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ND Miller, William D. John Burke 12/28/44 BM2c IL Morehead, Westly A. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c IN Oglesby, Alex A. John Burke 12/28/44 RM1 ? Olson, John E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c WA Orten, James W. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ID Overbay, James J. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ? Porter, Perry J. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c LA Proctor, Gerald R. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA Ramsey, William D. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c UT Rice, Jay J. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MI Ross, William R. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ? Snitzer, Charles W. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c PA Watkins, Owen W. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 Ltjg AZ Whitacre, Allen B. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MD
I hope this is useful to you.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Have you tried the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)? If you have the dates, you should be able to get the list as well as the Armed Guard Report for the voyage in question. You can contact them on-line, but it will take some time to get a reply.