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 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.

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.

[3] 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.

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.

[6] Captain Britt, in plain view of the German lines, clapped his hands above his head to deliberately draw enemy gunfire, thus exposing a gun position so it could be destroyed.

[7] Britt directed mortar and artillery fire from close proximity over the next day, contributing to the destruction of 25 German machine gun positions.

[6] Britt was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism for his actions on January 22 and 23 at the Anzio beachhead near Latina.

[6] The shell it fired passed through three walls, blowing off Britt's right arm at the elbow, fracturing a leg, and perforating his back in 47 places.

Maurice Britt became the first recipient of the top four combat decorations for valor awarded to an infantryman by the US Army during World War II.

During the intense fire fight, Lt. Britt's canteen and field glasses were shattered; a bullet pierced his side; his chest, face, and hands were covered with grenade wounds.

Lt. Britt's undaunted courage and prowess in arms were largely responsible for repulsing a German counterattack which, if successful, would have isolated his battalion and destroyed his company.After the war, he briefly attended the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville but left the institution to enter business.

[12] He was re-elected in 1968 but did not seek a third term in 1970, having deferred to his friend and Little Rock neighbor, Former House Speaker Sterling R. Cockrill, a Democrat-turned-Republican, who ran unsuccessfully on Winthrop Rockefeller's losing Republican ticket that year.

Britt defeated the Democratic nominees, Judge James H. Pilkington of Hope in 1966 and State Representative Bill Wells of Hermitage in 1968.

Neal Sox Johnson, the first paid executive director of the Arkansas GOP, said that he believed Rockefeller should have stepped down in 1970, and Britt should have been the gubernatorial nominee.

[13] As Rockefeller and Britt left office, two legislative Republicans remained behind, State Senator Jim Caldwell and Representative Preston Bynum, both of Benton County in far northwestern Arkansas.

The coffin was open, and Britt's military coat hung from the back of his favorite rocking chair, which was placed next to the body.