On Army Sgt. Cornelius Charlton

Army Sergeant Cornelius Charlton died in June 1951 at the age of 21 after he led his platoon's effort to take a hill from the enemy in a battle near Chipo-Ri, South Korea. Charlton was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and was supposed to be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. As Charlton's relatives approached Arlington with Charlton's coffin carried by a horse-drawn buggy they were stopped by people in pickup trucks carrying shotguns and could not bury their loved one and this war hero in Arlington, burying him instead in Pocahontas, Virginia. Thereafter, in 1989, Chartlton's remains were buried at the American Legion cemetery in Beckley, West Virginia.

Fifty seven years later, in early November 2008, Sergeant Charlton was laid to rest in Arlington. He "is the only black Medal of Honor recipient from the Korean War buried at Arlington; there are 15 other black Medal of Honor recipients buried there. Medal of Honor winners automatically qualify for burial at Arlington."