Medal of Honor:Buffalo Soldier Sgt. Cornelius H. Carlton Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

56 Years Later, Arlington Welcomes A Buffalo Soldier
By JESSE A. HAMILTON The Hartford Courant
November 13, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — - Zenobia Penn's uncle is done with his traveling. And her family has learned that sometimes you have to bury a man three times before it's done right.

Penn's Uncle Connie is better known to some by the name on his Medal of Honor citation: Sgt. Cornelius H. Charlton. Now that name will be carved into one of the white stones on the green slopes of Arlington National Cemetery — more than half a century after the family said racism turned the soldier away from this resting place of many of the country's honored heroes.

It's bittersweet, this victory. The family finally gets to see its own Korean War hero put in the place they always thought he should be. But it took so long, a 56-year wait, ended by a little administrative tenacity by Penn, who lives in New London.

Penn, the daughter of Charlton's older sister Fairy Mae Papadopoulos, never knew her uncle. She was a month shy of being born when Charlton was killed taking Hill 549 near the village of Chipo-ri. But she knew his story, the one told around kitchen tables as far back as she can remember. The family's honest-to-goodness hero, awarded the country's highest military honor, handed to his folks by President Harry Truman.
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