Three spent cases from Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton's funeral volley

These shell casings held bullets fired during the burial ceremony of Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Cornelius Charlton. Military personnel are honored with a three-volley salute during burial services. The salutes are linked to early battlefield customs that called for a cease-fire to care for the dead and wounded. Sergeant Charlton served in C Company, 24th Infantry Regiment, during the Korean War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on June 2, 1951, near Chipo-ri, Korea. After his wounded platoon leader was evacuated during an attack to capture Hill 543, Charlton "rallied the men" and led them on three separate assaults. During the first assault, he eliminated two enemy positions, killing six. Although seriously wounded in the next two assaults, Charlton conducted a fourth assault alone. He was wounded again by a grenade but silenced the enemy guns before he died. Sergeant Charlton was originally buried at Pocahontas Cemetery in Pocahontas, Virginia, before he was re-interred at the American Legion Cemetery in Beckley, West Virginia, in 1990. On November 12, 2008, he was re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.