Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.
veterans

Medal of Honor recipient honored at Nine Partners Cemetery

Medal of Honor recipient honored at Nine Partners Cemetery

Family members of Army PFC Charles R. Johnson attended a ceremony at Nine Partners Cemetery on Thursday, May 29, to dedicate a permanent marker attesting that Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor in battle during the Korean War.

Photo by Leila Hawken

MILLBROOK — Local and county officials, a military honor guard, friends and family gathered at Nine Partners Cemetery near the grave of Korean War Veteran Army PFC Charles Johnson on Thursday, May 29. The well-attended ceremony was to honor Johnson’s bravery and sacrifice in battle and to dedicate a permanent plaque and flag markers indicating that Johnson’s valor had earned the Medal of Honor.

In December 2024, Johnson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, officially presented at a White House ceremony on Friday, January 3, 2025, by President Joseph R. Biden.

Introductory remarks at the May 29 ceremony by Adam Roche, Director of the Dutchess County Office of Veterans Affairs honored Johnson, describing him as a “true American hero,” killed in battle at the age of 21, at Outpost Harry in Korea. Johnson’s heroic actions saved the lives of ten of his fellow infantrymen, including his captain.

An opening prayer by Deacon Duane Ware of Beulah Baptist Church spoke of Johnson’s legacy of patriotism, loyalty and brotherhood.

Participating in an official ceremony to honor the valorous service of Army PFC Charles R. Johnson during the Korean War and to dedicate a gravesite marker at Nine Partners Cemetery attesting that PFC Johnson was a recipient of the Medal of Honor were left to right County Executive Sue Serino, PFC Johnson’s nephew Kevin Johnson holding an official Proclamation presented during the ceremony, and Adam Roche, Director of the Office of Dutchess County’s Office of Veterans Affairs.Photo by Leila Hawken

The Rev. Dr. Matthew Calkins of Grace Episcopal Church, Millbrook, noted that the Johnson family had been members of the Millbrook church in the 1950s and that the church had attended to burial of Johnson’s remains in September 1953 at Nine Partners.

Drawings of three new stained glass window panels to be created and installed at Grace Church in the coming months were displayed and described by Rev. Calkins. One panel will honor Johnson’s memory, a second will honor Eleanor Roosevelt, and the third, in the middle, will depict Julian of Norwich, whose influential writings in the Middle Ages are the oldest discoveries of such writings to have been authored by a woman.

Vice Commander Dave Rogers of VFW Post 9008, Millbrook, announced that the VFW post is being renamed to honor Johnson. It will now be known as Charles R. Johnson Post 9008. In addition to the Medal of Honor, Johnson had been awarded the Purple Heart, the nation’s oldest medal, originally established by George Washington. Accordingly, Johnson’s grave will be adorned by a Purple Heart flag.

To mark Johnson’s gravesite, a flagpole has been erected at the cemetery by the Dutchess County Dept. of Public Works.

“We will always honor this grave,” said Brad Roeller, President of the Nine Partners Cemetery Association. He spoke of Johnson’s connections to Millbrook as “a rich story that will never be forgotten.”

“We thank you for recognizing Uncle Buddy,” said Johnson’s nephew, Kevin Johnson, on behalf of the Johnson family.

“For too long, Charles’ actions went unrecognized,” said Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino, citing Johnson’s courage and sacrifice that left a legacy. “His spirit and courage live on to inspire,” she added, praising the tireless efforts of many who pursued posthumous recognition for PFC Johnson’s bravery, to upgrade the Silver Star that had been awarded in 2011 to the Medal of Honor, a long campaign spanning decades.

In 2024, Congressman Pat Ryan joined in the effort by supporting the 20 years of regional efforts toward recognition.

A proclamation marking the long-awaited recognition was presented by Serino to Kevin Johnson.

“Charlie was older than I, but he was a friend of my brother’s,” said speaker Dominick Molella. “He was open and upbeat,” he added.

“He died for the soldiers he protected; his contributions and valor were ignored.” Molella said that his own involvement in the effort toward proper recognition began in early 2000, and he credited the Arlington High School for propelling the recognition campaign forward.

Leila Hawken
veterans

Latest News

The Millerton News - October 22, 2026

The Millerton News - October 22, 2026

Download directly

Cornwall Historical Society celebrates Connecticut’s Black patriots

Cornwall Historical Society celebrates Connecticut’s Black patriots

John Mills at the birthplace of Connecticut abolitionist John Brown.

Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation

On Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Cornwall Historical Society, author and genealogist John Mills will breathe new life into the stories of some of Connecticut’s more underappreciated patriots. The reason these heroes were forgotten? They were Black.

At a time when white colonists were fighting for their own liberty and political independence, many Black men who fought alongside them remained enslaved. Some risked their lives only to return to bondage. Though enslaved people were promised freedom from both sides of the Revolutionary War in exchange for their service, Great Britain, too, was still deeply dependent on slavery. For Black people in America, the war presented both extraordinary risks and uncertain paths to the freedom that white colonists were demanding for themselves.

Keep ReadingShow less
education

A sanctuary for second chances

A sanctuary for second chances

Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.

Madi Long
You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor.
— Stephanie Saetta

Stephanie Saetta has spent much of her life caring for others. A physician at White Plains Hospital, she has another calling at home in Salisbury — one that has four legs and a wagging tail. She runs Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary, a nonprofit dog rescue that brings dogs from overcrowded pounds and the streets of Texas to foster homes in northwestern Connecticut, where they can begin again.

The sanctuary is named for Charlie, the dog who taught her how special a bond between a person and rescue animal can be.

Keep ReadingShow less
our community
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Big ideas come to Lenox for inaugural field festival

Big ideas come to Lenox for inaugural field festival

Hunter Runnette, founder and board chair of field, has spent years fostering arts and cultural programming in the Berkshires.

Provided

What do joy, gardening, artificial intelligence, the American experiment and the creative process have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out, at least when some of the world’s most compelling thinkers get together to talk about them.

From Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 25, Lenox, Massachusetts, will host the inaugural field festival, a three-day gathering of writers, artists, scholars and cultural figures at Shakespeare & Company. Billed as a festival of ideas, entertainment, learning and discovery, field brings together an impressive roster of voices to explore everything from the deeply personal to the profoundly political.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

The Pink House AM is serving up community

The Pink House AM is serving up community

Mare Rubin and Maggie Levine of the Pink House AM.

Madi Long

It all started with a yoga class. Mare Rubin was working on her second act after leaving the Upper West Side, where she’d raised a family and worked in corporate marketing. Newly empty nesters, she and her husband decided to move to the wilds of northwestern Connecticut, where they had spent 15 years as weekenders, to see what life in the woods had in store for them.

Rubin started teaching yoga classes at the Union in West Cornwall, a space designated by the town of Cornwall as a community hub with couches, Wi-Fi, occasional events and a growing yoga class schedule. She was adjusting well but missed one important thing about city life: a casual coffee shop.

Keep ReadingShow less
business

Sons of Astro are musicians, friends and bandmates — in that order

Sons of Astro are musicians, friends and bandmates — in that order

The Sons of Astro will be at the Common Pub in Housatonic on Oct. 24 and the 2nd Home Lounge in Winsted on Nov. 14.

Provided

No matter where they are in the world, musicians seem to find other musicians. There’s a shared language, a shared experience of being on stage and performing, and a shared enthusiasm for making those melodies by themselves or together. Such is the case with Norfolk and Brooklyn-based cosmic Americana band Sons of Astro.

That magnetic musicians’ bond drew Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Cobb into the orbit of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Statler. The two neighbors took to each other right away and were soon playing open mics together. As an ethics professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Statler made the case that if he sat in for Cobb’s set and Cobb sat in for Statler’s, they could play together and double their stage time. Clearly, these men wanted to make as much music as possible. That became a little harder when Cobb and his family moved up to Norfolk, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.