Corporal Burnette was a member of Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy near Kunu-ri, North Korea on 1 December 1950. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Burnette was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.