First Lieutenant Burnett was the pilot of a F-84G Thunderjet fighter with the 7th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter Bomber Group. On March 9, 1953, while on a combat mission, the aircraft's right wing tip tank blew up while over the target and his plane augured into the ground. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.