A U.S. Air Force Honor Guard casket team carries the remains of Tuskegee Airman Mal Whitfield at Arlington National Cemetery, Wednesday, June 8, 2016, in Arlington, Va. Whitfield was the first service member to win a gold medal while on active duty and also helped the U.S. win the 1,600 meter relay title in 1948. He successfully defended his 800 meter title in 1952. Whitfield, 91, died in November in Washington. (AP Photo/Paul Holston)
The Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Mal Whitfield, a track and field star who was the first U.S. military service member to win an Olympic gold medal while on active duty, was buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.
Whitfield, who died in November in Washington, D.C., at age 91, won two gold medals in the 1948 Summer Games while serving on active duty as a member of the Air Force. He won the 800 meters and was a member of the champion 1,600-meter relay team. He also won a bronze medal for the 400 meters.
In 1952, he won the 800-meter title again and also took home a silver medal as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.
Whitfield joined the Army Air Force in 1943 as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and then attended Ohio State University. He completed 27 combat missions as an aerial gunner during the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1952.
In 1956, he worked as an adviser for physical education and sports in Monrovia, Liberia.
He was the father of CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield.
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 1948, file photo, Mal G. Whitfield, of the United States, poses with his gold medal in the 800-meter run at the XIV Summer Olympics in London. A standard military honors funeral service is scheduled for Mal Whitfield, a Tuskegee airman who won Olympic track and field titles and served for decades as a sports affairs officer for the U.S. Information Agency.Arlington National Cemetery said in a news release that the funeral will be conducted Wednesday, June 8, 2016 . Whitfield, 91, died in November at the VA hospital in Washington.(AP Photo/File)
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Nola Whitfield, second from right, wife of Olympian gold medalist and Tuskegee Airmen Malvin Greston "Marvelous Mal" Whitfield, and her grandson John Glenn, from left, children Fredricka Whitfield and Lonnie Whitfield, watch the casket of Whitfield, during a burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Associated Press
An Air Force honor guard folds the American flag that draped the casket of Olympian gold medalist and Tuskegee Airmen Malvin Greston "Marvelous Mal" Whitfield, during burial at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Associated Press