Long Island National Cemetery

Long Island National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Suffolk County, New York. It comprises the northern section of an area known as "Pinelawn", which consists of a grouping of cemeteries and memorial parks situated along Wellwood Avenue (County Road 3) - these include Pinelawn Memorial Park, St. Charles / Resurrection, Beth Moses, New Montefiore and Mt. Ararat Cemeteries. Its mailing address is Farmingdale (postal code 11735). Its borders East Farmingdale along its western edge and is located within the CDPS of Wyandanch (to the east), in the Town of Babylon, and Melville (to the north) in the Town of Huntington. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 364.7 acres (147.6 ha), and as of 2014, had more than 346,000 interments.

History

Long Island National Cemetery was established in 1936 with a purchase of 175 acres (71 ha) of land from Pinelawn Cemetery to answer a need after World War I of a large number of veterans, and not enough burial space in the urban cemeteries in New York. At the time the only National Cemetery in the area was Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, and it had very limited area available. The land was developed and burials began in March 1937. Within its first 8 years, it saw over 10,000 interments from World War II.

A section of the cemetery has the interments of World War II prisoners of war, including 37 Germans and 54 Italians. There are also 35 British Commonwealth servicemen buried here from the same war.^[1]

1940 marker

Notable monuments

• A granite memorial to "Fallen Comrades of Nassau & Suffolk Counties" was erected in 1940.

Notable interments

• Medal of Honor recipients
  • Seaman First Class Heinrich Behnke, for peacetime service aboard USS Iowa
  • Corporal Anthony Casamento, for action at the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II
  • Gunner's Mate Third Class John Everetts, for peacetime service aboard USS Cushing
  • Gunner's Mate Third Class Robert Galbraith, for action in the Philippine–American War
  • Boatswain's Mate William Henry Gowan, for peacetime service in Coquimbo, Chile
  • Captain Sydney G. Gumpertz, for action in World War I
  • Chief Watertender August Holtz, for peacetime service aboard USS North Dakota
  • First Lieutenant Stephen Edward Karopczyc, for action in the Vietnam War
  • Specialist Five John James Kedenburg, for action in the Vietnam War
  • Private First Class Carlos James Lozada, for action at the Battle of Dak To during the Vietnam War
  • Landsman Thomas Mitchell, for peacetime service aboard USS Richmond
  • Chief Boatswain's Mate Lauritz Nelson, for action aboard USS Nashville during the Spanish–American War
  • First Lieutenant Bernard James Ray, for action in World War II
  • Staff Sergeant Joseph Edward Schaefer, for action in World War II
  • Second Lieutenant Charles William Shea, for action in World War II
  • Private First Class William Henry Thompson, for action in the Korean War
  • Private Michael Valente, for action in World War I
  • Seaman James Aloysius Walsh, for action aboard USS Florida during the US occupation of Veracruz, Mexico
  • First Lieutenant John Earl Warren, for action in the Vietnam War
• Others
  • Frank John Becker, US Congressman, World War I veteran
  • Captain Leon Dabo, artist, World War I veteran
  • Henry Dumas, writer and poet
  • Mignon G. Eberhart, author
  • James Fay, US Congressman, World War I veteran
  • Helen Kane, singer and model for Betty Boop
  • Granville 'Stick' McGhee, musician
  • Jules Munshin, comedian, actor
  • Frank Silvera, actor
  • Zutty Singleton, jazz musician
  • Richard J. Tonry, US Congressman, World War I veteran
  • Maurice Gosfield, comic actor and voice of Benny the Ball in Top Cat
  • Albert W. Brosch, professional golfer and World war II veteran

References

External links

• National Cemetery Administration
• Long Island National Cemetery
• Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. NY-3, "Long Island National Cemetery"
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Long Island National Cemetery