Thousands of volunteers decorated more than 230,000 graves at Calverton National Cemetery with small U.S. flags in the 22nd annual flag placement day conducted by Suffolk County scout troops.
Scout troops and packs from all over Suffolk, along with parents and family members, began placing flags at 9:30 this morning and had all graves decorated within about an hour.
Among them was Cub Scout Pack 6 of Southold. Under the guidance of Cubmaster Derek Bossen, the Scouts carefully placed flags at each bronze grave marker in a long row in Section 12. Though the Cub Scouts are young — they are in first through fifth grades — the solemnity of the occasion is not lost on them.
Sean Rowland, 8, of Aquebogue, has participated in flag placement day for three years. “I like doing this,” he said today, as he placed flags in Section 10, assisted by his brother Patrick, 11, and his dad, Patrick Sr.
More than 3,000 people who served in World War I are buried at Calverton National.
Tens of thousands more who served in World War II are also buried there, including Francis S. Gabreski, for whom the Air National Guard base in Westhampton is named.
Gabreski enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in July 1940 and flew with the Royal Air Force 315th Squadron of Polish pilots and, once the United States declared war, the U.S. 61st Fighter Squadron.
Gabreski’s tactical skills and courage earned him the title, “America’s Greatest Living Ace,” according to the National Cemetery Association. In 1944, awaiting leave, he volunteered for one more mission, crashed and was captured and held prisoner until March 1945. He briefly left the service in 1946, but reenlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1947 and served in Korea. Highly decorated and respected, he retired in 1967.
Gabreski died January 31, 2002 and is buried in section 14 (grave 724).
There is only one Medal of Honor recipient buried at Calverton National, Lt. Michael P. Murphy, a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. Murphy, 29, a Suffolk County native who grew up in Patchogue, was killed during Operation Red Wings, a counter-insurgent mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan. He is interred in Section 67 (Grave 3710).
The Medal of Honor is the USA’s highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. Since 2001, 17 Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor, six of them, including Murphy, posthumously.
Calverton National, which opened in 1978, is the nation’s busiest national cemetery, conducting about 6,000 burials each year.
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