Calverton National Cemetery, Calverton, Suffolk County, New York, USA

Notes:
Calverton National Cemetery features a memorial pathway lined with a variety of memorials that honor America's veterans. As of 2009, there are 23 memorials here, most commemorating soldiers of 20th century wars.

Medal of Honor Recipients

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Recipients receive the Medal of Honor from the president on behalf of Congress. It was first awarded during the Civil War and eligibility criteria for the Medal of Honor have changed over time.

Recipients buried or memorialized here:

Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy (Afghanistan). He was a U.S. Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in Afghanistan during Operation Redwing, June 28, 2005. Murphy is buried in Section 67, Site 3710.

Other Burials

A Pennsylvania native of Polish descent, Francis S. Gabreski enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in July 1940. During World War I, Col. Gabreski 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." With thirty victories to his credit in 1944 and awaiting orders for leave, he volunteered for one more mission. He crashed and was captured, and held at Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp for Allied airmen until March 1945. He briefly left 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. Col. Gabreski died January 31, 2002 (Section 14, Site 724).

South Carolinian Isaac Woodard (1919-1992) enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. Sergeant Woodard served in the Pacific Theater of World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946. In uniform, he boarded a bus for home and, en route, was brutally attacked and blinded. Woodard was one of many black servicemen who experienced discrimination and violence, but his case sparked a national outcry. The NAACP sought justice, musicians immortalized the travesty, and Orson Welles unmasked Woodard's attacker – police chief Lynwood Shull – on his radio show. Yet no charges were filed until President Harry Truman ordered an investigation. The jury acquitted Shull in less than a half hour. In response, Truman established a Civil Rights Commission and desegregated the military. In 2019, the city of Batesville, where Woodard was attacked, placed a historic marker that includes text in Braille about what happened there. Woodard is buried in Section 15, Site 2180.