After Action Report - Marine Henry Landry

After Action Report – Marine Henry Landry

The day started out with a raw misty rain, however this was the day that many of us Marines had waited for. The weather would not be a factor for us, as the Marines who assembled had been on missions from the hot sands of Iwo Jima, the frozen Chosin in Korea, and the jungles of Viet Nam to the deserts of Iraq.

This was the day that Pvt. Henry Landry was to be buried with Full Military Honors after being in the city morgue for the last 10 months awaiting to be identified by his military records.

Marine Landry passed away in a SRO in New York City last June without having a family or a next of kin. The ME in most cases would send the remains to Potters Field for Burial; however our State Commandant Marine John Rymer was called by NYPD Detective Lee who had responded to the call.

In turn the ME was told to hold Pvt. Landry, The only ID he had on him was a card from the VA which clamed he was a Marine. At this point both our State Sr. Vice Commandant Dennis Tobin, and I were contacted to get Pvt. Landry identified and buried in the National Cemetery.

Working with the Kennedy-Roth Funeral Home from Woodside, Queens the processes of identification was started. The assignment was undertook by Funeral Director Anna Michaelides who spent many hours working with the NYPD, FBI, Medical Examiner, VA, St. Louis Records, and the MOVA. The final piece was confirmed when NYPD Missing Person Detective Ramirez returned and visited the SRO with a picture of Pvt. Landry and one of the tenants recognized him.

We were told that we could bury our brother Marine in Calverton National Cemetery, and the word was passed to our membership and the public.

The funeral procession was escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders from Woodside, Queens to Calverton. Along the Long Island Express way the Suffolk County Sheriffs joined the procession with 5 escort cars to the front gate of the Cemetery.

Many of the League Detachments were in attendance from the New York Metro area, including our State Commandant, with members of the Long Island Veterans, and Honor Guard (Active Marines) from 6th Commutations Battalion.

The ceremony was conducted by State Sr. Vice Dennis Tobin, the Firing Detail was from the Suffolk County Detachment, Color Guard was supplied by the Staten Island Detachment and the North Shore Queens Detachment. Taps was played by Marine David Hill (North Shore Queens Detachment) The Casket and Hearst was supplied at no cost to the League by James Dimiceli of the Kennedy-Roth Funeral Home in Woodside, Queens.

The Flag was presented to Anna Michaelides in appreciation of the work she did on this missionThe misty raw rain stopped as we laid our brother to rest.

Marines LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND!