Education

Photos: Pfc. Langhorn essay contest winners announced Friday

The winners of the annual Garfield Langhorn Essay Contest were announced Friday at a ceremony in the Pulaski Street School auditorium.

Pfc. Langhorn was a Riverhead High School graduate and a postumous recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He threw his body on a live grenade to save the lives of fellow soldiers in Vietnam in 1969. He was just 20.

All Riverhead sixth graders were invited to participate in the essay contest. With Pfc. Langhorn’s sacrifices for his country and his countrymen in mind, writers were asked to consider this question: What can a person your age do to help others?

Contest winners Nancy Lopez, Ocean Kenna van der Loos, Benjamin Allen and Jessica Arriaza were congratulated at the event by Pfc. Langhorn’s mother, Mary Langhorn, who still lives in Riverhead, on Raynor Avenue. Pfc. Langhorn grew up on Maple Avenue near downtown.

Earlier in the year, Pulaski Street School, which was the high school when Pfc. Langhorn was a student in the mid-1960s, dedicated its library to Pfc. Langhorn.

See the Oct. 20 Riverhead News-Review for excerpts from each essay in print.

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Mary Langhorn, Pfc. Langhorn's mom, congratulated the essay contest winner (from left) Nancy Lopez, Ocean Kenna van der Loos, Benjamin Allen and Jessica Arriaza.