Riverhead students, family honor Medal of Honor hero Garfield Langhorn

Riverhead celebrated the heroism of one of its own Friday during the annual Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn Day, with a student essay contest at Pulaski Street Intermediate School and a gravesite tribute at a local cemetery.

More than 350 sixth graders reflected on Pfc. Langhorn’s courage and service in this year’s essay contest, while later in the day, his family gathered at the gravesite of his parents for the dedication of a new bronze plaque.

Pfc. Langhorn was 20 when he threw himself onto a grenade during a recovery mission in Vietnam on Jan. 15, 1969, sacrificing his life to save wounded soldiers. His final words were, “someone’s got to care.” He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor the following year.

The personal cost of that act was brought home by Eric Eve, a Lindenhurst Middle School teacher whose father, Rodney Eve, was among the soldiers saved by Pfc. Langhorn’s sacrifice. Mr. Eve attended the school ceremony and read his father’s firsthand account of the mission, when the unit came under fire and a grenade landed beside Pfc. Langhorn.

“Without concern for his own life, Garfield covered the grenade with his body,” Mr. Eve read. “Garfield’s selfless act took his life, but it absorbed the blast and saved the lives of the wounded and those surrounding him.”

Mr. Eve’s father recalled the unit’s tense night awaiting rescue. His lieutenant whistled a phrase from “Dixie,” hoping approaching Fourth Infantry troops would whistle back the response. Once the unit was found and extracted, he learned Pfc. Langhorn had died in the blast.

“Only as we began to move around that morning did I learn that Garfield had been killed, and that his body had been just a few feet from me all night,” Mr. Eve read. “Because he died, I had been committed to live my life, to enjoy over 20 years of marriage and to raise three children who would never otherwise have been born … I can never express the full gratitude I feel towards Garfield.”

The annual Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn essay contest began in 2004 with 34 entries and has grown into a tradition involving hundreds of Pulaski Street students each October. Students are asked to consider how they can show courage, nobility and service in their own lives.

Because of the volume and quality of this year’s submissions, judges selected four winners instead of the usual three. Aaliyah Acosta Garbutt, Leah Eastwood, Ke’Lonni Matthews and Leah Cook read their essays before an auditorium of classmates, relatives, teachers, veterans and Langhorn family members.

Each winner received a gift card and a veterans challenge coin from the Patriot Guard Riders, then joined members of the Pfc. Garfield Langhorn Memorial Committee and Langhorn family members for lunch.

“It is important to remember more than these medals; we should remember the kind of person he was,” said keynote speaker Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. “He was someone who cared about the people around him and was willing to put others first. Being a hero doesn’t always mean doing something extraordinary or dangerous. Sometimes, being a good person means simply being a good friend.”

Among those attending were Langhorn’s former fiancée and essay contest judge, Joan Brown-Smith; Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 11 vice president Clarence Simpson; his sisters, Anna Mack and Yvonne Langhorn Reid; his niece and memorial committee president, Tonya Griffin; and his nephew, Garfield Reid.

Pfc. Langhorn remains Suffolk County’s only Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient. His legacy is recognized through a bronze bust at Riverhead Town Hall, a dedicated post office, memorials at the Pulaski Street School library and Riverhead High School’s Veterans Wall of Honor. Riverhead also designated the second Friday in October as Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn Day in 2022.

In July, Pfc. Langhorn was reinterred alongside fellow service members at Calverton National Cemetery. He had been buried at Riverhead Cemetery since 1969, where his family chose a local resting place so his father could care for the plot. Calverton National Cemetery opened a decade after Pfc. Langhorn’s death.

Following the school assembly, Timothy Dahlen, a retired Army officer who spearheaded the reinterment effort, joined Langhorn family members at Riverhead Cemetery for a brief ceremony at the gravesite of Pfc. Langhorn’s parents, Bill Garfield Langhorn and Mary Jane Powell.

Mr. Dahlen unveiled a bronze plaque he commissioned that reads: “Proud Parents of Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn Medal of Honor Vietnam.”

“Garfield was laid to rest here 57 years ago. In time, his devoted parents, Garfield Sr. and Mary, joined him,” Mr. Dahlen said. “As Garfield was reinterred at Calverton National Cemetery, it seemed fitting that their son’s heroism can be recognized here as well. In my heart, I believe Garfield and his parents are looking on with pride, grateful to the Riverhead community.”

Garfield Reid, Pfc. Langhorn’s nephew, thanked Mr. Dahlen for honoring his grandparents and the students for keeping his uncle’s story alive.

“I think that the youth, their vision and their ability to put themselves in the story and visualize it, I think it’s awesome, and I think it’s starting to resonate with them more,” he said. “We’re always grateful for keeping memory alive.”