Deer Park veteran honored for his service to others

Ted Corn said he will do anything he can to help a fellow veteran.

The Deer Park resident, who served in Army National Guard’s 71st Infantry and the U.S. Army Reserves from 1969 to 1979, has dedicated the decades since to helping veterans across Long Island. His efforts have ranged from advising former service members on health care issues through the American Legion to paying tribute to fallen veterans as part of the U.S. Volunteer-America’s 11th New York Regiment.

Corn, 79, was honored last month for his “distinguished military service and lifelong dedication to the community” when he was named 2025 Veteran of the Year for Suffolk County’s 17th Legislative District by Legis. Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park).

“Anything I can do to help a veteran, I do,” said Corn, noting that he also hands out bracelets bearing the symbols of all U.S. Armed Forces branches to any veteran he crosses paths with. “I’m happy to help any veteran that I can.”

During his service, Corn said he often drove fuel tankers and multifuel vehicles as a specialist in the Army National Guard’s motor pool, which is responsible for the dispatch and maintenance of tactical and nontactical vehicles. Upon completing his service, he said he spent 36 years working as a technician with Con Edison until his retirement in 2004.

Today, Corn’s activities include advising veterans as a service officer for American Legion Post #94 in Babylon, where one of his recent efforts included helping find an apartment for a local veteran whose previous residence had been condemned. 

Corn’s other roles include being a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and a past chancellor commander of the Dix Hills-based Island Lodge #623 for the Knights of Pythias, an international fraternal order that focuses on supporting organizations like the American Cancer Society, he said.

“These are the things I do to pay it forward,” Corn said.

In addition, for more than four decades he has been a volunteer with the Deer Park Fire Department.

Donnelly praised Corn for his service and sacrifices.

“With a lifetime of service to others, first in uniform and now in our local community, Ted Corn embodies and demonstrates the ideals, values and principles that make this world a better place,” Donnelly said in a statement. “I am grateful and privileged to recognize the service, sacrifices and the freedoms he protected, and continues to protect.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.