Freeport honors fallen Marine Sgt. Robert Hendriks on Veterans Day

Freeport’s Sgt. Robert Hendriks was killed last year, with two other Marines, by an improvised explosive device — a roadside bomb — in Afghanistan.

Plans by the village to honor Hendriks, 25, on Memorial Day 2020 had to be postponed due to restrictions on public gatherings during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, the village commemorated Hendriks’ memory on Veterans Day, with a socially distanced, face-masked and capacity-limited ceremony outside the Freeport Memorial Library.

"We carry on and remember Hendriks as his mother would want to: tough, hardworking and determined. That was Sgt. Hendriks, a real American hero and Marine," said Staff Sgt. David Fuertes, who served with Hendriks in Weapons Company 225.

At the ceremony, two of Hendriks’ fellow Marines presented flowers to his mom, village worker Felicia Biondo-Arculeo, who was wearing her son’s dog tags.

Hendriks was killed April 8, 2019, near Bagram Air Base, during combat operations in Parwan Province, according to an obituary provided by the village as part of the program, hosted with the American Legion.

The ceremony was among several held across Long Island to honor veterans, who in Suffolk and Nassau counties total 97,942, according to 2019 American Community Survey estimates by the U.S. Census. That figure includes 4,040 from World War II, 10,286 who served during the Korean War, 37,225 during Vietnam, 12,391 during the first Gulf War (1990-2001) and 12,124 during the second Gulf War (beginning in 2001), the Census estimates.

According to a Census report from this year with data dating to 2018, there were about 18 million Americans across the country, or about 7% of the adult population, who are veterans of the United States military. Veterans range in age from 18 to over 100 years old.

At Setauket Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday, flags and wreaths were placed on markers listing campaigns in the last 100 years and beyond, including World War I, World War II, the War on Terror, the Cold War and others.

And at a ceremony in Syosset, Kris Gilgour, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6394, a veteran of the Navy from 1994 until 2000, said in an interview: "We assemble here for Memorial Day and also for Veterans Day."

He added: "This is for all veterans. We honor those that have passed, but we celebrate those of us that are still here, and it's a day for everybody to recognize their service."

On an ordinary Veterans Day, without coronavirus restrictions, there are twice as many people at the ceremony, Gilgour said.

"Because of COVID, we didn’t really have that many people from the community here," he said. "This assembly here was majority veterans."

Wednesday’s ceremony in Freeport included a "table of one" remembrance for prisoners of war and veterans missing in action.The table had a lone place setting and plate with a slice of lemon, "to remind us of their bitter fate," according to a recitation made at formal military functions.

A line of elected officials from the village, Nassau County and the state legislature gave remarks and presented commendations to Hendriks’ mother.

Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy credited veteran sacrifices for enabling American freedoms such as free speech, as well as the freedom to vote and to protest.

"Last year, Freeport lost a member of our family and a member of the Marines was killed while fighting for his company," Kennedy said with Hendriks’ mom nearby. "We will never forget your son and the sacrifice he made for this country. Celebrate his legacy and remember him for the hero he was."

The other Marines with Hendriks were Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman, 43, a New City firefighter, of Newark, Delaware, and Staff Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania. The three were killed April 8 when their armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb near Bagram Air Base, which is 20 miles north of the capital of Kabul.

Major Murphy Bright, Hendriks’ commanding officer, told Hendriks’ mother she would always be family.

"There was nothing about rank or superiority," Bright said. "I considered him a friend and a brother."