A Boy Scout places U.S. flags at veterans' graves in Long Island National...

A Boy Scout places U.S. flags at veterans' graves in Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn, on May 23, 2015. Credit: Steve Pfost

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said more than a dozen local cemeteries will allow groups to place American flags at tombstones of military veterans during Memorial Day weekend, after federal officials rejected his request to rescind their decision to suspend the tradition at Long Island’s national cemeteries because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fifteen cemeteries in Suffolk, at least one in all 10 townships within the county, have agreed to permit groups such as the Boy Scouts of America and veterans’ organizations to continue the holiday tradition dating to 1995, officials said Friday afternoon. Memorial Day is May 25 this year.

Bellone wrote a letter early this month to top officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs asking them to reconsider their decision to stop the practice at national cemeteries, which affects Suffolk County's Calverton National Cemetery and the Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn.

The determination by federal officials is “unfathomable” and “terrible,” Bellone said.

“I get it’s a logistical issue and takes some effort to do the planning for this,” he said. “But what is that in comparison, at a minimum, to honoring these heroes who have sacrificed for our country by putting a flag on their graves? To end this tradition, to me, is just terrible.”

Bellone said he is working with personnel with the participating cemeteries, interested community groups, and the county’s health department, to determine how the flags can be placed in a safe way.

He said, unlike national cemeteries, civilians are also interred at local graveyards. Figuring out where veterans are buried in those cemeteries, so flags can be placed there, is one challenge being assessed, Bellone said.

Both national cemeteries in Suffolk have remained open for burials and visitations during the pandemic, while visitors have been urged to follow social-distancing practices and recommendations made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

VA officials said this week they will honor veterans at national cemeteries through a solemn wreath laying ceremony and a new online memorial feature allowing the public to pay tribute to veterans interred in national cemeteries.

“This year, by necessity, will be different from past Memorial Day observances,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement. “While the department can’t hold large public ceremonies, VA will still honor Veterans and service members with the solemn dignity and respect they have earned through their service and sacrifice.” 

Suffolk County officials said some of the 15 graveyards that have agreed to take part in the alternative plan include cemeteries in Mount Sinai, Middle Island, Southampton, Huntington, Babylon and Deering Harbor.

Bellone said he is still hopeful VA officials will change course. He said he is also asking VA personnel to donate flags they had purchased for the national cemeteries to local groups so those flags will be placed at tombstones in non-VA cemeteries in the county.

Bellone said while he is glad that some veterans will be honored during the holiday weekend with flag placements, hundreds of thousands of other veterans who are buried in Suffolk’s national cemeteries won’t be.

“With all the things that have happened, it will be a measure, in some ways, of our failure to respond appropriately to the virus if we can’t figure out a way to honor our national heroes at the national cemeteries.” 

Jorge Rosario, commander of VFW Post 2912 in Wheatley Heights, said he disagrees with the federal government’s decision because flag placing can be done “in a safe manner, especially in cemeteries the size of Calverton and Pinelawn.”

“The Memorial Day ceremony is extremely important and can’t be forgotten or dismissed, even during dangerous moments,” said Rosario, who retired from the Army in 2017 after 22 years.

Christine Glynn, chairwoman of the Suffolk County Legislature’s women veterans advisory board, said she understands the federal government’s decision because of existing guidelines, but having flags placed in the cemeteries that allow it will grant “a bit of normalcy we need,” especially because “flag placing means a lot to people.”

“As long as they are practicing implemented guidelines for social distancing and wearing protective gear, I believe communities want and need this,” said Glynn, who retired from the Marines Corp after 26 years in 2015 and is a Marine JROTC instructor at Lindenhurst High School.

 At his daily news conference in Albany on Sunday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said his administration would put out a directive Monday or Tuesday with "special provisions" for celebrating Memorial Day.

With Rachelle Blidner and Matthew Chayes

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