Long Island National Cemetery - History

History

Long Island National Cemetery was established in 1936 with a purchase of 175 acres (71 ha) of land from Pinelawn Cemetery to answer a need after World War I of a large number of veterans, and not enough burial space in the urban cemeteries in New York. At the time the only National Cemetery in the area was Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, and it had very limited area available. The land was developed and burials began in March 1937. Within its first 8 years, it saw over 10,000 interments from World War II.

A section of the cemetery has the interments of World War II prisoners of war, including 37 Germans and 54 Italians. There are also 35 British Commonwealth servicemen buried here from the same war.

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