The Honor Roll Project - Lt. Frank McConnell Park - Richmond Hill, Queens, NY

On Thursday morning, Donald and I found ourselves sitting in a park on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard in Queens while waiting for a diagnosis on our car from a new mechanic. While we were waiting I realized that there was a memorial of some kind at one end of the park and Donald went over to investigate.

He discovered that this park was dedicated to the memory Lt. Frank McConnell, the first Richmond Hill resident killed in World War I who gave his life, according to a city parks website, on July 26, 1918 in the second battle of the Marne.

Although the monument is dedicated to all of the Morris Park (neighborhood boundaries in Queens are very fluid) residents killed in the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean Campaign and the Viet-Nam Campaign, only those killed in WWI are listed.

Last year I shared the WWI memorials in Rockville Centre, NY where I live. Rockville Centre is a village in Nassau County, about a half hour drive from this park. RVC is just a village and Queens is a city county, but I am struck by the difference in the number of casualties between Rockville Centre and just one Queens neighborhood, even 100 years ago.

Anyway, I hope that this post may enable another genealogist to find their relative on this memorial. As listed on the plaque, those killed in action are:

Charles F. Albrecht
Louis E. Ammarell
Edward M. Anderson
Charles G. Baird
Mortimer Benjamin
George B. Burling, Jr.
Robert J. Burtis
Edward Cater
Frederick A. Clark
Harold J. Cokeley
George M. Coleman
Charles. F. Cook
Albert M. Dow
Charles F. Gans
David E. Gladd
Robert Gray, Jr.
Eugene A. Griffith
George B. Hall
Joesph Hartel, Jr.
William F. Hausman
Herome Heime
Charles M. Hoerning
William B. Holler
Andrew J. Hummer
Johannes A. Jensen
Albert A. Justis
Henry Lerch, Jr.
Lewis Lichtenstein
Frederick Lippert
John W. Mark
Daniel C. McCauley
Frank W. McConnell, Jr.
Frank J. Menninger
John J. Mertz
Frank A. Meyer
Finlay W. Millar
Cuthbert C. Murphy
Frederick W. Neumeyer
George R. Nicholson
Bertram S. Noble
George F. Pettit
Louis Pine
Andrew J. Provost, Jr.
Frederick H. Reif
William A. Reihl
Bernard Ripoll
Archibald E. Robbins
Thomas R. Roberts
Paul E. Sallah
Arthur A. Schnorr
Frank L. Schweithelm
Joseph Sheridan
Frederick H. Shirs
John A. Smith
Arthur J. Struck
Stephen T. Sullivan
Adam H. Suttmeier
Frederick W. Sundermier
John Tallario
Dominick Trapasso
Charles L. Trinkard
John T. Vermaelen
George A. Weber
Lawrence Whalen
Harry J. Whitman
William A. Williams
Charles Worth
James P. Young
Peter A. Zeis
Alfred N. Dow

I will be adding this post to the Honor Roll Project.