VA buries Vietnam Veteran hero Garfield Langhorn in national shrine

Hundreds of Long Island residents gathered on July 3, 2026, to honor the life of Army Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn, who was reinterred at Calverton National Cemetery, New York. He was killed in action in Vietnam, Jan. 15, 1969. He was 20 years old.

Langhorn was attached to the 17th Cavalry Regiment, near Plei Djereng in Pleiku Province when his platoon was sent to rescue the pilots of a downed Cobra helicopter. Upon arrival, they found both pilots dead. As the men were taking the bodies back to the pickup site, they came under attack. An enemy grenade was thrown feet away from wounded soldiers. Langhorn threw himself on the grenade, saving the lives of his comrades. This act of heroism earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor award one year later.

Langhorn was initially buried at Riverhead Cemetery so his father could personally care for the plot. Calverton National Cemetery opened a decade after the soldier’s death. The transfer of his remains to Calverton was arranged by retired Army Vietnam Veteran helicopter pilot Timothy Dahlen.

With the consent of Langhorn’s surviving siblings, Dahlen obtained a court order authorizing the exhumation and reinterment. The family’s support for the move was first reported by the Riverhead News-Review.

Langhorn was a devout Christian and active member of First Baptist Church until joining the Army. His local community has long celebrated his life, naming the local chapter of VVA after him: the PFC Garfield M. Langhorn Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, in Suffolk County, established Oct. 16, 1982.

Other recognition for Langhorn includes:

Induction into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame in 1998.

A bronze bust placed outside Riverhead Town Hall in 1993.

The Garfield M. Langhorn Jr. Memorial Essay Contest was established in 2003 by Pulaski Street School teacher Mary Ann Harroun.

The Riverhead Post Office on West Main Street was renamed in Langhorn’s honor in 2010. A commissioned portrait hangs in the post office lobby.

In 2011, the Garfield M. Langhorn Jr. Memorial Library was established at Pulaski Street School, and the street where Langhorn lived as a child was named PFC Garfield Langhorn Avenue.

A Veterans Wall of Honor named for Langhorn was created at Riverhead High School in 2021.

In 2022, the Town of Riverhead established the second Friday in October as PFC Garfield M. Langhorn Day.

Langhorn’s Medal of Honor was placed on display in a glass case in the lobby of Town Hall in October 2024, and the bust was relocated at the building entrance there in 2025.

A documentary film about Langhorn made by the Suffolk chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America was shown in January 2026 at the Pulaski Street Intermediate School.

Finally, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held July 9, 2026, for the PFC Garfield M. Langhorn Training Complex at Fort Rucker in Alabama. The new facility represents a significant investment in the training of future soldiers. The more than 90,000-square-foot complex is designed to accommodate and train more than 300 soldiers enrolled in Advanced Individual Training, commonly known as AIT.

Langhorn sacrificed himself to save his fellow soldiers, many of whom survived the war. He will never be forgotten.