Local veteran inducted into Hall of Fame

After 28 years of service, today I accept this award on behalf of my fellow veterans who have sacrificed so much to ensure the peace and prosperity of our nation and the world”

Peter Gong, Ret. Master Sgt., New Hyde Park

- Veterans in New York State

•838,000 veterans live in the state.

•Women account for 7 percent of veterans, and are expected to comprise 10 percent by 2025.

•Just over half of veterans in New York state are over age 65.

•New York City alone was home to 138,000 veterans as of 2019.

•A third of the city’s veterans in 2019 served in the Vietnam War era, while 17 percent served between the launch of Operation Desert Shield, in 1990, and the Sept. 11 attacks.

•Just under one-fifth of New York City veterans served after 9/11.

•In 2019, about 14,000 Korean War veterans and 4,941 World War II veterans lived in New York City.

Peter Gong, of New Hyde Park, a 28-year veteran of two branches of the U.S. military, was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame on Nov. 19.

A retired master sergeant who served for 12 years in the Army and then 16 years in the Air Force, Gong, 78, received 20 medals for his service, recognized for more than 25 helicopter combat missions and M14 rifle marksmanship, and including New York state’s Conspicuous Service Cross.

Drafted into the Army in 1965, Gong “endured shelling, malaria, snakes, leeches, and casual racism while air-jumping into the rice paddies of Vietnam as an infantryman, his honor and duty to country unwavering under 60 pounds on his back as he dreamed of going airborne,” a statement from State Senator Anna Kaplan read.

“I am extremely honored that my community came out to recognize my service as a member of the United States military,” Gong said at the ceremony, according to the statement. “After 28 years of service, today I accept this award on behalf of my fellow veterans who have sacrificed so much to ensure the peace and prosperity of our nation and the world.”

Gong, who was born in Brooklyn to parents who emigrated from Canton, China, through Ellis Island, is a longtime resident of New Hyde Park, where he and his wife, Irene, moved 40 years ago. He is also a leading figure in local Chinese-American civic organizations and a vocal opponent of hate crimes.

Kaplan, Sen. John Liu, local elected officials, Asian-American civic leaders and community members attended Gong’s induction ceremony, at which he was presented with a plaque commemorating the honor.

For over a decade, the State Senate has honored “veterans from around the state who have distinguished themselves both in military and civilian life” by inducting them into the Hall of Fame, the statement said. Each year, one veteran from each of the state’s 63 Senate districts is inducted.

After he retired in 1997, Gong began working with trained honor guard volunteers at the funerals of U.S. military service members.

“After 28 years of honorable service, Ret. Master Sgt. Gong continues to give back as a dedicated member of the Honor Guard at funerals of fallen service members, is a leader in local Chinese-American civic groups, and a vocal activist against hate crimes,” Kaplan said in the statement. “Since retiring from the military, Peter has been a cherished hero in our community, and an outspoken advocate against hate and xenophobia.”

“Peter Gong is an exemplary veteran who not only risked his life to defend our American ideals of freedom and democracy, but who then returned home and continued to serve our country and community for half a century,” Liu said.