Town honors Elmont vet

The Town of Hempstead held a street sign dedication ceremony at the corner of 116th Road and 239th Street in memory of Elmont’s Andre Mitchell on May 19. U.S. Army Specialist Mitchell, who grew up on 116th Road, died in 2008 while on tour in Iraq.

“It is with a great sense of pride that we gathered with so many family members, friends and pillars of our community to honor the memory and legacy of a brave, heroic young man from our Town,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen said. “He will forever be memorialized on the street he grew up and where his mother still lives.”

Mitchell, 25, an alumnus of the Clara H. Carlson School and Sewanhaka High School, wanted to join the military since he was a kid. He often spoke with recruiters when he was a teen, and less than a year after graduating from Nassau Community College, Mitchell enlisted in the army in 2006.

He then spent 14 month in Texas for training before being deployed to Iraq. Months later, on July 31, 2008, Mitchell was in a vehicle travelling in Mosul when it overturned in accident. Mitchell died from the injuries he sustained.

On the 10th anniversary of Mitchell’s death, Nassau County Legislator Carrie Solages sent a letter to Supervisor Gillen in 2018, asking the town to rename 116th Road after Mitchell. Solages said he had worked with Mitchell’s mother, Yasmin Patterson, in asking to honor her son’s memory.

“Specialist Mitchell served our nation proudly in the Iraq War and made the ultimate sacrifice,” Solages said. “This young man is a product of our community and we want his legacy to be known.”