Islip Town collecting biographies of local veterans for latest edition of journal 

An Islip councilman is collecting the biographies of local veterans to honor their service and to preserve their legacy.

Behind the initiative is Republican Councilman John Cochrane, who served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for 30 years as a captain. Cochrane, 62, who is the head of the town’s veterans office, has wanted to expand the town's journal since he was elected in 2011, he told Newsday last week.

The 2022 edition of the Islip Journal of War Veterans will feature veterans who served from the first Gulf War through the present. The entries will include the names, photos and hometowns of the veterans, their branch and dates of service, and any medals and honors awarded to them. The councilman estimates that Islip Town is home to at least 10,000 veterans.

So far, Cochrane estimates he’s collected about 50 biographies, but he hopes to double that for the 2022 edition, which will be published in 2023 by the veteran's office.

Terry Gardner Jr. is one of the veterans whose name will appear in the addendum. Gardner, who served as captain in the U.S. Marines for five years, lives about a mile from where he grew up in Brightwaters. When he enlisted, Gardner said, "I was searching for something more and wanted to be part of something bigger … It became clearer and clearer that it was the Marines."

After graduating college in 1988, he joined the Marines and was deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Gardner, who was only in his mid-20s during his first deployment, said he and his 100-man unit under his command conducted raids on islands at the mouth of Kuwait Bay, where Iraqi soldiers laid mines to prevent ships from reaching the coast, but eventually surrendered.

"There were a lot more white flags than bullets," the 55-year-old investment manager recalled.

During his second deployment in 1991, Gardner’s unit was tasked with training Saudi and Kuwaiti troops in preparation for future conflicts. He also was sent to Somalia after the collapse of the country’s government to assess the situation.

"I think there are a lot of untold stories that don’t have a movie made about them, where people did extraordinary things in doing their job and serving and putting their hand up and saying, ‘I can help in any way I can,’ " Gardner said.

Philip Echevarrio, 59, of Great River, served as commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve for 28 years after graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point. He will also be featured in the journal.

While stationed in Bahrain during his two-week training required annually of reservists, terrorists struck the United States on 9/11. Within a month, he was mobilized and worked as a battle watch officer, where he kept his eyes on assigned forces during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

"It’s a little bit of a challenge telling your wife, ‘Hey I’m not coming home, and I don’t know when I’ll see you,’ " he recalled.

For 15 months, Echevarrio was on active duty and returned to New York in 2003. He retired in 2012.

To learn more about the journal, call Cochrane’s office at 631-224-5559. His office will collect entries through the end of August.

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.