L/CPL Thomas P. Noonan Jr. Playground

47 Ave., Greenpoint Ave. bet. 42 St. and 43 St.

Queens, 11104

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

Thomas P. Noonan (1943-1969) was born in Brooklyn, and graduated from Hunter’s College with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 1966. On December 26, 1967 he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and in July 1968, he was sent to the Republic of Vietnam, where he served as a mortarman with his battalion and later as a rifleman in the Third Marine Division. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on New Year’s Day, 1969.

On February 5, 1969, his company was ordered to change the position they had been holding near the Vandergrift Combat Base in A Sahau Valley. This change was made especially difficult by recent heavy rains; descent down the steep hillside proved treacherous and four leading men in the company were wounded by North Vietnamese soldiers concealed in the area. The other members of the company were unable to rescue the four wounded marines in the midst of heavy enemy fire.