Military funeral ceremony held to honor LI veterans

More than 100 Long Island heroes were honored at a military funeral in Lake Grove Saturday.

The Remembrance Day event was held at Lake Ronkonkoma Cemetery to honor 123 veterans who never received a proper military funeral.

George Okvist's father, Ivar, was one of the dozens remembered during the ceremony. The World War II veteran is buried right next to his wife in the historic cemetery.

The ceremony honored veterans from the Vietnam War all the way back to the Revolutionary War.

"You can't move forward unless you know what you've left behind. You need to have your heritage, you need to know what went on properties you're on every day," says Ellyn Okvist, of the Lake Ronkonkoma Heritage Association.

She says she has spent over two years preparing for the Remembrance Ceremony. She says she even travelled to Gettysburg for further research.