L/Cpl. Thomas P. Noonan Playground

L/Cpl. Thomas P. Noonan Playground. Thomson Hill Park. , What was here before? , This playground is located in the Sunnyside section of Queens whose name originates from the Bragaw family estate, Sunnyside Hill, built in 1713. This area was a rural hamlet mostly consisting of small farms and marshland. In the 1840s, the Sunnyside Hotel opened, and people started referring to this area as Sunnyside. It was incorporated into Long Island City in 1870 and developed rapidly after the Queensboro Bridge was completed in 1909., How did this site become a playground? , This site was acquired in 1936 as part of Thomson Hill Park. In 2015, the playground was upgraded with new play equipment, a toddler area and a new spray shower. The flagpole honoring Lance Corporal Noonan was refurbished with new granite slabs., Who is this monument dedicated to? , On May 14, 1996, this playground was named for Thomas P. Noonan (1943-1969), a Maspeth, Queens resident and Marine who received various medals for his distinguished service during the Vietnam War., Noonan was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Hunter College with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1966. In 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 and later as a rifleman in the Third Marine Division. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on Jan. 1, 1969., On Feb. 5, 1969, his company was ordered to change the position they held near the Vandergrift Combat Base in A Sahau Valley Recent heavy rains, a descent down a steep hillside, and heavy enemy fire made this change especially difficult and led to four Marines to be wounded by concealed North Vietnamese soldiers. Noonan left his position of relative safety to rescue the injured men and in the process was mortally wounded by enemy fire. His heroic actions roused his fellow Marines to launch an assault that forced the North Vietnamese soldiers to withdraw. Noonan was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnamese Service Medal with two bronze stars, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.