NY National Guard recognizes President Martin Van Buren in Kinderhook on Thursday, Dec. 5.

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NY Army Guard Major Gen. Michele Natali presents the presidential wreath at the grave of President Martin Van Buren in Kinderhook on Dec. 5, 2023.

KINDERHOOK, NY (12/04/2024) (readMedia)-- New York Air National Guard Brigadier Gary R. Charlton II will mark the 242nd birthday of President Martin Van Buren on Thursday, December 5, by laying a wreath from the White House at the eighth president's grave in Kinderhook.

The laying of a wreath from President Joe Biden is part of a ceremony recognizing Van Buren, which includes the National Park Service, town and village officials, and Friends of Lindenwald, a volunteer group that supports the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.

Reporters are invited to cover the event.

WHO: Brigadier General Gary Charlton, assistant adjutant general, Air for the New York National Guard; New York Air National Guard Command Chief Master Sgt. Michael Hewson; and New York Air National Guard Airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing who will form an honor cordon and provide a color guard.

WHAT: Annual recognition of President Martin Van Buren, a Kinderhook native who died on July 24, 1862, in Kinderhook. He was born on December 5, 1782. Charlton will present the presidential wreath. Taps will be played during the wreath laying.

WHEN: 11 a.m. Thursday, December 5.

WHERE: Kinderhook Cemetery, County Route 21, Kinderhook, New York.

Coverage Opportunities:

Images of the wreath-laying ceremony, the military color guard, and troops in formation. There will be opportunities to interview ceremony participants.

BACKGROUND:

The United States military honors former presidents by laying wreaths presented by the current president at their gravesites on the anniversary of their birth. The wreath layings were first directed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson in the mid-1960s and have continued since then.

The New York Army and Air National Guard headquarters traditionally conduct the wreath presentations at the graves of President Chester A. Arthur in Menands and President Martin Van Buren in Kinderhook. The New York Air National Guard's 107th Airlift Wing in Niagara Falls honors President Millard Fillmore.

Martin Van Buren:

Van Buren was the first president born as an American citizen rather than a subject of the King of England. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.

A historical marker on Kinderhook's Hudson Street indicates the site of the Van Buren family tavern, where the president-to-be was born in 1782. He is buried in the family plot at the Kinderhook Reformed Cemetery.

Before running for president in 1836, Van Buren, a lawyer, served as a New York state Senator, attorney general, and governor of New York before becoming Secretary of State for President Andrew Jackson. Van Buren was elected as Jackson's vice president during Jackson's second term of office.

Shortly after taking office in 1837, an economic downturn known as the Panic of 1837 hit. Businesses closed, people lost their jobs, and the agricultural economy took a hit.

Van Buren ran for re-election in 1840 but was defeated by William Henry Harrison. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1844 but lost to James K. Polk.

In 1848, he was the unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Free-Soil Party, a group opposing an extension of slavery. That defeat marked the end of his political career.

Van Buren, known as Old Kinderhook because of his hometown, supposedly gave the English language the term OK. During his run for office, OK clubs were organized to support him. He also initialed papers with the letters OK to indicate he approved.

The two letters became another way to say something was good if it was OK.

He was considered a shrewd politician and used patronage and connections to make the Democratic Party a national party based on limited federal government and opposition to federal spending on internal improvements.

He was nicknamed the Red Fox of Kinderhook and the Little Magician because of his political acumen.

Eventually, he turned against slavery, opposing the entry of Texas into the Union during his term in office because he feared another slave state would destroy the delicate balance between slave and free states.

He died in 1862 during the Civil War when the conflict over slavery he sought to avoid could not be contained.

Brigadier General Gary Charlton II:

Brig Gen Gary R. Charlton II is the Assistant Adjutant General – Air for the New York Air National Guard, Department of Military and Naval Affairs, Latham, New York.

As the Assistant Adjutant General he is responsible for the mission readiness and operation effectiveness across 6 distinctly different weapons systems, spanning 5 flying Wings and the Eastern Air Defense Sector.

Brig Gen Charlton is responsible for more than 5,800 Airmen and civilians of the largest and most diverse Air National Guard within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

General Charlton enlisted in the New York Air National Guard in May 1990 and served as a fuels systems technician.

He graduated from Columbia College in 1995 earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

He then commissioned in 2000 and attended undergraduate pilot training in 2001.

General Charlton completed initial F-16 qualification training in 2002 and served as an F-16C pilot flying with the 138th Fighter Squadron, Hancock Field, N.Y.

He has held the positions of flight, detachment and squadron commander of the 138th Fighter Squadron; as well as 107th Operations Group commander.

A combat veteran, General Charlton served seven combat deployments, Operations Desert Shield and Storm, and Northern Watch while enlisted, and four additional deployments flying F-16C combat missions in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

He is a command pilot with over 3,400+ flying hours in the T-37, T38A, T-38C, F-16C/D, MQ-1, MQ-9, and C-17A. Prior to his current assignment, he was the commander of the 107th Attack Wing, Niagara Falls, N.Y. and the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.