Frank M. Charles Memorial Park

Frank M. Charles Memorial Park is a waterfront park in the Howard Beach section of southern Queens, on the shore of Jamaica Bay. Part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, it is jointly managed by the National Park Service and NYC Parks and sits at Old Howard Beach, where the neighborhood's original pier once stood.

The park is named for Private Frank M. Charles, who grew up in Howard Beach and was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I. He was killed in France on July 21, 1918, and an American Legion post was established in his honor in 1926; the park received its current name in 1940.

The park offers tennis courts, a basketball court, sports fields, and a children's playground, along with a half-mile paved path that circles the park and is popular with walkers and skaters. Benches along the path look out over the waters of Jamaica Bay.

Howard Beach is a low-rise, suburban waterfront community of canals, marinas, and tidy homes between the Belt Parkway and Jamaica Bay. The neighborhood, developed beginning in the late 19th century by leather manufacturer William J. Howard, faces the open water and the marshlands of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

Frank M. Charles Memorial Park honors a Howard Beach son lost in the First World War while providing waterfront recreation and sweeping views of Jamaica Bay, with planes from nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport passing overhead.