Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center

Lost Battalion Hall is a NYC Parks recreation center on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park, Queens. The facility is named in honor of the 'Lost Battalion,' the 77th Infantry Division soldiers from New York City who were surrounded and trapped by German forces in the Argonne Forest during World War I in October 1918.

The Lost Battalion's ordeal lasted five days, during which the surrounded American soldiers, many of them recent immigrants from New York's tenement neighborhoods, refused to surrender despite severe casualties, lack of food and water, and friendly fire from their own artillery. Their rescue became one of the most celebrated episodes of the war.

The recreation center offers indoor athletic facilities including a gymnasium, fitness equipment, and program spaces for classes and community events. The center serves the Rego Park and Forest Hills communities with year-round programming for youth, adults, and seniors.

Rego Park is a diverse residential neighborhood with large Bukharan Jewish, Russian, Chinese, and South Asian populations. The recreation center provides a community gathering place where these diverse populations can access affordable fitness and recreation programs.

Lost Battalion Hall honors a specifically New York story of immigrant soldiers fighting for their adopted country, connecting the daily recreation activities of modern Queens residents to a legendary moment of courage and perseverance from over a century ago.