3 local Navy members lost at sea added to Patriots Peace Memorial

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WLKY News)

Memorial Day is supposed to be just that: a day to remember service men and women who have passed away.

At the Patriots Peace Memorial in Louisville, the names of the men and women on the walls are those who died in the line of duty, but not in hostile action.

Bricks in the cube-shaped memorial are replaced with glass that has a name etched on it so light can shine through the opening.

On Monday, the annual ceremony, which inducts more service members to the memorial, was held. Three members of the U.S. Navy, all from our region, were added.

Senior Chief Radioman Robert Johnson of Jenkins, Kentucky, Quartermaster Dennis Pferrer of Brownstown, Indiana, and Torpedoman Harry Huckelberry, of Louisville, Kentucky, were all inducted.

In May 1968, the three men were all aboard the USS Scorpion when it was returning to Virginia from a three-month Cold War deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. The submarine mysteriously sank, never to be seen again.

All 99 men and women on board were killed, including Johnson, Pferrer and Huckelberry.

Fifty-six years later, family members finally got to have a gravesite for their loved ones at the Patriots Peace Memorial.

“It helps. There will never be closure until we have answers, which, you know, 56 years later, we still know nothing. We have no body, we have no anything, but this does help bring some closure,” said Carla White, the niece of Huckelberry.

A total of 465 other service members are honored at the Patriots Peace Memorial.

See video and full article: https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-navy-members-patriots-peace-memorial-louisville/60917887