3 U.S. Navy submariners from Kentuckiana who died in 1968 honored at Patriots Peace Memorial

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB News)

Three Kentuckiana men who died while serving their country were honored in Louisville on Sunday.

The Patriots Peace Memorial exclusively honors members of the U.S. armed forces who died in the line of duty under conditions other than hostile action. The memorial at 3742 River Road is dedicated to those who “stood the watch” for their country. 

This year, three U.S. Navy submariners who died in 1968 when the USS Scorpion was lost at sea were honored. Those men were:

• Harry D. Huckelberry – Torpedoman 2nd Class, who was 23 years old from Louisville. He graduated Butler High School in 1963 and attended Western Kentucky University before enlisting in the U.S. Navy.
• Robert Johnson – Senior Chief Radioman, who was 36 years old from Jenkins, Kentucky. He attended grammar school in Jenkins before relocating with his family to West Virginia. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 18.
• Dennis P. Pferrer – Quartermaster 3rd Class, who was 20 years old from Brownstown, Indiana. 
  

Huckelberry, Johnson and Pferrer, along with 96 other crewmembers of the USS Scorpion died. The submarine was returning to its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia on May 22, 1968 after completing a three-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. The nuclear attack submarine plunged 10,000 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and was discovered months later.

The cause of the submarine’s demise still isn’t known. 

Huckelberry, Johnson and Pferrer are three of 465 servicemembers honored at the memorial. As a name is added, a concrete brick is removed and replaced with a personalized glass plate identifying the servicemember who died.

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