Pervis Robison Jr.

Nutley resident Pervis Robison Jr. was one of 129 servicemen killed on April 10, 1963, when U.S.S. Thresher, a new class of submarine sank during sea trials about 200 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass.

Robison, who had attended Nutley schools all his life, had been a track star at Nutley High School where he was graduated in 1960.

 He is survived by his parents, Margaret and Pervis Robison, of Passaic Avenue.

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40th Anniversary Memorial Service 

 By Anthony Buccino 

 NUTLEY, N.J. -- A memorial service on the 40th anniversary of the loss of U.S.S. Thresher and Seaman Pervis Robison was held at the Robison/Thresher monument, in front of Town Hall, at 1 p.m. on April 10, 2003.

 Mayor Peter C. Scarpelli, who knew and worked with ''our hometown son'' Pervis, conducted the memorial.

 When asked later about nicknames, Robison family friend Adrian Malloy said that Pervis' father was known as 'big duck' and the sailor was called 'little duck' by his father's friends.

 And 'duck' by his friends, added Mayor Scarpelli.

 Commander Robert W. Archer, executive officer Naval Weapons Station, Earle, Colts Neck, represented the U.S. Navy, along with a Naval Honor Guard.

Pervis Robison, Jr. memorial, Nutley, N.J.

 Archer, who joined the Navy several years after the Thresher accident has served on seven subs in his 35-year career. He said that many of the improvements on later subs were the result of the sacrifice made by the seamen aboard the Thresher.

 ''When I was a young seaman, I wore the same uniform and I did the very same things that Seaman Pervis Robison did. I entered the submarine service in 1968 -- five years after the tragic loss of the Thresher, I was a seaman, I was young, I was indestructible -- much like I imagine Seaman Pervis Robison was,'' Archer said.

 ''To this day, I remember the excitement and the adventure that the submarine force provided me, and the intense pride I felt knowing I was a member of an exclusive group of people that had passed many tests and were found fit for duty below the sea -- supporting and defending the liberties and freedoms that the people of our great nation enjoy.

 ''We were the ones walking softly and silently and carrying the big sticks that deterred those that might want to threaten our way of life and our very freedoms.

 ''Only a few men are ever selected to become submariners. It takes a rare breed to ride that steel tube out to sea and challenge Mother Nature herself by submerging below the ocean.

 ''I can assure you that for every time a submariner goes down, the elements resist you coming back up, it's like you become one with the ocean itself, that it wants to keep you there.

 ''In the case of Thresher, the ocean won its way, and those braves souls of Thresher are part of the ocean forever.

 ''I honor his memory. I honor his bravery and his spirit of adventure. And I thank him for his service because had it not been for the tragic loss of the Thresher, many of the improvements seen in the modern day submarines would not have come about...

 ''My fellow submariners and I have lived the benefit of the sacrifice of seaman Pervis' life. His life was ... lived to mark lasting improvements for all time for all submariners.

 ''Seaman Robison, on behalf all submariners who followed behind you, I salute you. You are our shipmate, our brother, our friend.''

 Reverend Robert C. Cole, pastor of First Baptist Church of Nutley, gave the invocation, and, later, the benediction.

 A wreath was placed at the Robison/Thresher monument by township commissioners Joanne Cocchiola-Oliver and Mauro Tucci.

 Taps was played by Dennis McPartland, assistant band director at Nutley high school.

 On hand for the memorial were about 100 Nutley residents and veterans. Also present was Mary Ann Fitton, spouse of Nutley son Lt. Frank Jannarone, who was killed in a bomber crash on June 12, 1958.

More information. 

Nutley Peacetime Casualties

Sgt. Larry DiVuolo, 22, of Kingsland Road, a veteran of the Korean War, was returning to the U.S. when the plane on which he was traveling crashed in Hawaii on March 22, 1955. He was a graduate of Nutley High School, Class of 1951. He was survived by his parents Mrs. & Mrs. Dominick DiVuolo, and sisters Carole, Louise and Carmella.

Airman 2/c Dennis R. Schutte, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Schutte of High Street, was killed in an auto accident on the Luxembourg-Verdun Highway in France in July 1956. Schutte was a graduate of Nutley High School, Class of 1953. He was survived by a brother Dale.

Lt. Salvatore Pillitteri, 23, of Brown Street, was killed in a collision was returning home from Fort Dix. A one-time student a the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he was a platoon leader with the 69th Basic Training Regiment at Fort Dix. He was a graduate of Nutley High School, Class of 1951.

Second Lt. Thomas W. Tuttle, Jr., 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle Sr., of Heatherington Road, an Air National Guard pilot, was killed in May 1958 when his jet reconnaissance plane crashed at Detroit's Wayne Major Airport. He left the University of Michigan in his senior year to begin pilot training. He was survived by brothers David and Allan.

Lt. Frank Paul Jannarone Jr., 25, of High Street, was killed June 12, 1958, when the B-47 bomber he was co-piloting crashed in Vermont. He was a graduate of Nutley High School, Class of 1951. He earned a degree in chemical engineering at Princeton. He is survived by his wife MaryAnn and son Paul.

Nutley-born Staff Sgt. Charles A. Marsh, 45, died July 23, 1958, following a highway accident near the Ethan Allen Air Force Base in Burlington, Vt., where he was stationed. He was a flight engineer and served in the Burma - China - India theatre in World War II and the Korean War. Marsh held the Air Medal with Cluster and the Korean Service Medal.

1st Lt. Charles Tillou, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Wesley Tillou of Rutgers Place, was killed in a collision between an American transport plane and a French fighter plane near Paris in September 1958. Lt. Tillou was a life-long resident of Nutley graduated from Yanticaw elementary, and Nutley High School Class of 1952.

Nutley-born Lt. (j.g.) Edward J. Zuczek (j.g.), 22, was lost when the Navy photo reconnaissance plane on which he was serving as navigator went down in a storm at sea off Guam on October 18, 1958. Zuczek earned his Naval Pilot Wings in 1957. He was survived by his parents, and brothers Benjamin and Theodore.

Seaman Pervis Robison Jr., 21,of Passaic Avenue, was one of 129 servicemen killed on April 10, 1963, when the U.S.S. Thresher, a submarine sank off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. Robison had been a track star at Nutley High School where he was graduated in 1960. He was survived by his parents, Margaret and Pervis Robison.

Nutley Sons Peacetime Casualties

Nutley memorial honors
‘peacetime vigilance’
Nine local servicemen named
on Kingsland manor brownstone 

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Copyright © 2002-2012 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

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About the author: Anthony Buccino has written several collections about life and growing up in and around Nutley, New Jersey. He also created Old Nutley, a web site of local history.