LEWISTON – Area veterans organizations gathered on April 10 to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the sinking of the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Thresher on April 10, 1963.

The Thresher was on her shakedown cruise from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, N.H., when she went into a deep dive off the coast of Massachusetts and failed to surface. The escort vessels lost radio contact and the Thresher sank with the loss of all hands aboard.

The group gathered at the car wash parking lot on the Lewiston side of the James B. Longley Memorial bridge where Tom Dow, who was a U.S. Navy personnel on one of the escort ships, read the names of the 129 officers, crew members and civilian technicians who were aboard the Thresher on her shakedown cruise.

Jerry DerBoghosian, who worked on the Thresher from its beginning at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, gave a brief history of the Thresher and her crew.

The group then marched to the center of the Longley Bridge on the downriver side of the Androscoggin River. The assembly sang “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Rev. Donald L. Miller, commander U.S.N. (ret) Chaplains Corps, delivered the invocation.

The annual throwing of the wreath into the Androscoggin River for “all hands lost at sea” was held. The service concluded with the singing of “God Bless America.”