Medal of Honor recipient to be honored at Lockport cemetery

Hero who never received medal gets grave marker Thursday

History and chance may have denied a Civil War hero from Lockport his Medal of Honor and a proper burial, but Thursday night he will be formally remembered in a hometown cemetery, thanks in large part to the efforts of the Niagara County Historian's Office.

Local officials will turn out to honor Civil War hero Michael Huskey, who never received the Medal of Honor he had been awarded during a violent confrontation in a Mississippi bayou before dying later in the War Between the States.

The 6 p.m. Thursday ceremony will formally dedicate a cemetery marker obtained after more than two years of efforts by the Niagara County Historian's Office, which falls under the county clerk. Clerk's office officials have long sought to obtain Huskey's Medal of Honor, as the sailor has no known surviving family, and bring the medal home to Lockport.

Huskey served the Union in the Navy on board the U.S.S. Carondelet, an ironclad gunboat. Thanks to ongoing research by the Niagara County Historian's Office, and a donation by the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, he will be honored with a grave marker next to his parents' plots at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Lockport. The grave marker identifies Huskey as a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

WHO: Legislature Chairman William L. Ross, County Clerk Wayne F. Jagow, Mayor Michael W. Tucker, Supervisor Marc R. Smith, Niagara County Historian Catherine Emerson, Niagara University ROTC Color Guard, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, and representatives of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, All Saints Roman Catholic Parish, the Marine Corps League, the Navy Marine Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the American Legion, as well as various dignitaries and historical re-enactors.

WHAT: Dedicating a gravesite marker for U.S. Navy Fireman 1^st Class Michael Huskey, Medal of Honor recipient.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 19, 6 p.m.

WHERE: St. Patrick's Cemetery, Glenwood Ave., Lockport.