By VDC staff

A Vermont family whose members have accumulated roughly 180 years of U.S. Navy service — much of it aboard submarines — will be honored in St. Albans Tuesday as part of Navy Week activities in Vermont.

The special event is scheduled for 2 PM Tuesday, Aug. 25, at American Legion Post 1 on Parah Drive in St. Albans. Naval officers and crew members visiting Vermont for Navy Week will join members of the USS Vermont Support Group in recognizing retired Navy Capt. Albert “Al” Perry and his family.

Perry, a Vermonter who left the state in 1952 to begin a Navy career, eventually rose to the rank of captain and commanded the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Spadefish (SSN-668).

His lengthy naval career also put him aboard a ballistic-missile submarine during one of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War. Perry served as dive officer aboard the USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609) during the era of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

But Perry’s service was only the beginning of an unusual family tradition.

Perry and his wife, Marcia, raised seven children, and all four of their sons became Navy officers. The youngest, Douglas, eventually rose to the rank of vice admiral. His brother Ken Perry also is an admiral. The tradition has continued into another generation, with Perry’s grandson and his wife also serving as naval officers.

According to organizers, members of the Perry family have accumulated approximately 180 years of military service, all of it in the Navy and almost all of it connected to the submarine force.

Tuesday’s program will also give Vermonters a chance to hear directly from senior Navy personnel about the modern fleet.

Cmdr. Hall of the USS Montpelier and Capt. Casavant of the USNS Burlington are scheduled to participate and provide a briefing on the Navy, according to the USS Vermont Support Group.

The appearance connects Vermont with several Navy vessels bearing names from the Green Mountain State, including the USS Vermont, USS Montpelier and USNS Burlington.

The USS Vermont Support Group is inviting the public to attend the event and learn more about the Perry family’s military history while meeting visiting Navy personnel.

The program comes during Navy Week in Burlington, which brings sailors and Navy representatives to Vermont for public appearances, demonstrations and community events designed to connect Americans in areas without a major naval presence with the people and missions of the U.S. Navy.

For the Perry family, however, Tuesday’s gathering will have a particularly Vermont flavor: recognition of a naval tradition that began when a young Vermonter left home more than seven decades ago and ultimately grew to encompass three generations and nearly two centuries of combined service.