On the afternoon of June 27, 1916, two young men, bound down the Ohio River in a small flatboat, were carried over the falls at Louisville, KY. In the course of efforts made to save these men, one member of the U.S. Coast Guard station crew at Louisville, Surfman John A. Munz, was drowned, and five other members of the crew narrowly escaped his fate. Owing to the necessity of reaching the scene of the accident in the shortest possible time, the two boats that put out from the station to the rescue were steered straight over the dam. Both boats were badly damaged on the rocks below and, being caught in an eddying current, were swamped, leaving all hands in a situation as perilous as that of they men they had come to save. Eight men were now struggling desperately in the water and meeting with poor success in their efforts to get beyond the powerful grip of the whirlpool that swept them around and around and under and back of the torrent pouring over the dam. Ransom and Matthews, the first to escape the whirling current, were picked up by a fisherman who had come to the rescue from down the river. This man next took Drazel and Curley on board, and with these to assist him in the management of his boat proceeded to aid Williams. Next came Farrell, who was hauled from the water in a state approaching unconsciousness, but Munz strength gave out before help could reach him. He went down in twenty feet of water and was not afterwards seen alive. Long was the last to be rescued. Munz’s body was recovered two days after the in incident. An examination board showed he had been sevey injured about the head.
Annual Report of the United States Coast Guard, 1915
| Name | Rating | Duty Station | Date |
| Munz, J. A. | Surfman | STA Louisville, KY | 6/27/1916 |