Portion of Palmetto roadway to be renamed after fallen Army Specialist killed in South Korea

Nicholas Panipinto has prompted a change in Army training procedures. Image via Vern Buchanan Office.

Two Gulf Coast legislators and local government leaders will gather along with residents Tuesday for a special honor to a fallen military veteran who will have a local roadway named after him.

U.S. Army Specialists Nicholas Panipinto was killed in November 2019 during a training incident at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. In honor of his name and service, the Florida Legislature agreed in 2024 to name a portion of highway U.S. 19 in Palmetto “Army Specialist Nicholas Panipinto Memorial Highway.”

A ceremony marking the official naming of the highway section in Manatee County will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday  between Palm View Road and Terra Ceia Road.

Sen. Jim Boyd, a Bradenton Republican whose District 20 seat encompasses the area, was at the forefront of the project to name the portion of the roadway after Panipinto. The bill co-sponsored by Boyd (SB 868) was part of a larger measure that renamed portions of road across the state.

Boyd will be joined at the road-naming event by several local municipal leaders and Rep. Will Robinson, also a Bradenton Republican.

Family members related to Panipinto will be on hand for the ceremony as well.

A sign will be posted on the roadway section marking the naming of that portion after Panipinto.

Panipinto was 20-years-old at the time of his death, which had substantial repercussions of Army leadership at that camp. According to multiple media accounts, Panipinto lost his life during a training accident at the military base when a Bradley Fighting Vehicle flipped over while a road test was being conducted.

An Army investigation concluded Panipinto had only a few hours of training and no instruction in the classroom on how to handle the vehicle. One of the tracks on the vehicle became separated from the 15-ton vehicle causing it to overturn.

The Army ordered all programs and training procedures to be reviewed and changed as a result of the wreck and a Staff Sergeant and two company-level officers were dismissed from the military as a direct result of the investigation.