With every passing year, the ranks of those justifiably deemed members of the Greatest Generation continue to dwindle, and earlier this month, the nation lost a veteran who was present for one of America's darkest days.
As NBC News reports, Vaughn Drake Jr., the oldest known survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died on April 7 at the age of 106.
Drake, who at the time of the attack was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers, recounted his remarkable experience in a 2016 interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, according to Stars & Stripes.
Working on-site at a temporary power plant meant to assist in the construction of new barracks at Kaneohe Naval Air Station, which was on the opposite side of the island from Pearl Harbor, Drake saw things on that fateful day in December that he would never forget.
“We were getting ready to go to breakfast, and we heard all these planes flying over and making a lot of noise,” he remembered. “We just figured it was the Army Air Corps carrying out maneuvers for practice, like they did a lot. We didn't pay much attention to it.”
While he stood waiting for his food, Drake recalled, planes could be seen diving directly toward the air station, prompting him to think, “Boy, they're really putting on a good show,” and while he and his fellow servicemembers did see Japanese markings on the aircraft, “We still couldn't believe it [was an enemy attack].”
“We knew by then it was more than maneuvers. It had to be a real attack. It just didn't seem possible. Even while it was happening, we didn't believe it,” he stated, later adding that while he did feel he was “part of history,..I haven't made it the big thing in my life.”
Drake's obituary offers insight into the honorable and accomplished life he lived after the war, noting that he spent decades working as a registered professional engineer.
An integral part of the General Telephone Company, Drake designed and oversaw the construction of the underground telephone conduit systems in Lexington, Morehead, and Ashland, Kentucky, also authoring the GTE company manual Conduit Engineering for Telephone Engineers.
Drake's professional honors include membership in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers, charter membership and past presidency of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers, and recipient of the organization's 1979 award for “Outstanding Engineer in Industry.”
The distinguished veteran also served as a professional advisory board member for the Lexington-Fayette County Planning and Zoning Commission, was a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, and was a recipient of the Spirit of Lexington Award.
On a personal level, Drake was married to late wife Lina for 65 years and is survived by a son, two grandsons, three great-grandchildren, and a host of friends and family members sure to honor his legacy.
As the National World War II Museum in New Orleans reminds us, “memories of World War II are disappearing from living history” at a rapid clip, with the Department of Veterans Affairs noting that fewer than 1% of the Americans who served during the conflict are still among the living as of 2024.
With that in mind, the museum's leadership contends that it is incumbent on everyone to “ensure that the memories and experiences of the war will not be lost as those who lived through it leave this world,” and that is a priority with which it is difficult to disagree.
