At 106 years old, Vaughn Drake Jr. was the oldest known survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor until his death on April 7, according to his obituary.
Born Nov. 6, 1918, in Winchester, Kentucky, Drake served in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He saw the battles of Pearl Harbor and Saipan in the Marianas, collecting an array of honors including the special congressional medal for Pearl Harbor veterans and the World War II Victory Medal.
In 2016, the Lexington Herald–Leader sat down with Drake to record some of his memories of the fateful attack on Dec. 7, 1941. He was only 23 at the time, according to Pacific Historic Parks.
Drake recalled in his interview that he was in charge of a temporary power plant, ensuring carpenters had electricity for saws and other equipment. The crew was building new barracks at Kaneohe Naval Air Station, which is now a Marine Corps installation east of Pearl Harbor.
“We were getting ready to go to breakfast, and we heard all these planes flying over and making a lot of noise,” Drake told the newspaper. “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.”
Drake said they went to the chow line for breakfast and saw planes over the naval air station, diving about.
“We thought, ‘Boy, they’re really putting on a good show,’” he said.
They saw the red dots on the wings, marking them as Japanese, but Drake said they still couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
One of the officers was in contact with headquarters at Schofield Barracks in Oahu, calling out, “This is an attack! The Japanese are attacking the whole island!” Drake said.
At 98 years old at the time of the interview, Drake could still remember seeing a Japanese plane crash at Kaneohe.
“Later that day, some of us went over there and tore some pieces out of it, and this is a little control stick that I got,” he said. “It’s got some Japanese writing on it, which I never did get translated.”
Drake told the newspaper he never returned to Pearl Harbor or Oahu but would share his story in interviews or public meetings on occasion.
“I do feel like a part of history,” Drake had said. “I haven’t made it the big thing in my life.”
And Drake indeed lived a full life after the war. He returned to Kentucky, beginning a career as an engineer in the private sector and starting a family with his wife, Lina Drake. They were married 65 years before she died in 2011, according to her obituary.
The Drakes had one son, Samuel, who now survives both his parents. Vaughn Drake also leaves behind two grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
The veteran will have a military burial service at the Winchester Cemetery in Kentucky on April 17.
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