World’s oldest Pearl Harbor survivor dies at 106: ‘Lived with integrity every single day’
A veteran believed to be the world’s oldest Pearl Harbor survivor has died at 106 years old.
Vaughn P. Drake Jr. from Kentucky was 23 years old at the time of the Japanese attack on the US Pacific naval base in Hawaii, according to a press release.
He was working as an Army engineer at Kaneohe Naval Air Station on Oahu on the day of the shocking attack on December 7, 1941, which precipitated America’s entry into World War II.
“We were getting ready to go to breakfast, and we heard all these planes flying over and making a lot of noise,” Drake in 2016.
“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.
“Finally we left to go to the chow line to get our breakfast, and we noticed these planes flying over the naval air station, diving and everything. And we thought, ‘Boy, they’re really putting on a good show.’ Even though we saw the red spots on the wing — which was the Japanese symbol — we still couldn’t believe it,” he went on.
Drake also witnessed the Battle of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, a turning point for the US in the conflict.
He received several commendations for his service, including the World War II Victory Medal and a special congressional medal dedicated to Pearl Harbor veterans.
After the war, Drake returned to his beloved Kentucky where he worked as an engineer in the private sector.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Lina Wilson Drake, their son, Samuel Drake, and two grandsons along with three great-grandchildren.
“To us, he was more than a hero,” Samuel said in a release . “He was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather and a humble man who lived with integrity every single day.”
Drake will have a full military burial at Winchester Cemetery on Thursday.
His death comes a year after that of Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk by the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Conter, who was just 20 at the time of the attack, died in April last year at the age of 102.
Only 15 survivors of the attack — which killed 2,403 Americans — are still alive today.
Drake never returned to Oahu or Pearl Harbor, and only occasionally shared his remarkable story in public.
“I do feel like a part of history,” Drake told the Herald Leader in 2016. “I haven’t made it the big thing in my life.”
