The oldest living survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack has died in Lexington.
Vaughn P. Drake Jr., 106, of Lexington, served in the Army Corps of Engineers and was a veteran of the battles of Pearl Harbor and Saipan in the Marianas campaign during WWII, according to his obituary.
“Drake was a 23-year-old Army engineer helping to build barracks at Kaneohe Naval Air Station on the windward side of Oahu when the attack took place on December 7, 1941, according to a Facebook post Friday by Pacific Historic Parks, which announced his death. Just over a dozen veterans who survived the attack are known to still be living,” Stars and Stripes reports.
“He has the esteemed honor of being the Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivor in the United States,” Drake’s obituary states. “He received the special Congressional Medal for the Veterans of Pearl Harbor, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Medal with Foreign Service bar, the Asiatic-Pacific Medal with two battles stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.”
Drake attended the University of Kentucky College of Engineering and was a registered professional engineer for over 50 years. He was employed by the General Telephone Company for 36 years, retiring in 1981 as valuation engineering manager.
He designed and supervised construction of all the underground telephone conduits placed in Lexington, Morehead and Ashland in the 1940s and 1950s.
Drake, who died on April 7, additionally authored the GTE Manual “Conduit Engineering for Telephone Engineers.”
His military burial service is Thursday at Winchester Cemetery.
(Photos l-r: Vaughn Drake Jr. in uniform: Vaughn Drake Jr. celebrating his 104th birthday, both courtesy of Pacific Historic Parks)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
