The nation has lost a living link to one of its most pivotal moments in history. Vaughn P. Drake Jr., the oldest known survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, passed away on April 7 at the remarkable age of 106.
His death marks the end of an era as fewer witnesses remain who can recount firsthand the events that thrust the United States into World War II.
Born on November 6, 1918, in Winchester, Kentucky, Drake entered the world just five days before the end of World War I. He would live to witness and participate in the defining global conflict of the 20th century. At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Drake was serving as an Army engineer stationed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Along with a group of fellow engineers, he was working at a temporary power plant built to support construction efforts at the Kaneohe Naval Air Station.
In a 2016 interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, Drake recounted the confusion that morning as waves of Japanese aircraft swarmed the island.
“There’s no way Japan could get planes over Pearl Harbor! We didn’t think it could possibly happen,” he recalled.
As he walked to breakfast, he noticed planes flying overhead, but he and other soldiers initially believed it was a routine military exercise conducted by the Army Air Corps.
