-
Carl G. Draper of Pendleton County was killed in action during World War II.
By Nila Harris
BUTLER — In a recent broadcast by KSL-TV, there was a report of “Members of Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square pay respects to fallen U.S. soldiers in the Philippines.”
One of the soldiers was a Pendleton County boy, the uncle to former Falmouth City Clerk Terry England.
Carl Guy Draper grew up in Pendleton County.
A graduate of Butler High School class of 1938, Draper attended the University of Kentucky with the hope of becoming an attorney. Getting involved in ROTC while at UK and the United States being drawn into World War II caused Draper to pursue a different path.
Draper had an older brother, C.H. “Herald” Draper, who was already serving in the U.S. Army.
The younger Draper left college and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As a sailor, he managed to survive the bombing of Pearl Harbor and shortly afterward, joined the Naval Aviation.
He contacted jungle fever and was sent home before completing his tour.
Unhappy with being separated from the Navy and wanting to continue serve, Draper joined the Marine Corps once he recovered.
It was in the Marines where Draper was able to fulfill his dream as a pilot. He was a part of an elite squadron known as the Black Cat Squadron and flew multiple missions over the Pacific.
According to Draper’s nephew England, Draper was due a period of rest recuperation after flying so many missions).
“(General) McArthur said there will be none of that,” England claimed.
He knows just how many missions his uncle flew, because he has Draper’s flight book from the war.
The flight log shows Draper setting off but never returning on his fateful last trip. Draper’s plane was shot down in the Southeast Pacific on May 25, 1945, with no survivors.
In 1948, the Philippines donated land in Manilla to create a national American cemetery. The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial “contains the largest number of graves of our dead in World War II, a total of 16,859, most of whom lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines,” according to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Draper was one of the soldiers buried there.
Over the years, the Draper family had considered bringing Carl home, but Herald advised against it. He convinced his mother to “let him rest.”
Joyce Draper England struggled with this decision and once contacted a missionary stationed in the Philippines to take photos of her brother’s grave. When the photos arrived, Joyce just couldn’t bear to cause her mother any more grief by showing them to her.
Even though the Drapers were never able to bring Carl home, Joyce worked with former Senator Jim Bunning to get a memorial stone for her brother placed in the Riverside Cemetery in Falmouth.
When the Tabernacle Choir performed at the cemetery in February of this year, the event became especially poignant for one choir member — Dennis Flynn. Flynn is the great-nephew of Carl.
In the article by KSL-TV, Flynn says that he was the only one in his family who was able to visit Carl Guy Draper’s grave. Terry England stated that his cousin was “just blown away, taken aback, and more emotional than he thought he would be.”
Flynn comes from a service-minded and musically inclined family. His grandfather Herald, Carl, Donald Draper and Joyce were a quartet at their home church at Knoxville Baptist, prior to the war.