Drake was the flight engineer on B-17E #41-2476 assigned to the 5th Air Force, 7th Bombardment Group, 9th Bombardment Squadron.
This was the crews first combat mission, so Major Stanley K Robinson, the 7th Bomb Group Commander, flew as copilot. They departed Malang Airfield on Java on a bombing mission against Balikpapan, Borneo.
His plane led the formation and made a bombing run with antiaircraft fire and fighters all about. The aircraft was badly shot up when the formation was attacked by about thirty Japanese fighters, and the plane was seen to crash into the sea from a steep dive. Drake received the Purple Heart.
Because his body was not recovered, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing.
This was the crews first combat mission, so Major Stanley K Robinson, the 7th Bomb Group Commander, flew as copilot. They departed Malang Airfield on Java on a bombing mission against Balikpapan, Borneo.
His plane led the formation and made a bombing run with antiaircraft fire and fighters all about. The aircraft was badly shot up when the formation was attacked by about thirty Japanese fighters, and the plane was seen to crash into the sea from a steep dive. Drake received the Purple Heart.
Because his body was not recovered, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing.
Drake was the flight engineer on B-17E #41-2476 assigned to the 5th Air Force, 7th Bombardment Group, 9th Bombardment Squadron.
This was the crews first combat mission, so Major Stanley K Robinson, the 7th Bomb Group Commander, flew as copilot. They departed Malang Airfield on Java on a bombing mission against Balikpapan, Borneo.
His plane led the formation and made a bombing run with antiaircraft fire and fighters all about. The aircraft was badly shot up when the formation was attacked by about thirty Japanese fighters, and the plane was seen to crash into the sea from a steep dive. Drake received the Purple Heart.
Because his body was not recovered, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing.
This was the crews first combat mission, so Major Stanley K Robinson, the 7th Bomb Group Commander, flew as copilot. They departed Malang Airfield on Java on a bombing mission against Balikpapan, Borneo.
His plane led the formation and made a bombing run with antiaircraft fire and fighters all about. The aircraft was badly shot up when the formation was attacked by about thirty Japanese fighters, and the plane was seen to crash into the sea from a steep dive. Drake received the Purple Heart.
Because his body was not recovered, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Iowa.
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