World War II Honoree
Killed in World War II
J. Gordan Drake
Branch of Service
U.S. Army Air Force
Hometown
Ada County, Idaho
Honored By
Alexander Jacobs, Jr.
Relationship
Veteran
Served with 5th Air Force, 7th bomb group, 9th bomb squadron in the southwest pacific theater of operations as a flight engineer on a b-17 flying fortress bomber. on January 29, 1942, his b-17 took off from Malang airfield on Java on a bombing mission against Japanese shipping and oil fields at Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia. after completing the bomb run and heading back to base, his b-17 was attacked by Japanese fighters and crashed into Makassar strait off southeast Borneo. decorations: purple heart, Asiatic-Pacific campaign medal, and WWII victory medal.