Joseph J. "Joe" Drake

Joseph J. "Joe" Drake was a World War II Army Ranger, longtime Hawley postmaster and Congressional Gold Medal recipient whose life tied a small Pennsylvania borough to some of the fiercest campaigns in Europe. Born on 24 October 1924 on Woodland Avenue in Hawley, he was the son of Arthur A. and Helena (Frey) Drake and grew up with one sister and three brothers. He graduated from Hawley High School in June 1942, where he played soccer and basketball, and spent a year making parachute cord at Arrow Throwing Company before being drafted into the Army in April 1943.

Drake served as a sergeant of mortars with Company A of the 2nd Ranger Battalion until 1945. He fought in five major European campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe, the Rhineland and the Ardennes, including the Battle of the Bulge. His unit also aided in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was honorably discharged in December 1945 after the battalion was deactivated. In later interviews and a National WWII Museum oral history, he spoke about Ranger training and combat with the directness of someone who had lived through it.

Returning to Hawley, he worked briefly for the Asplundh Tree Company, then spent 34 years with the United States Postal Service. He rose from clerk to Postmaster of Hawley in 1966, later served as district postmaster for 17 offices in Wayne and Pike counties, and was president of the Wayne Pike Chapter of the Postmaster Association. On 23 September 1950 he married Lydora (Dorie) LaTournous at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in White Mills. They built a house on Woodland Avenue, raised three children, Barbara Bertsch, Linda Barney and John Drake, and Joe lived there for more than 70 years. Dorie predeceased him.

Civic work filled the decades after the war. Drake served as quartermaster and treasurer of VFW Post 5823 in Hawley, founded by his late brother Robert J. Drake, and after the post disbanded in 2008 he arranged for its Park Place headquarters to become the Wayne County Hawley Senior Center. He chaired the Hawley Planning Commission for 15 years, sat on the board of Serendipity Child Development Centers, volunteered with the Hawley Fire and Ambulance companies, ushered at St. Philomena / Queen of Peace Catholic Church for 50 years, and was a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.

In June 2025, at age 100, he received the Congressional Gold Medal at the U.S. Capitol as one of a handful of surviving World War II Army Rangers, accepting the honour with fellow Ranger John Wardell on behalf of the wartime Ranger force. He told the Tri-County Independent the ceremony was wonderful and a great honor. Joseph Drake died peacefully on 23 September 2026, his wedding anniversary, at Wayne Memorial Hospital, surrounded by family. He was 101. A funeral mass was held on 28 September 2026 at BVM Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Hawley, followed by burial in the church cemetery.