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<p><em>Edmond Howard Drake</em> was the pride of Kingston, NY, just up the Hudson River from West Point. He was the classic middle American, from a hard-working family well known throughout the town. We know this because his every exploit before and after West Point was duly covered in the local newspaper: he was a straight-A student, elected to the National Honor Society, ran track for his high school, and won a Regent’s Scholarship to the State University of New York. He was an Explorer Scout as well as a commissioned Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadet. In the summer of 1955, Ed completed a rigorous academic and leadership CAP program and gained the highest award for proficiency. He was commissioned as a CAP second lieutenant, the only one in his unit to do so. Ten percent of USAFA graduates were CAP cadets, so it looked as if that was where Ed was headed. On May 18, 1956, he was appointed to USAFA, but he also received a USMA appointment. No one knows why he decided to become an Army officer, but we will always be grateful he joined us on July 3, 1956, just in time for Beast Barracks! </p>
<p>Once at West Point, Ed continued to take advantage of every opportunity open to him. Plebe year, when many of us were in survival mode, he joined the staff of the Pointer and the French, Skeet and Sailing clubs. Ed was a crack shot. He was a member of the Pistol Club all four years and proudly wore his plebe year numerals and two Major “A”s while on the USMA varsity Pistol Team. In academics, he became known for his quiet but dogged perseverance, especially when it came to solving Juice and Mechanics problems. While we all slept, he burned the midnight oil, often announcing at reveille the next morning that he had solved the problem we had all given up on. No hive, Ed relished the classic bull session and had no trouble finding mates to join him. </p>
<p>One of his roommates recently recounted barracks life with Ed: “He would sit at his desk staring at a book, totally quiet. Suddenly he would blurt out a very impressive mouthful of wisdom and retreat into his cone of silence…He loved military music, especially when cannons were blasting in the background. He was a quiet, sincere, good man.”</p>
<p>Upon graduation Ed joined the Army’s Artillery branch. Before branch school he went to Airborne School, where he was the honor graduate of his class. He then attended the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill, OK. His first unit was the 101st Airborne Division, where he led a mortar platoon and continued jumping from airplanes as part of his job. In 1963 he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Artillery Regiment in Kitzingen, Germany, an Honest John rocket battalion that was part of the 3rd Infantry Division. Our class well remembers the Honest John from a 1958 trip to Fort Bliss, TX, where we saw it fired as part of a firepower demonstration, totally missing its target—a mountain! The main mission of Ed’s unit was to constantly move and hide to avoid a first strike. Ed’s West Point education had included classes on tactical nuclear warfare, which now became very relevant.</p>
<p>Ed returned to the United States in 1966 for the Field Artillery Officer Advanced Course at Fort Sill. The Vietnam War was in full swing when Ed returned to his roots as an airborne soldier. His hometown noted his return from Germany as he spent time with his family on leave. Leaving nuclear warfare behind, he headed to Vietnam to resume his cannon-cocker past. He joined the 3rd Battalion, 319th Artillery Regiment, part of the heralded 173rd Airborne Brigade, the first combat unit assigned to that war. He served as a battery commander during some of the fiercest fighting experienced by the 173rd, including the battle of Dak To and the 1968 Tet Offensive. Ed was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in a combat zone as well as two Air Medals. The latter award surely must have made his former Civil Air Patrol take notice.</p>
<p>Ed returned from the war and, in 1969, resigned his commission as a captain, having proudly served his country for nine years. He then began a 16-year career in the communications industry, his first stop being the Western Electric Company in 1970. In 1983 he received a major promotion to the parent company, AT&T, where he became manager of its data processing facility in Fairhaven, MA. At the time it was one of the most modern data processing centers in the United States, surely right up Ed’s alley.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Ed’s budding career in industry ended with a cancer diagnosis in 1985 and he died shortly thereafter in a New Bedford, MA hospital. Although he did not live the full life he had surely envisioned, he made the most of it: for himself, his family, his industry, and especially the U.S Army. He could not have had a more fulfilling career as a young artillery officer, holding up the “King of Battle” tradition with exemplary service in the full range of branch experiences. Ed, your country called and you responded with character, leadership and courage. </p>
<p>Well Done, Ed; Be Thou at Peace.</p>
<p><em>— Company A-2 classmates</em></p>
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