Sisters remember brothers they lost in WWII
ATLANTA, Texas — A few days before Veterans Day, two sisters were recalling their two brothers who died in World War II.
“Our parents lost two sons within three months,” sisters Mary Draper Whitlow and Sue Draper Easley were saying over coffee in Atlanta last Thursday.
The two sisters meet weekly on Thursday mornings at Burger King to talk. Recently, they were remembering their two brothers and the year 1944, when the world was at war.
Mary had been 14 and Sue 8 that year, so they hadn’t had time to fully know their older brothers, J.C. and James Draper.
But Mary remembers with pride how J.C. hitchhiked back and forth to Texas A&M at College Station, earning a degree in agriculture science. Then, he joined the Air Force.
“When James finished high school and his military term came, the war was going big time,” Sue tells it.
The facts are these. J.C. became a squadron leader in Arizona, testing and teaching others to fly while James was flying overseas in Germany. On one raid, the aircraft flying above James’ dropped down and struck, resulting in his death.
James was buried in Germany. And J.C. came home from Arizona to attend his brother’s memorial service here.
Three months later, back in Arizona, J.C. made a final test flight.
“But he didn’t make it back down,” Mary expresses it.
Will and Vivian Draper lost two sons, and the sisters lost their brothers. All was sudden, over with and clear, but parts of the story were unknown.
Both brothers had been recently married before going to war. After some time, James’ wife remarried, but she and her husband were killed in a bus accident in New Orleans. That tragedy prompted a letter from Vivian to the U.S. government. She had lost a lot. Could James’ body be brought back to the United States, she asked.
It could and was. Both J.C. and James are now buried in the family’s site in Queen City Cemetery.
To know more of the story, grandson Bart Unchurch, a Queen City native now living in Texarkana, began making inquiries. Recently a packet of information came to the family telling how James had been killed and buried in Germany, but also relocated to France.
Of most importance, there was the actual handwriting letter of Vivian’s, the mother, to an official of the government.
Here’s what she sought, in clear handwriting:
Dear Sir,
You see Mr. G I am the mother of James W. Draper.
Fay (James’ wife) married again and was living in New Orleans, LA. She and her husband got off a city bus a ex-soldier ran a red light striking both of them. She died at 1:30 on June 13th of last year. I went down for the funeral.
Her folks gave me what they had of his. Mr. you see I only had two boys. James went down on the 11 of April 1944. We heard on the 23 of June he was killed that day he went down. Then on the 26 of July my other son went down in a P39.
So this has been awful for us.
Do you think I could get his body?
Please excuse me for telling you my troubles.
The Mother of James W. Draper
Mrs. William B. Draper Queen City, Texas Route 2, Box 1
Sisters Mary Draper Whitlow and Sue Draper Easley, in their weekly talk, had this enriched memory to share. Together they had nursed their mother, Vivian, until her death in 1986 at age 87.
Mary recently had young help to expand the dining room table for Thanksgiving at her house. Of course, it was Vivian’s table.
The family is big now. Twenty-five or more are likely to be here. Grace will be spoken with memories for all, especially the two bothers.