Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1943 Lucky Bag:

WALTER DAVID RUPERT, JR.

Bone consistently and you can crack the toughest subjects, is Jake’s philosophy. Maybe he is an exception to the rule, but here is the man that practices his philosophy. We all know that a fellow has to have patience to stick to the job, and, although, at times, the present looked bleak, the future, plus his desire to rate the one who was rooting from the outside, gave him the impetus to keep plugging at his work. With characteristic perseverance and a love for the game, he became one of the baseball teams star performers while holding down the hot spot. Jake’s desire for a long career in the Navy has realized its first step.

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He was a member of the Lucky Bag staff. The Class of 1943 was graduated in June 1942 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.

Loss

“David” — how he was normally addressed — was lost on May 28, 1945 when USS Drexler (DD 741) was sunk by two kamikaze attacks. One hundred fifty seven other men were killed; fifty-two were wounded.

Other Information

From the Class of 1943 anniversary book “25 years later…”:

Jake was born on 2 November, 1920 in Canton, Ohio. He was appointed from the state of Ohio and entered the academy on 22 June, 1939. After graduation he reported to the destroyer USS LONG in the Pacific and in May 1944 attended Fire Control School of the Naval Gun Factory, Washington, D.C. Jake then reported for fitting out and commissioning the destroyer USS DREXLER which after commissioning went west and engaged in the Invasion of Okinawa in March 1945. On 28 May, the DREXLER was on radar picket duty during a major kamikaze attack.

Six aircraft broke through the air defenses and attacked DREXLER. Two shot down, two were outmaneuvered and two hit the ship squarely. Just forty-nine seconds after the attack the ship rolled over and sank taking with her Jake and many shipmates. He wore the Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with at least two Bronze Stars. Jake was survived by his wife Marie Agnes and his parents Walter and Ethel Rupert of 1323-23rd Street, N.W., Canton, Ohio.

David has a memory marker in Ohio.

Memorial Hall Error

Walter is listed without “Jr.” on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall.