By Courtney Dentch
As a 21-year-old naval seaman in the Pacific during World War II, Queens Village resident Henry Drogin learned of his older brother’s death when his letters were returned bearing a stamp that read “deceased.”
Last week, 57 years later, Drogin and his family finally learned what happened to his brother, who was also stationed in the Pacific, and where he was buried as they accepted a belated Purple Heart Medal on his behalf.
The decades-long search came to a close with the help of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) and his staff, after the Drogin family, who has lived in Queens Village for more than 80 years, asked them to investigate the whereabouts of Leonard Drogin’s remains more than two years ago.
Meeks surprised the Drogin family at an impromptu ceremony Friday with the long-sought information on Leonard as well as the medals and certificates he earned for his service and death.
Leonard Drogin was killed in action when he was 23 on March 23, 1945, in the Philippines and he was buried in the American military cemetery in Manila, Meeks told the family, which included Henry Drogin’s daughters, son-in-law, grandsons, nieces and nephews.
Both Henry and Leonard Drogin were stationed in the Pacific during World War II. Henry Drogin, a first class boatswain mate, wrote often to Leonard, a civil engineer with the U.S. Army, until his letters started being returned to him, he said. Although his family knew of Leonard’s death, his remains were never returned to them.
After the war, the Drogins’ sister, Pearl Blau, searched until her death for information about Leonard, a Jamaica High School alumnus, armed with the little information she had. The family did not even have basic information such as a Social Security number or a military service number, Henry Drogin said.
“We didn’t have too much information on my brother. The information I gave them was practically nil,” Drogin said about Meeks and his staff.
Henry Drogin continued the search after his sister and his daughter, Lorraine, followed the trail too but to no avail.
“Some people said they couldn’t help us because we didn’t have much information,” his daughter said.
A fire in 1974 at the National Personnel Records center in St. Louis, Mo. stalled the search for 15 years, said Julia Drogin, Henry’s wife.
“When the records burned, it made it very difficult,” she said. “I’m so relieved.”
During the course of the search the family made two trips to the Pearl Harbor memorial in Hawaii in hopes of finding Leonard’s name among the military personnel buried there.
“It’s terrible when you don’t know what happened,” Lorraine said. “Your mind can wander. You conjure up a lot of things.”
Meeks and his staff were able to retrieve communications from the national archives in Washington, D.C., until they finally found Leonard’s military service number, the key that would unlock the information on his burial, he said.
“This relentless search was to say ‘thank you,’” Meeks said. “We can’t say thank you to him, but we can thank his family.”
In addition to the Purple Heart, Meeks presented the other medals Leonard earned, including the World War II Victory medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the Philippine Liberation Medal, and Philippine Independence Medal, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.
“Thank you for your service and your brother’s service to this nation,” Meeks said to Henry Drogin. “It took over 40 years for you to find out and get the ultimate answer about your brother.”
Henry Drogin was thrilled with all that Meeks presented to him on behalf of brother Leonard, he said.
“You did a terrific job. Thank you,” he said. “Everywhere we looked just seemed to be a dead end, but you kept going.”
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
