George Nick Dragnich

George Nick Dragnich was born on August 27, 1920 in Republic, Washington to Nick and Stella Knoxevich Dranich. He had four brothers and one sister, and his father was a naturalized citizen born in Montenegro. He graduated from Republic High School in 1940 and attended Washington State College (WSC) from 1940 through 1943 as an Industrial Arts major. He enlsited in the United States Air Force Reserves in 1941, then the United States Army Air Corps on February 28, 1943. He gained his pilot wings at La Junta Army Airfield in Colorado and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was assigned as a reconnaissance pilot and P-38 squadron operations officer in the Hawkeyes photo unit of the Fifth Air Force in the Pacific theatre. The Hawkeyes were constituted as the 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron on February 5, 1943; their field of operations included combat assignments in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific from February 5, 1944 through August 14, 1945. Dragnich flew seventy-two missions in the Pacific theatre during World War II, earning the rank of Captain. He was in the midst of performing a routine flight on October 12, 1945 when his plane inexplicably crashed after ten minutes in the air over Honshu, Japan. He did not survive.  Dragnich is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.