George Nick Dragnich

George Nick Dragnich was born on August 27, 1920 in Republic, Washington to Nick and Stella Knoxevich Dragnich.  He had four brothers and one sister. Dragnich graduated from Republic High School in 1940. 

Dragnich attended WSC from 1940 through 1943 as an Industrial Arts major. He resided in the Pine Manor dorms his freshman and sophomore years, where his brother Stanley had also lived. Dragnich enlisted in the United States Air Force Reserves in 1941. 

Dragnich enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on February 28, 1943. He gained his pilot wings at La Junta Army Airfield in Colorado, an advanced two-engine pilot school of the Army Air Force training command. He received his commission as a Second Lieutenant and 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. Dragnich flew seventy-two missions on the Pacific theatre during World War II, earning the rank of Captain. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Even after the Allied victory against Japan in August 1945, te 25th continued to perform missions in the months following. Dragnich 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. His brother, Major Stanley Dragnich, survived the war.