December 7, 2015 at 1:35 p.m.
WWII veteran celebrates 90th birthday
WWII veteran celebrates 90th birthday
By Kayla Thomason-
Druckrey enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a teenager and served for more than two years. Druckrey, who is originally from Shawano, was in his last year of high school when he joined the military and was deployed before he graduated.
"When it came to graduation my mother had to walk up there and get my diploma," he said, noting that he was one of many who signed up to serve.
"Every county in that time had to furnish so many men for the service," he said. "So many had to go every month out of the place and being a farming community you couldn't let the farm boys go, so they'd take anybody else."
Druckrey was first sent to Okinawa Island, Japan, and then China, where he helped to push the Japanese back to Japan.
"(The Headquarters Battalion) spread us out throughout the city and we had to keep communication and we had to use some of their telephone lines," he said. "They did a good job, got everybody out of there and it was a big deal too because we talked to the guys who remember taking them out of Beijing, the big city. They had to take them down to the waterfront and there was a man from Rhinelander here (who) drove a truck that hauled them down there and back to Japan. They went without a thing, they didn't take anything back."
People tend to ask Druckrey how he looks so young. Sporting a youthful complexion, he appears to be closer to 70 than 90.
While he was in China he visited the Forbidden City, which boasts a fountain that people claim is the Fountain of Youth, and took a drink of the water.
He doesn't know if that drink has played a hand in his longevity, or if his youthful looks are just the result of good genetics, but either way he's grateful to be in good health.
"I feel good and I don't have nothing wrong with me," he said.
On their return trip home the ship Druckrey was on sailed next to Hawaii, but no one was allowed off the vessel.
"The only thing I didn't like about the trip home is we stopped in Hawaii and they wouldn't even let us off the boat," he said. "Then when we left, you go into a slip with the ship - and they wouldn't let us off the boat at all - so we were mad about that. So then when we left we waved with our one finger at them all," he added with a laugh.
Everyone was so disappointed that they couldn't properly visit Hawaii, but Druckrey was happy to be going home.
A few years after he got out of the military he got married and had five children.
He worked for the railroad, which brought him to Rhinelander.
"I've had a good life," he said smiling.
He celebrated his 90th birthday with his family earlier this month, in the Minocqua/Woodruff area, and was happy to share it with his friends from Coffee and Company.
"I think (the birthday party here is) wonderful," he said. "When I got back (from the war) I was too old to have birthday parties because I got married a couple of years after I got back."
Nancy Cain organized the birthday party. She is drawn to veterans and strives to help them.
"My father was killed in Wold War II in the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 20 - the day before my fifth birthday - so I've always kind of go towards veterans and I kind of just got into that," she said, adding that Druckrey is loved by everyone at Coffee and Company.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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