Roman Drapinski
Staff Sergeant Roman Drapinski lived at 1468 South 10th Street, in the mostly Polish neighborhood anchored by St. Joseph's Catholic Church. He was born in the United States in 1918 to Stanislaw and Victoria Drapinski, but had gone back to Poland at an early age, and received all of his education there, before returning to America in 1938, at age 19, to stay with his brother Adam and work in Adam's wholesale meat business. His parents and one brother remained in Poland.
Roman Drapinski attempted to enlist in the Army in 1940, but was turned down, as he was not fluent in English at that time. He was inducted in September of 1941, and rapidly advanced through the ranks — from corporal to technical sergeant to staff sergeant. He served at Fort Dix NJ, Fort Knox KY, and Camp Campbell KY, and was assigned to the 53rd Armored Engineer Battalion, 12th Armored Division.
In early July of 1943, he wrote his family that he had received two medals and that “the next time he came home he would be all decorated up like a Polish general.”
Staff Sergeant Roman Drapinski was killed on July 18, 1943. While demonstrating the use of dynamite to a group of soldiers, a premature explosion occurred, fatally wounding him. He was injured Saturday and died Sunday night in the station hospital at Camp Campbell. General Carlos Brewer, the division commanding officer, sent a letter to the family praising the sergeant for his efficiency.
There are conflicting accounts as to what became of his family in Poland. According to the Camden Courier-Post, his father had died in Poland, his mother Victoria was unaccounted for somewhere in Europe, and his brother Stanislaw was a prisoner of the Nazis, captured while fighting with the Polish Army during the Axis invasion. A 1949 booklet from St. Joseph Church of Camden stated that he was survived by his parents, Stanley and Victoria Drapinski, a sister, Helen, and two brothers, Adam and William.
Grave of Staff Sergeant Roman Drapinski
Tag: roman-drapinski
Polish Heroes War Memorial
The Polish Heroes War Memorial at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J. (Park Drive and Route 130) unites three monuments — to Casimir Pulaski (1936, moved here 1984), Thaddeus Kosciusko (1984), and, since 1995, the members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church of South Camden who died in World War II.
St. Joseph's Parish WWII War Memorial
A bronze plaque in the vestibule of St. Joseph Church at 10th and Liberty Streets in Camden, presented by the Catholic War Veterans, St. Joseph's Post 418, and dedicated April 3, 1949, honoring the parish's heroic war dead of World War II.
St. Joseph's Church Keeps in Touch with Men and Women in Armed Forces
A 1944 Camden Courier-Post feature by Frank Sheridan on St. Joseph's Church (the Polish parish at Tenth and Mechanic Streets), whose 1,154 mothers gave sons and daughters to the war — four killed, two missing, one a prisoner — among them Joseph Piotrowski, lost when the cruiser Helena was sunk at Kula Gulf.
1150 Camden Poles In Service Honored
A service flag honoring 1,150 St. Joseph's Parish men and women in the armed forces was unfurled at Tenth and Mechanic Streets, where Mayor Brunner pinned gold stars on the mothers and a brother of parishioners killed or missing in World War II. Courier-Post, August 31, 1943.
Blast Injuries Kill Soldier From Camden
The Camden Courier-Post reports the death of Staff Sgt. Roman Drapinski, 1468 South Tenth Street, killed by a premature dynamite explosion while giving instructions in its handling at Camp Campbell.