It's always Memorial Day for Providence man who honors 4 cousins killed in World War II

PROVIDENCE − James Draper's extended family paid a high price in World War II, losing three young sailors and a soldier, but Draper continues honoring them and keeping their memories alive decades later.

The four men, cousins, all came from Rhode Island. Their names, Charles M. Hird, Donald Leonard Draper, James Walter Hird and Raymond Alvah Draper, are engraved in the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

James Draper never met his four "uncles," but he visits the memorial annually, carrying their photographs and typically handing out cards to visitors so they can get to know a little more about his relatives.

"They were all young men," Draper said, noting the oldest was 26. "They never got to live some modicum of life."

"These are Rhode Islanders. They're Providence guys," said Draper, himself a Providence resident and business owner.

RI has a strong connection to World War II Memorial

He's especially pleased that they're among the 405,399 Americans honored at the memorial designed by Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian because the memorial's construction was funded primarily by private donations from regular people.

What's toughest for Draper, and can still choke him up after all these years, is that the bodies of "two of the boys" were never recovered.

Born in 1953, Draper will soon turn 71. The four men were cousins of Draper's father. Draper refers to them as his "uncles," although they are technically cousins once removed.

He was named for a relative who died in World War II

Born too late to have met his cousins, Draper remembers photographs of them in his grandparents' home. Draper, whose middle name is Hird, was named for one of them, James Walter Hird.

"We know my parents honored him by doing that," Draper said.

Draper's father, Richard Alan Draper, served as a Navy salvage diver during World War II. He fought in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and other major Pacific engagements. He made it home.

They died in some of the war's most important battles

The four cousins joined the war effort early, when Germany and Japan were racking up big victories over the allies. They "all have amazing stories tied to the war and some of the most important battles fought," Draper said.

Donald Leonard Draper died at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal when his light cruiser, the USS Juneau, was torpedoed and sank on Nov. 13, 1942. The explosion and sinking killed 687 soldiers and sailors, including, infamously, the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa. Only 10 men survived.

James Walter Hird was killed in action when his ship was blown up off Normandy in June 1944, according to James Draper. "He's buried there," James Draper said. Hird had previously served in the Pacific and survived a ship sinking.

Raymond Alvah Draper was serving aboard the USS St. Augustine, which was escorting a convoy from New York City to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when it was accidentally rammed by a merchant ship off Cape May, N.J., on Jan. 6, 1944. The collision killed 115, and just 30 were rescued from the icy water.

Charles M. Hird died while serving with the U.S. Army in North Africa, where German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox," was leading German and Italian forces.

A chance meeting with a veteran from RI in Washington, D.C.

James Draper has done a lot of research to learn what he could about his cousins, but he may know the least about Charles Hird, which is one reason he was so pleased about a serendipitous meeting he had with a veteran at the World War II Memorial.

James Draper began a conversation with the veteran, told him about his relatives and was surprised to learn the veteran had grown up with Charles Hird in the Smith Hill neighborhood of Providence. They played ball together as kids. He was "one of the first" to enlist, the veteran told James Draper.

When Draper thinks about his cousins, he feels a "quiet respect" and finds himself wondering what their lives might have become if they survived the war.

As his relatives felt a duty to fight for their country decades ago, Draper believes it's his duty "to venerate them, to remember them."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Memorial days: Providence man honors 4 relatives lost in World War II