Two army rangers — both at or near 100 years-old — will be honored for their courageous service during World War II, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Speaker Mike Johnson will award all of the U.S. rangers who fought in the Second World War with the Congressional Gold Medal Thursday, including those who have since died. Rangers Joseph Drake, 100, and John Wardell, 99, will travel to the U.S. Capitol Thursday to receive the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress — nearly eight decades after the war’s conclusion.
The event will be attended by congressional leadership and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Johnson is expected to lavish heavy praise on the army rangers’ heroism, calling Wardell and Drake “America’s best,” according to an advanced copy of Johnson’s remarks obtained by the DCNF.
“The day these men arrived on the rocky shores of Northern Ireland for training, the fate of the free world was sealed,” Johnson is expected to say. “The Rangers came from every corner of American life. They were welders and waiters, factory hands and musicians.”
“They were ordinary men who stared down death in the face and – by the grace of God – achieved the extraordinary,” Johnson is expected to add. “They were men of steel who, with fighting knives tightly in hand, fought back with everything they had. They were America’s best.”
Drake, who joined the U.S. Army at the age of 19, was a part of the 2nd Ranger Battalion and fought with the Army Rangers in northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Czechoslovakia against German troops. He returned to U.S. soil in October 1945 just a day before his 21st birthday, according to a biography detailing his service.
Wardell, also served as a member of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, and participated in the Allied invasion of Normandy, France in June 1944, commonly-known as D-Day. He joined the Army at age 18 and was honorably discharged in the fall of 1945.
Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Democratic Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a former army ranger, spearheaded legislation in both chambers to posthumously award the more than 7,000 army rangers who served in World War II with the Congressional Gold Medal. Just 15 army rangers were still living as of May 2022, according to a press release from Crow’s office.
Four army rangers are expected to watch Thursday’s ceremony from home, a spokesperson for Johnson told the DCNF.
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