A Naval hero’s life

The American Thinker ^ | Feb. 11, 2005 | John B. Dwyer

[Kitten Festival]

Reviewing AMERICA’S FIRST FROGMAN, The Draper Kauffman Story, by Elizabeth K. Bush. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2004. 220 pages, photos, appendices, index.

Elizabeth K. Bush, sister-in-law of former president George H.W. Bush (who wrote the Foreward), has delivered an overdue biography of her brother, Rear Admiral Draper L. Kauffman. She tells the story well, spicing it with anecdotes, excerpts from Kauffman’s letters, while making full use of the admiral’s oral history. Here was a man who packed several adventurous lifetimes into his 66 years.

Son of career naval officer James L. Kauffman, Draper dutifully entered Annapolis. Denied a commission due to poor eyesight, he left a nice job with a steamship company in 1940, went to France and joined the American Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Captured by the Germans 6 weeks later, Kauffman, holder of the Croix de Guerre, was repatriated after spending several months in a POW camp. Making his way to England, he talked his way into a berth with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, and then volunteered for a bomb disposal unit. Obviously, his eyesight was good enough for the Brits. For a year he conducted nerve-wracking de-fusing missions, sustaining injuries but returning to the job. The last one almost killed him. He returned to the States in September 1941. A month later, US Naval Reserve LT Draper Kauffman was assigned the job of establishing a US Navy Bomb Disposal School.

[Kitten Festival]

A great read of another great read - this naval hero's name should be common knowledge!