Joe Drewry

News Obituary Article

Joe Drewry, 85, pursued Hitler, sturdy foundations

By DERRICK HENRY

During World War II, Joe Drewry served in an Army unit assigned to capture or kill Adolf Hitler.

In Atlanta, the engineer designed sturdy structures for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and so distinguished himself as a Boy Scout leader that he earned a Silver Beaver award, one of Scouting's highest honors.

Ten days after graduating from Virginia Military Institute in 1942, Mr. Drewry entered military service as a second lieutenant.

"We both ended up in a special artillery unit to go through the Alps and kill Hitler," said Kimberly Bradson of Elkton, Va., a retired colonel who fought with Mr. Drewry. "I became the battery commander and Joe was the battery executive officer."

Their 602nd Field Artillery unit gathered in Italy and trudged through the Alps with 99 mules and 14 horses, each mule carrying one piece of artillery, Mr. Bradson said. "When we got to our destination, Hitler had escaped to Berlin."

The 602nd was reassigned to southern France, "where we fought in the mountains until we killed almost all of the Germans there," Mr. Bradson said. "Then we went into Germany, and the war ended."

Mr. Drewry, who achieved the rank of colonel during a 31-year military career, was "willing to do anything to follow a plan to the end," Mr. Bradson said. "He was a fine officer with good stick-to-it, and he was my right-hand man."

Joe S. Drewry Jr., 85, of Sandy Springs, died Tuesday of cancer at the Newnan home of his daughter, Kay Drewry Schroeder. The body was cremated. The memorial service is 2 p.m. today at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church. Metro Crematory, Peachtree City, is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Drewry's military service brought him to Fort McPherson as a reservist, and he settled in Atlanta in 1963. Using the architectural engineering and chemistry degrees he earned at VMI, Mr. Drewry became the vice president of Kiernan and Gregory's Atlanta branch, designing agricultural fertilizer plants.

"There was a tornado in Alabama that leveled almost everything, but didn't destroy the plant my father designed," his daughter said. "After that, FEMA contacted him to design structures for them. He would go into devastated areas in the Southeast and rebuild structures that would withstand severe weather."

In the mid-1980s, Mr. Drewry opened his engineering consulting firm, Drewry and Associates, and he began building homes in the Roswell area.

"Dad told me he would go in when the workers were laying the foundation, and would put a marble on the foundation. If it rolled, he knew it wasn't level, and he would make them fix it. He said that if the foundation was not perfect, everything on up would be compromised, and that was his philosophy in life: a strong foundation to build on."

Upon moving to Atlanta, Mr. Drewry joined Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, where he was an usher at Sunday services for 43 years and led the Boy Scout troop. Mr. Drewry also helped with church projects, such as Habitat for Humanity. At the church's annual Great Day of Service, Mr. Drewry's job was at the grill, cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for the volunteers.

Mr. Drewry enjoyed people and enjoyed life, his daughter said.

"I told my father, 'You are like kudzu. You grow on people and are hard to get rid of. You have a deep root system.'"

Other survivors include a son, Chris Drewry of Orange Park, Fla.; a sister, Betty Bamman of Christiansburg, Va.; and four grandsons.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution