CDR Drexler is wearing the hat from the USS DREXLER (DD-741) which was named after his uncle Henry Clay Drexler, a recent U. S. Naval Academy graduate who perished while saving lives on the USS TRENTON which was on fire in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia.

Henry Clay Drexler was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery. The USS DREXLER was launched on September 3, 1944 at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine and she was sponsored by Mrs. L. A. Drexler, Clay's mother of Clay's uncle Henry Clay Drexler. The USS DREXLER was commissioned on November 14, 1944. On May 28, 1945, the USS DREXLER was struck by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft during the invasion of Okinawa. While fighting gasoline fires from the kamikaze hit, and shooting down additional Japanese aircraft, the DREXLER was hit again by a Japanese "Frances" P1Y1 twin engine bomber and she rolled over in 50 seconds. The DREXLER suffered a loss of 158 crewman and 52 crewmen were wounded. Clay was involved with annual reunion of the DREXLER survivors.

Update 10/19/14: Commander Clay Drexler passed away on September 14, 2014, after a long illness. He is very rightfully included in my Memoriams gallery on this website, specifically at
http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/mem_clay_drexler where there are photos of him and his eloquent obituary from The Miami Herald.