Warren Fales Draper

Who was Warren Fales Draper?

Warren Fales Draper was Assistant Surgeon General and later Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1910 Draper entered the Public Health Service, completing a two-year tour on the west coast followed by assignments near Washington D.C. During World War I he was commissioned by the U. S. Army as a sanitation officer, working at Camp Lee and Newport News, both in Virginia, and then conducting relief activities during influenza outbreaks in New England and Pennsylvania. Dr. Draper returned to the Public Health Service in 1919, and in 1922 was promoted to Assistant Surgeon General ahead of his peers. When the Virginia State Commissioner of Health died in 1931, the state's governor borrowed Dr. Draper to fill the position, which he did for three years. Five years after once again returning to the Public Health Service, in 1939, Draper was appointed as the Deputy Surgeon General, which position he held until his retirement.

During World War II, Draper was brought into the United States Army with the rank of brigadier general, and served in Europe under General Dwight D. Eisenhower as a member of the Civil Affairs Branch of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Put in charge of the Public Health division, he was quickly promoted to major general, and received recognition for his work with the vexing public health issues created by the war, and their impact on the ability of the Allies to fight. Dr. Draper returned to the Public Health Service after the war, and retired from that organization in 1947.