Alexander Albert Drabik was born here in a log cabin on December 28, 1910, to John Drabik and Frances Lewandowski, Polish immigrants from Szymborze, Germany, now Poland. The youngest son among 14 children, he attended Door Street School and worked as a meat cutter before enlisting in the United States Army in October 1942. He fought in the Ardennes, Central Europe, and Rhineland Campaigns of World War II and received a Purple Heart during the Battle of the Bulge. On March 7, 1945, Sergeant Drabik led 10 Company A soldiers of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 9th Armored Division across the Ludendorff railroad bridge from Remagen, Germany, to the east bank of the Rhine River. Though the bridge had been prepared for demolition, they ran through enemy fire, cleared bridge towers of snipers and demolition crews, and eradicated snipers and gun crews along the bank and cliffs. They secured the first bridgehead across the Rhine, shortening the war and saving tens of thousands of lives. Drabik was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on March 27, 1945, for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy and unflinching valor. Later, as a butcher and cement plant repairman, he and his wife Margaret Feeney raised a daughter, Rita.