U.S. Senator Jack Reed on Friday hosted a special military honors ceremony recognizing the service and sacrifice of Technical Sergeant Daniel Rapoza, Sr., a World War II airman from Tiverton who died in action in 1944.
Rapoza, who served as a flight engineer on a B-24L Liberator assigned to the 10th Air Force, 7th Bombardment Group, 493rd Bombardment Squadron, was killed when his plane crashed during a search mission over Burma. He was 21 years old.
At the ceremony, Reed presented members of the Rapoza family with the medals Sgt. Rapoza earned during his service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Honorable Service Lapel Button, and Marksman Badges.
Born in 1923 to Jacintho and Emily Rapoza, Daniel grew up in Southeastern Massachusetts and joined the U.S. Army Air Corps at age 19. He married his wife, Lena, in 1940, and their son, Daniel Jr., was born while he was away in training. After becoming an airplane mechanic at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute, he deployed as a flight engineer in the Pacific theater.
On November 5, 1944, his bomber was part of a six-plane formation searching for a missing B-29 over the Bay of Bengal. Rapoza’s aircraft separated from the group and never returned. A later search confirmed it had crashed in the Banjhikusame Mountain Range in Burma, with no survivors.
Reed, an Army veteran and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the medals help ensure Rapoza’s heroism is remembered by future generations.
For his son, Daniel Jr., the long-awaited recognition brings closure after decades of searching for his father’s military records.
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