6/21/1943
T/SGT Harry F. Rapp and 2LT Robert B. Rodger were killed on 21 June 1943. T/SGT Rapp and 2LT Rodger were both assigned to 5th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad (Separate), 707th Ordnance Company, 7th Infantry Division, which was the first bomb disposal unit to participate in an invasion during World War II. The 5th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad (Separate) was part of the Attu Island invasion force in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. T/SGT Rapp and 2LT Rodger were fatally injured by attempting to render safe a U.S. 500lb bom in a shaft only a few weeks after the landing on Attu Island (11 May 1943). The bomb carried a U.S. AN-M123 Chemical long delay, anti-withdrawal tail fuze they were not aware of, resulting in the detonation.
Born: 21 Feb 1916
Died 21 June 1943 – Age 27
Buried: Arlington National Cemetary, Arlington, VA Plot: , Section 12, Site 107
*This bio was researched and authored by SGM Mike R. Vining, USA (Retired) with supporting research from the books, Nine from Aberdeen, by Jeffrey M. Leatherwood, Ph.D., and Bomb Disposal, The Early Years of Explosive Ordnance Disposal, 1940 to 1949, by LTC Robert E. Leiendecker, USA (Retired)