Caparzo after surviving the D-Day landings.
Adrian Caparzo (1913 - 10 June 1944) was an American soldier serving in the US Army at the rank of Private First Class. He served with the US Army Rangers and was one of the seven Rangers handpicked by Captain John H. Miller after the Normandy landings of World War II to find Private James Francis Ryan. He became the first casualty of the seven ranger team, bleeding out from a sniper shot.
Caparzo after graduating boot camp.
Biography[]
Adrian Caparzo was born in New York City in 1913 to an Italian father and a Puerto Rican mother, being baptized and raised as a Catholic. Caparzo had at least one known sibling, who eventually sired a daughter. He was drafted into the US Army in 1943, and was assigned to C Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion. Caparzo was originally trained as a tank driver, but due to his light skin, he was able to join a white unit instead of a colored one.
D-Day[]
During training, he became close friends with a Jewish Private named Stanley Mellish, whom he nicknamed "Fish". He landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and survived the burst of fire on his LCM. Caparzo reached a hill of shingle with Mellish and PFC Richard Reiben, informing Captain John H. Miller that Medic Irwin Wade was treating Captain Hank Deforest, the Battalion Surgeon who was severely wounded in the chest, and later killed by a shot to the head. Caparzo survived the rest of the landing and helped breach the sea wall. He found a Hitler Youth Knife, which he gave to Mellish. He watched dismally as his friend cried in both relief at having survived the conflict and horror for killing a kid during the fight. Afterward, Caparzo was then assigned to Miller's seven-man rescue team, alongside Mellish, Reiben, Wade, Private Daniel Jackson, Technical Sergeant Michael Horvath, and newcomer Corporal Timothy Upham, who were being sent to rescue paratrooper James Francis Ryan of the US 101st Airborne Division, who lost three brothers during the war.
Death[]
Caparzo bleeding to death in the rain.
While making their way through the town of Neuville, the seven men came across a French family hiding in a destroyed building. Jean, who was the father in the family, tried giving them his daughter, Jacqueline, thinking that she'd be safe with them. Caparzo took her, explaining it would be decent to do so, to which Miller angrily replied that they were to follow orders. After Miller took the child to give back to Jean, a sniper shot rang out, and hit Caparzo in the chest, mortally wounding him. He tried to turn and move, only to fall. As he laid bleeding, he tried to tell his comrades to take a blood-soaked letter written to his father. Jackson took out the sniper that shot Caparzo, but not before Caparzo bleeds to death. Wade took the letter that Caparzo tried giving them, just after Miller removed his dog tags.