SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 499 Offered February 12, 2007 Celebrating the life of Corporal Nicholas P. Rapavi. ---------- Patron-- O'Brien ----------

WHEREAS, United States Marine Corporal Nicholas P. Rapavi of Springfield died in the line of duty in Iraq on November 24, 2006; and

WHEREAS, Nicholas Rapavi had wanted to join the Marines since high school and two days after he graduated from Bryant Alternative High School in Alexandria in 2003, he left for boot camp; and

WHEREAS, Nicholas Rapavi was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and he advanced in the ranks to become a corporal and to lead a squad of as many as 12 Marines; and

WHEREAS, Corporal Rapavi had been deployed overseas twice before going to Iraq in July 2006; his first deployment took him to Afghanistan where he survived an ambush and earned a Navy Achievement Medal and his second deployment included missions in Africa and Iraq; and

WHEREAS, on November 24, 2006, Corporal Rapavi's squad was on patrol in Al Anbar province when he was fatally wounded by sniper fire; and

WHEREAS, Corporal Rapavi is remembered as an outgoing, unselfish, and fair person and a natural leader who was always more concerned about the welfare of the members of his squad than about himself; and

WHEREAS, Corporal Rapavi will be keenly missed by his parents, Paul Rapavi and Cathy Rapavi-Burnley, his two brothers, Christopher and Jonathan, and many other family members and friends; and

WHEREAS, Corporal Rapavi's death is a reminder of the hazards faced daily by the thousands of young Americans who serve in our armed forces overseas and whose devotion to duty places them in harm's way; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of a courageous and patriotic Virginian, Nicholas P. Rapavi; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Nicholas P. Rapavi as an expression of the high regard in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the citizens of Virginia.