Though he hated running, Cpl. Nicholas Rapavi joined a 5K race a few Octobers ago just to be with his brothers and dad, an avid runner.
That’s just the sort of guy he was, his family said. He put family first.
Rapavi, 22, of Springfield, died Friday when he was shot in the neck while on duty in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, said his mother, Cathy Rapavi-Burnley.
He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Growing up, Rapavi wanted nothing more than to be a Marine, said his father, Paul Rapavi.
“He was proud to be a Marine, and we were proud of him,” Paul Rapavi said.
Rapavi, who left for Iraq in July, was on his third deployment; but as a squad leader, this time he got to pick his men. His top priority was making sure they all returned safe, but he lost a man in September, his family said. He was also shot in the stomach in the attack — a magazine clip stopped the bullet.
“He told me he’d never let anything like that happen again,” said his brother Jonathan Rapavi, 20, a student at the University of Tennessee. “He said he’d rather die first.”
Rapavi is also survived by another brother, Christopher, 18, and a girlfriend, Laura Stah.
Stah’s father was Rapavi’s Little League coach, but a relationship didn’t spark until Stah’s mother invited Rapavi to dinner shortly before he deployed this summer.
“She said it was magical,” Rapavi-Burnley said of the phone call she received from Stah’s mother later. “She said she’d never seen anyone fall in love but, ‘I saw it last night.’ I’m thankful for that time so he could fall in love and know what it was like to have someone.”
A burial at Arlington National Cemetery is being planned, Rapavi-Burnley said.
