Ralph A. Acampora

Ralph Andrew Acampora, 93, of North Haven, Connecticut, a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps and Air Force who served in three major conflicts and continued to support U.S. and NATO operations upon honarable discharge, after a long battle with Parkinson's died peacefully on May 3rd at the VA Medical Center in West Haven holding his daughter's hand.
Mr. Acampora was born in New Haven on June 26, 1929, son of the late John and Bridget Carbone Acampora.
While growing up on Wooster Street in New Haven's Little Italy neighborhood, his dream was to travel the world. He had a passion for aircraft, photography, and was keen to understand and engage with other cultures.
He pursued – and largely fulfilled – these childhood ambitions during his 22 years of Intelligence Service in the military, which played a major role in defining him personally and guided his life's journey, taking him overseas for the majority of his active career.
Master Sargent Acampora's military career started at age 17 with all voluntary enlistments and assignments in California (1946-1951), Japan, Germany, Morocco, Spain and Vietnam (1951-1969) within the Intelligence Service. He faithfully served his country, first in the U.S. Army Air Cop during World War II, and later in the U.S. Air Force during Korea and Vietnam where he served 3 years as a member of the highly classified MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group) secret special operations group unit involved in the command of strategic reconnaissance missions. He later continued his career working for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, and the U.S. Department of Defense in Special Operations supporting NATO countries with deployment in Turkey during 9 years until retirement.
During his retirement he was a member of the American Legion Murray/Reynolds Post #76, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Connecticut Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (NER-CT-073) where he educated young Cadets on inland search and rescue of lost aircrafts.
What he cherished the most in life were his personal experiences while deployed overseas travelling through Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He had a true passion for aircraft, photography and visual and audio documenting – skills which he put to use in military and civilian intelligence. He also enjoyed, learning from different cultures, discovering the beauty of each country – even in those with a hostile environment that put his life at risk. He truly had devotion and was a natural at culturally adapting himself as a local in each country he lived or visited. He learned their languages, participated in their activities and customs, made lifelong friendships in each country, and was always in the company of one of his cameras to capture the scenery.
The answer, when questioned where he enjoyed the most, was Europe. Many of his unique anecdotes reside among its continent. If questioned which country, it would be Spain as the largest length of military assignment took place in Madrid's Air Force Base (1957-1964 and 1967-1969) where he collaborated with local National Service of Intelligence. He developed a fine Castilian Spanish and fell in love discovering the country flying the entire Spanish Peninsula in a two seater airplane which afforded him freedom to land on any open field. He was also full of anecdotes about driving around Europe with his red Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider such as racing in Germany alongside the local police with no speed limit, driving in Madrid at a period of time that had no traffic, and having a brief "big screen" cameo in the Italian-Spanish production "Los Motorizados" (1963) in his red Spider face to face with notorious comedian José Luis López Vázquez.
Upon reflection at the end of his life, he truly cherished the journey. He said he did it all, and that he did it his own way.
Mr. Acampora was the loving father of Christine (Cristina) Acampora, and the late Bridget R. Acampora, both daughters from his marriage with his late former wife Toni (Antonia) Rivera. He is survived by his brother Albert Acampora and sisters Rose (Thomas) Callelo and Valentina (John) Cascio. He was predeceased by siblings Gabriel, Vincent, Cipriano, Anthony, John, Virginia Anastasio and Joseph Acampora. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours will be Saturday morning May 6, 2023 from 10:00 – 11:30am in the Iovanne Funeral Home, Inc. 11 Wooster Place, New Haven. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Michael Church at 12:00pm. Military honors will be rendered immediately following Church.