Biography

Opera, Rudolph (O’Para; Opara); b. June 22, 1910, Cleveland, Ohio; POW; Father Josef Opara (1885-1918), mother Frances Valentic (1889-1971); Machine apprentice; Received Passport# 454438 on June 30, 1937; Domicile Ohio; Sailed July 30, 1937 aboard the Vollendam; Arrived in Spain via Setcases on August 14, 1937; Served with the XV BDE, Lincoln-Washington BN; Rank Soldado; Reported MIA Retreats; Captured April 19, 1938 near the Mediterranean; Freed February 22, 1940; Returned to the US on March 17, 1940 aboard the Exiria; Married Evelyn Alic Rito (1925-1988) on February 20, 1954, in Cook County, Illinois; d. December 30, 1968, Chicago, Illinois, buried in the Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Chicago.

Siblings: brothers Joseph Anthony Opara, and Frank Valentic (1922-2002), sisters Rosa Opara (1913-1918), and Olga Opara LeBaron (1918-1987).

Sources: BN 58 Retreats; Figueres List; RGASPI fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 958, ll. 8, ver arch gen amer; USSDA 2:0813, 58:0425-0550; POW; Letter in Daily Worker, August 25, 1938, p. 2; Anna Marti and Francisco Cabrera, “Escape From Death Row Three Lincoln POWs on Trial,” The Volunteer, Vol. 30, No. 4, December 013, pp. 14-17; Obituary Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1969. Code A

Photograph: Rudolph Opara, from a group photograph of POWs on their return to New York on March 17, 1940, VALB/ALBA.