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RRD was attending college when the war broke out. Northeastern University accelerated his coursework, allowing him to graduate in April 1943. He promptly enlisted and expressed interest in the AAF's Cadet Pilot program.

Shipped to Nashville, he passed the qualifying tests and proceeded to Santa Ana, California for preliminary training. Pilot training took place at Blythe, California, at the Morton Air Academy. Unable to coordinate hand and foot controls, he washed out and elected to take radio technician training at Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

After showing superior skills at code and radio operation, he went to Yuma, Arizona for gunnery training. He then shipped to Westover, Massachusetts for crew assignments, and then trained with his crew at Savannah, Georgia.

As part of the Air Transport Command, the crew flew a new B-24 to Italy, via the Azores and North Africa. Assigned to the 454th Bomb Group (15th Air Force), flying out of San Giovanni Puglie, the crew was on only its second mission together when an engine failure lead to a crash landing in Yugoslavia (Croatia).

The crew were taken as POWs and most were liberated at Moosberg, Germany in April 1945.