William N. Tapp enlisted in the service from Miami, Dade County Florida on 24 November 1924. He and a few of his buddies left high school their Junior year and enlisted together.

Pam (Tapp) Wilson, his daughter shares "after WWII my Dad reenlisted (or perhaps was recalled) for Korean War. While stationed at Westover AFB in Massachusetts, he was TDY to Germany, flying back from the flying back through the Azores. His plane (he was co-pilot and there were nine on board) stopped for fuel, and took off. Apparently there were some problems (navigational system?) with the plane pretty quickly, so they returned to have them repaired and spent the night. The next morning they took off again, radioed the Azores control tower per protocol 30 minutes out from the Azores, and that was the last communication from this flight".