First Lieutenant Sousa was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 9th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter Bomber Group. He was struck by a rocket that accidentally fired in an ammunition dump. He was taken to the Itazuke Air Base, Japan, where he died on 7 July 1950.

Sousa was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.