U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur, of Slickville, Pa., was a tailgunner on a B-17 bomber in March 1945, when his aircraft was shot down over Poland.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA \u2014 The remains of a Pennsylvania airman lost during World War II have been identified after nearly 80 years, the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur, of Slickville in Westmoreland County, was killed while participating in a bombing mission over Poland on March 22, 1945, the DPAA said.<\/p>\n
Experts used DNA samples, dental and anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence to positively identify his remains on July 9, 2025, the DPAA said.<\/p>\n
During World War II, Fatur, 19, was assigned to 429th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force. He served as the tailgunner aboard a B-17G \u201cFlying Fortress\u201d bomber.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On March 22, 1945, during a bombing mission near the village of Glinica, Poland, Fatur\u2019s aircraft crashed. Seven of the 10 crewmembers, including Fatur, were killed. His remains were not accounted for after the war.<\/p>\n
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (ARGC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S. servicemen in Europe as part of the global effort to identify and return fallen servicemen for honored burials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AGRC investigations in the Soviet occupied zone of Europe, including Poland, were severely limited.<\/p>\n
Between 2019 and 2024, DPAA partnered with Alta Archaeological Consulting to plan and conduct five excavations at the site where Fatur\u2019s aircraft crashed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the excavations, teams led by Alta recovered possible remains, which were transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for scientific analysis.<\/p>\n
Fatur\u2019s name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n
Fatur will be buried in Westmoreland County on a date yet to be determined, according to the DPAA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur, of Slickville, Pa., was a tailgunner on a B-17…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-116400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}