Airman from Westmoreland County killed in World War II now accounted for

An airman from Westmoreland who was killed in World War II is coming home.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency just announced that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur, 19, of Slickville, was accounted for back in July.

Information is being released now because his family was only recently fully briefed.

Officials say Fatur served as a tailgunner aboard a B-17G “Flying Fortress” bomber during WWII. On March 22, 1945, his aircraft went down during a bombing mission in Poland. Seven of ten crewmembers were killed, including Fatur, but his remains were not accounted for after the war.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command searched for the remains of U.S. servicemen in Europe. But their investigations in Soviet occupied zone of Europe, including Poland, were severely limited.

Then, between 2019 and 2024, five excavations were conducted in the area where Fatur’s aircraft crashed. During those excavations, possible remains were recovered.

Those remains were transferred to a lab for analysis. After dental, anthropological and DNA analysis, along with the use of circumstantial evidence, Fatur’s remains were identified.

Fatur’s 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.

He will be buried in Delmont at a later date.

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