DNA identifies WWII airman Stephen Fatur, bringing Pennsylvania family long-awaited closure

Stephen Fatur was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania before he joined the U.S. military during World War II.

In 1945, according to military officials, the 19-year-old died as a tail gunner on a B-17G Flying Fortress on a bombing mission near Glinica, Poland. His plane was shot down by German fighter planes.

For more than eight decades, his family, who called the staff sergeant “Johnny,” didn’t know if he would ever make it back home to Slickville, Pennsylvania, which is in Westmoreland County — around 29 miles from Pittsburgh.

“There was always something missing in our family,” Kristen Barnett, one of Fatur’s nieces, said. “He was the missing piece. We always had his picture up. It wasn’t Johnny. He wasn’t distant. He was Uncle Johnny.”

Barnett is the youngest niece of the late Westmoreland County war hero. Cheryl Lutz is the oldest niece. However, neither of them knew their uncle before he passed.

“We knew him through our mother and grandmother,” Lutz said. “Even as a young child, we grieved with them when they were grieving.”

All that the living family members have to remember Fatur by are the stories told by their elders.

“They told stories and talked about when Delmont had a parade in 1945 when the war was over,” Lutz said. “They couldn’t participate because of their grief.”

Monday morning, instead of a parade, after 81 years, the family participated in a procession honoring the late hero in the streets of Delmont.

“This is history in the making,” Terry Valore, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran from Slickville, said. “I remember what it was like when I got to come home. If you were a soldier or a soldier boy, you would want this kind of turnout. He was a kid when he left. He was a kid when he died. He’s finally coming home.”

Local veterans, residents, and family members of Fatur lined the streets as the Slickville native’s remains were brought back after being identified through DNA testing earlier this year.

“I was contacted, as the oldest, and told that his remains had been positively identified through the DNA analysis,” Lutz said. “The POW/MIA Accounting Agency contacted my mother for her DNA [in 2017]. They’re actively searching for remains all over the world.”

The gratitude from the community was felt on the ride to Fatur’s final resting place.

“All of us in the car were crying,” Lutz said. “It was overwhelming to see the support.”

Fatur returned home with full military honors. He was brought to Twin Valley Memorial Park by a meaningful relative.

“My son, who is in the Navy, was the special escort who brought him home,” Barnett said. “We’re a military family. Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough to everyone.”

As Staff Sgt. Johnny’s family finally has closure, they want other military families to not lose hope.

“No soldier gets left behind,” Barnett said. “They are going to keep searching until everyone is brought home. My heart grieves for everyone who doesn’t have closure because we have it now. He’s home.”

Twin Valley Memorial Park in Delmont, Pennsylvania, is close to 10 minutes from Staff Sgt. Fatur’s hometown.