WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Henry L. Stevens, 23, of Monroe, Louisiana, killed in action during World War II, was accounted for on September 15, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today. Sgt. Stevens was accounted for in September, but it was not until recently that his family received a full briefing of his identification, according to the agency.
In late 1944, Stevens was assigned to the 557th Bombardment Squadron, 387th Bombardment Group, Ninth U.S. Air Force, in the European Theater of Operations, as maintained by DPAA. On December 23, Stevens was a crew member aboard a B-26F "Marauder" aircraft, nicknamed Shirley D, which was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Bitburg, Germany, while returning from a bombing raid.
Shirley D took damage to the right engine, causing a massive fire that forced the crew to bail out. Survivors saw Shirley D crash near Winville, Belgium, with several crew members, including Stevens, still on board.
A few days after the crash, a set of remains was recovered from the crash site near Houmont by a number of Belgian residents and turned over to U.S. forces operating in the area. American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel initially identified the pilot, while the other set of remains remained unidentified.
Everyone from Stevens’s aircraft had been identified and accounted for by December 26, 1944, except for Stevens, and he was declared non-recoverable, authorities reported.
DPAA personnel returned to the crash site near Winville, Belgium, in 2013, where they recovered materials associated with the crashed B-26. Later in 2019, according to the agency, while working in conjunction with researchers from the University of Wisconsin, possible remains were located and sent to the DPAA laboratory for testing and possible identification. To identify Stevens’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Stevens’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neupré, Belgium, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, DPAA stated.
Stevens will be buried on March 8, 2024, in Bushnell, Florida. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA published a story in June 2021 about Stevens’s recent recovery effort, which can be read here: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/2648849/dpaa-completes-recovery-operations-in-belgium/.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Stevens’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001nzat1EAA.
