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Press Release | Jan. 21, 2025

Pilot Accounted For From World War II (Shostak, F.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Felix J. Shostak, 24, of Proctor, Vermont, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 19, 2023.

Shostak's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared. 

In August of 1944, Shostak was assigned to the 860th Bombardment Squadron, 493rd Bombardment Group, in the European Theater of Operations. On Aug 18, Shostak was a crewmember onboard a B-24H “Liberator,” when it was struck by anti-aircraft fire after a bombing raid on a German position near Boussicourt, France. Only one airman survived, while the other eight crew members, including Shostak, were still on board. German records indicate the bomber crashed roughly two kilometers west of Boussicourt, where the remains of several individuals were recovered and buried.

Beginning in 1945, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. Following the war, the AGRC disinterred and identified six sets of remains recovered from the village cemetery at Pierrepont-sur-Avre, France. At the time they were unable to identify Shostak and one other crewmember.

In 2018, DPAA investigators excavated a site near Boussicourt which they believe correlated with Shostak’s crash site. While there, they were able to recover possible remains along with other materials believed to be associated with the B-24H.  This new evidence, along with previously unidentified remains, were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis and identification.

To identify Shostak’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Shostak’s name is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at 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.

Shostak will be buried in Proctor, Vermont in June 2025.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaahttps://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaahttps://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.