{"id":29142,"date":"2025-06-21T18:32:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T18:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=29142"},"modified":"2025-06-21T18:32:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T18:32:44","slug":"world-war-ii-hero-buried-81-years-after-being-killed-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=29142","title":{"rendered":"World War II Hero Buried 81 Years After Being Killed In Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Felix Shostak Abandoned Life As A Chef To Defend American Freedom<\/h2>\n

An American World War II soldier had been missing for 81 years, but his remains have now been laid to rest \u2014 with full military honors.<\/p>\n

Staff Sergeant Felix John Shostak, affectionately known as \u201cPhil\u201d by his family, died at the age of 24 on August 18, 1944, in Northern France, according to\u00a0his obituary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Felix<\/div>\n
Choosing to enlist in World War II, Staff Sergeant Felix Shostak died in German-occupied France in 1944, but his remains were not found until 2008. On June 14, 2025, he was finally buried in Vermont. (Photo credit: Aldous Funeral Home & Cremation Service, and Lenny Couture \/ Facebook)<\/div>\n
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This fact was not known to his surviving family until recently, and the story of how his remains were found is amazing.<\/p>\n

About Felix Shostak<\/h2>\n

After graduating with the class of 1938 from Proctor High School in Proctor, Vermont, Shostak studied culinary arts to become a chef.<\/p>\n

By the time the United States was brought into World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was working at Rutland Restaurant. Five months after Japan\u2019s surprise attack, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corp.<\/p>\n

During the funeral held for Shostak on June 14, Shostak\u2019s eldest nephew recalled that he grew up knowing his uncle had enlisted, telling his father,\u00a0\u201c\u2019How can I allow my brothers to go to the front lines to be killed, while I hide in the kitchen?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Serving as a Top Turret Gunner on the B-24H \u201cBolicat\u201d with the 860th Bomber Squadron, 493rd Bomber Group, his time in the war led him to a fateful day: August 18, 1944.<\/p>\n

While preparing to bomb a German airfield in Northern France that day, Shostak\u2019s plane\u00a0\u201cwas hit by enemy flak, causing the plane to catch fire and crash near Boussicourt, France,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0his obituary stated. Only one soldier onboard the plane survived, with the other eight crew members, including SS Shostak, being presumed dead.<\/p>\n

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