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Personal info

Full name
STEPKO, Francis Paul
Date of birth
1921
Age
unknown
Place of birth
New Jersey
Hometown
Somerset County, New Jersey

Military service

Service number
32595390
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
501st Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
19 December 1944
Place of death
Near Bastogne, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
B 10 55

Immediate family

Members
Magdalena Stepko (mother)
Frances Stepko (twin sister)
Anna Krowski (stepsister)
Benjamin Krowski (stepbrother)
Joseph Krowski (stepbrother)
Bertha (Goglas) Stepko (wife)
Francis P. Stepko Jr. (son)
Walter Stepko (son)

More information

Pvt Francis P. Stepko was a welder and flame cutter before he enlisted in Newark, New Jersey, on 28 November 1942 and trained with the 407th Infantry at Camp Swift, Texas, later transferring to the paratroopers. He completed his paratroop training at Fort Benning, Georgia in August 1943, where he received special training in radio communications and was adjudged one of the best of his class. He went overseas shortly after. He had seen action in Holland and Belgium.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Grand Failly, France.

Pvt Stepko had two sons, one 22 months old and the other was born on 20 January 1945.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Astrid van Erp, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Birth Certificate of son, http://www.ww2-airborne.us
Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Luxembourg American Cemetery