Ewart T. Sconiers

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Ewart T. Sconiers, missing from World War II has now been identified in 2017 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). On Oct. 21, 1942, Sconiers was a member of the 414th Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group, serving as the bombardier on the B-17F Flying Fortress, during a mission to bomb the German U-boat pens at Lorient, France. During the attack, the aircraft received severe damage, but the entire crew parachuted safely, landing in water near Brest, France, where they were picked up by a French fishing vessel and turned over to German forces as prisoners of war. The Americans were sent to Dulag Luft in Oberusal, Germany for interrogation, and on Nov. 11, 1942, Sconiers was transferred to Stalag Luft II in Sagan, Germany (present-day Zagan, Poland), where he remained until Jan 9, 1944. Sconiers was reported to have died Jan. 24, 1944. In 2015, during an independent investigation, a headstone with Sconiers name was identified in Poland. The remains were disinterred in 2016 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. Laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains. His name is permanently engraved on the Walls of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery.