Name: Stephen Slabak

 

Service number: 32282144

 

Born: 1918, Ohio

 

Hometown: Lackawanna, Erie County, New York

 

Family: 

 

John Slabak (father)

Catherine Slabak (mother)

Mary Slabak (sister)

 

Rank: Technician Fifth Class

 

Division: 87th Infantry Division

 

Regiment: 87th Reconnaissance Troop

 

Enlistment: 25 April 1942, Buffalo, New York

 

Status: KIA

 

Date of death: March 8 1945

 

Awards: Purple Heart

 

Grave Number: Plot H Row 02 Grave 05

 

Cemetery: American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle

 

Other information:

Stephen played basketball and was starting center for Niagara University near Niagara Falls, New York. After graduating with a B. S. degree he worked for Curtiss-Wright and the International Milling Company. In 1941 he started working for Colonial  as a cost clerk. In March 1942 he left for the Army. After training and attending cavalry school he was sent overseas in November 1944. He was KIA in Weisbaum, Germany on March 8, 1945. 

Soldiers came too his parents' store to notify them of his death. According to his medical files he was hit in the head by schrapnel from artillery shells.

                                  

                                From the 87th History Book:

                                87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Third Platoon:

                                “Weisbaum brought bad luck. We ran into a barrage of artillery that was unparalleled in our experience.

                                During that barrage, we lost a buddy we will never forget, Big Steve Slabak. Shrapnel got him.”