Rudy Kochevar was born April 29, 1922 in Aspen, Pitkin County, Colorado.

His parents, Joseph Kochevar and Aloiziza “Louisa” Puh, were born in what is now Slovenia. Joseph came to the US in 1902 and Louisa in 1906. They were married in Aspen, Colorado on May 12, 1907. Rudy was from a large family of five sisters and three brothers. His youngest brother, Edward, also served in the Army. After 1910 the family moved to Carbon County, Utah where Joseph was a farmer. Rudy attended grammar school in Spring Glen, Utah and graduated from Carbon High School in 1940.

When Rudy was inducted into the Army Air Force on June 12, 1943, he was single and working for the Peerless Coal Company. He trained at several bases around the country and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at the Army Air Forces West Coast Training Center in Pecos, Texas.

Lt. Kochevar went overseas in February 1945 to serve with the 327th Bombardment Squadron, 92nd Bombardment Group based in England.

His 13th combat mission was on April 25, 1945. He was the co-pilot on a B-17 (#43-38369). The bombing target that day was the Skoda munitions works in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The plane was hit over the target and the #1 and #2 engines caught on fire. Shortly thereafter the plane exploded and crashed about 20 miles south of Pilsen. Only one member of the crew survived and was taken prisoner.

2nd Lt. Rudy Kochevar was declared Missing in Action. On July 26, 1945 his status was changed to Killed in Action. This was the last mission of the 327th Bombardment Squadron in WWII. The war in Europe was over two weeks later.

Lt. Kochevar was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal. In December 1948, his remains were returned to Utah as part of the US repatriation of WWII dead. He is buried at the Price City Cemetery in Carbon County, Utah.

References:

Missing Air Crew Report for aircraft 43-38369 https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=388149

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/327th_Bombardment_Squadron#World_War_II

Obituary - Sun-Advocate (Price, UT), 2 Dec 1948, p 2.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.