Steve Louis Lobue was born on February 17, 1924 in Houston, Texas.

His parents, Gaetano Lobue and Francesca Grasso, were born in Italy and came to the US as children. They married in Louisiana in 1902. The family moved to Houston about 1914 where Gaetano ran a grocery. Steve was the youngest of a large family - 4 sisters and 8 brothers.

Steve graduated from Jeff Davis High School (now Northside HS) in 1942. He was an extraordinary athlete receiving statewide honors in football, basketball and track.

Steve was working as a type setter for a rubber-stamp company when he was inducted into the Army Air Force on February 12, 1943. He received training as an aircraft gunner at Amarillo Army Air Field and other bases around the country. Steve was sent to England in April 1944 to join the 526 Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomber Group, 8th Air Force. The squadron flew B17s out of Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire.

On D-Day, according to a Houston Chronicle story, “Steve had completed his mission over France and returned to his base in England. Another Flying Fortress was scheduled to leave for a run over France, but one of the crew members was ill. Steve volunteered to take the place of the ill crew member and was killed.”

On June 6, 1944 Sgt. Steve L. Labue was hit by flak and Killed in Action. The aircraft was able to make it back to base and no other crew members died. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. When his family was notified his death, the story was picked up by AP was reported on sports pages across the country.

Sgt. Lobue is buried at Forest Park Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

References:

Death - San Antonio Light, 21 Jun 1944, p 17

Memorial - Houston Chronicle, 5 Oct 1944, p 16

http://www.379thbga.org/Looking4%201220-1211%20p22.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/526th_Bombardment_Squadron#Activation_and_training

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=533482

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/219507546/steven-louis-lobue

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. If you noticed anything I missed in this profile, you can contact me at sms1001res@gmail.com.

Steve L Lobue