Eighty-one years after he gave his life for his country in the skies over Sicily, Allan Knepper has returned home to Lewiston.
Allan was born on Feb. 11, 1916, to Jess William and Stella (Rosevear) Knepper. At the time of his birth, Jess and Stella were living in Othello, Wash., where Jess farmed and worked as a butcher. In 1930, Jess and Stella moved the family to Lewiston where they operated Knepper’s Grocery on Thain Road in Lewiston Orchards. Stella died in 1936 and Jess married Alma Sloan. They had a daughter, Shirley (Knepper) Finn, of Clarkston, who is Allan’s half-sister, and his only surviving sibling.
Allan graduated from Lewiston High School in 1935 and enrolled at Lewiston Normal College, setting his sights on a career in education. He was active on campus during his two years at LNC, playing on the football team and acting in the school’s dramatic programs. He was a member of the Intercollegiate Knights and chairman of the Student Body Athletic Committee. He graduated in the spring of 1938, having earned his teaching credentials, and accepted a teaching post at the one-room rural elementary school in Summit, Idaho.
Following graduation, with the European war looming, and knowing that he would soon be called to the armed forces, Allan entered the Civilian Pilot Training Program, a consortium of Lewiston Normal, the Zimmerly Flying School, and the Asotin County Airport. First in his class to complete his solo flight, Allan earned his private pilot license in December 1941. In early 1942, he was accepted into the Army Aviation Cadet Program. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on March 16 and reported to Santa Ana Army Air Base on June 10, 1942, to begin pilot training.
By Feb. 6, 1943, Allan had completed all three phases of the Army’s pilot training program and was sworn in as Second Lieutenant Allan W. Knepper, and received his wings and pilot rating. He began training in what was then America’s most performant aircraft, the P-38 twin-engine fighter.
Allan left U.S. soil on April 29, 1943, sailing to North Africa aboard the USS Chateau Thierry (AP31). He arrived at Oran Algeria on May 12. After receiving two weeks of additional combat training in Morocco, Allan reported to his squadron – the 49th Fighter Squadron – on June 9, 1943. On June 18, Allan flew his first combat mission – escorting bombers in a strike against an Axis airfield in northwestern Sicily.
By July 10, British and American forces were set to launch Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in what would be the beginning of the costly Allied campaign up the Italian peninsula. American air forces were heavily committed on that day to maintain air supremacy, to provide air support to Allied ground troops, and to interdict German and Italian ground forces. On his second combat assignment of the day, a fighter sweep along southeastern Sicily, Allan’s aircraft was shot down while attacking a German armored column near the Allied beachheads.
He was declared missing in action, and his name was added to the Tablets of the Missing at the American Cemetery and Memorial at Nettuno, Italy. Lt. Knepper received the American Campaign Medal, European/African/Middles Eastern Medal with three bronze stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Honorable Service Lapel Pin and the United States Army Air Force Pilot’s Wings. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
In 2013 family members and supporters began an independent investigation into Allan’s loss, and by 2015 had elicited the interest of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the lead American organization for recovering missing servicemen.
DPAA investigations revealed a likely location of Allan’s crash site near the town of Caltagirone, Sicily. In testimony of DPAA’s dedication to their recovery mission, between 2017 and 2023 it completed five search and excavation projects at the site. On May 8, 2024, eight decades after his death, DPAA confirmed that Allan’s crash site had been located, and that his remains had been recovered and identified.
Representatives of the U.S. Air Force and DPAA visited Mrs. Shirley Dawn Knepper Finn on June 28 to give a full accounting of their efforts on behalf of Allan and his family, and to schedule the return of his remains to his family for interment.
Allan is survived by his half-sister, Shirley (Knepper) Finn, and several nieces and nephews.
The full story of Allan’s life and service to his country is recounted in the book “The Jagged Edge of Duty,” by Robert Richardson.
Interment with full military honors will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston.
Service Information
- Date & Time
- Friday, August 2, 10:00 AM
- Location
-
Normal Hill Cemetery
1122-7th Street
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
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