Sgt. William James McCurdy was remembered on a memorial to victims of the National Socialists in that country. He was murdered by Austrian Nazis in 1944.

His name is on a memorial in Austria's Drau Valley, according to the Idaho State Journal reports. Austrian militia members killed McCurdy, from Pocatello, after he parachuted from a damaged B-17 bomber in November 1944.

William "Bill" James McCurdy is dead airman's nephew and namesake, and he was recently contacted by an Austrian historian over the phone. He is an Idaho State University philosophy teacher. He said that it was one of the most emotional phone conversations he has ever had in his life, associated with the memorial and his uncle's prominent place on it.

Sgt. William James McCurdy was a flight engineer. On Nov. 16, 1944, his plane took off to fly towards southward following a raid on Munich just over the border in Germany. But, he parachuted down from the plane after a severe damage was done to the plane.

He was walking towards the two Austrians with his hands raised in surrender when he was gunned down.

Two Austrian militia members, Anton Taurer and Franz Wilker had been ordered, "Whatever had fallen out of the heavens should be returned to the heavens. McCurdy was shot in the stomach by them, which led him to die minutes later.