Family of veteran killed in 1973 New Orleans fire trying to recover remains

Ferris LeBlanc died in an arson attack on the LGBTQ+ bar UpStairs Lounge and was buried by the city in a field behind a cemetery

The family of a second world war veteran who was killed in one of the deadliest attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in the US is still trying to recover his remains 50 years later and provide him what they consider to be a proper burial.

Ferris LeBlanc, who grew up in California and helped the American military defeat Nazi forces at the Battle of the Bulge, died alongside 31 other people after an arsonist set fire to a second-floor gay bar in New Orleans’s French Quarter neighborhood on 24 June 1973. LeBlanc had gone to the bar, which was named the UpStairs Lounge, two days after his 50th birthday.