More than 65 years after his death, Staff Sgt. Archibald "Archie" Mathies is still receiving new accolades for his heroism during World War II.

A native of Scotland who grew up in Finleyville, Sgt. Mathies was killed on Feb. 20, 1944, when he tried to land a crippled B-17 bomber at an airbase in England. The pilot had been wounded, and Sgt. Mathies ignored orders to abandon his comrade and jump to safety.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest tribute. Since then, his name has been placed on a bridge at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, a school for noncommissioned officers in the United Kingdom and a military facility in Mississippi, according to Dean Mathies, his nephew.

The Pennsylvania Legislature also put his name on the Finleyville-Elrama Road interchange of the Mon-Fayette Expressway.

Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, officially named the workspace at its new district office in Dallas in honor of Sgt. Mathies.

"He gave his life. I get choked up talking about it even to this day," said Dean Mathies, 53, also of Finleyville. "These kind of guys need to be remembered."

A plaque telling Sgt. Mathies' story will hang in the recently opened federal government building, a 57,000-square-foot space that houses 151 employees and a naturalization area where immigrants take the official oath to become U.S. citizens.

The naming is part of an initiative to recognize immigrants who served with valor in the nation's armed forces.

"This is something we're doing coast to coast," said David M. Santos, a spokesman for USCIS.

Sgt. Mathies was born on June 3, 1918. After his father died, his mother took him and his sister to Western Pennsylvania, where she remarried.

Sgt. Mathies graduated from Monongahela High School and then went to work in the mines. In late 1940, at age 22, he enlisted in the Army. He quickly became an airman.

The military trained him at bases across the country, including aerial gunnery school in Florida. It was nearly two years before he arrived in England, in late 1943, to join the 8th Air Force, which suffered heavy loses in bombing runs over Germany.

His second mission -- an attack on military installations in Leipzig in late February 1944 -- started off poorly, according to Dean Mathies. A jeep crossed in front of Sgt. Mathies' B-17 during takeoff, forcing the aircraft to swerve. It became stuck in mud near the runway.

The 10-man crew quickly boarded a backup bomber. Because of the delay, the plane flew in the rear of the bombing squadron, making it what airmen called a "tail-end Charlie" -- or an easy target for enemy fighter planes.

"You're the last guy," said Dean Mathies. "It's a bad spot."

One German fighter scored a direct hit on Sgt. Mathies' B-17, instantly killing the co-pilot and injuring the pilot. The front window and the Plexiglas nose were shattered, and the bomber started to plummet toward the ground.

Sgt. Mathies moved from his gun to the cockpit. He put his feet on the blood-covered instrument panel and pulled on the controls until the plane stabilized.

The bomber then flew back to the airbase in Glatton, England, but no one on board knew how to land. A commander on the ground instructed the remaining crew to bail out.

Sgt. Mathies refused. He wouldn't leave the pilot, who was unconscious but still alive. Lt. Walter Truemper also stayed. All others jumped.

Sgt. Mathies and Lt. Truemper tried to land the plane three times. On the final attempt, with the landing gear down, it bounced off the runway and crashed, killing all three men.

Military officials later traveled to Finleyville to present Sgt. Mathies' Medal of Honor to his mother. Lt. Truemper also received the medal. He, too, has a road at the Lackland airbase in Texas named in his memory.

Dean Mathies learned of his uncle's heroism from his father, David, who traveled around the country to speak about Sgt. Mathies.

The stories inspired Dean Mathies' own son, 19-year-old Ian, to attend West Point. He is in his first year at the military academy.

"Archie would have been very proud of him," Dean Mathies said.