On May 4, 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Stevens was sent on a trip to the South Pacific to survey the conditions in this part of the Theater and report back to the Army Chief of Staff. On June 9, 1942, he landed on an air strip in New Guinea and immediately boarded a B-26 Marauder Bomber bound to attack the Japanese air base at Lae, New Guinea. During the mission, the plane was shot down and the entire crew lost, including Colonel Stevens. His remains were never recovered, and his name was inscribed on the Walls of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Republic of the Philippines.