05 Dec 2001 "Stef" we called him. Although his name was Fredrick Steffen, we called him Stef. He was a person in my young marriage that didn't make me feel insecure by his presence in our home. He wasn't a third wheel. He was kind and nice, funny. My dog ate the center out of his birthday cake. Stef just cut the dog's part out and we ate the rest. He was just on the verge of life itself when the edge broke away. I often wondered why Stef and not me. I should have died. I don't think I could have come up to his level of personality. Now he is forever young. His memory still haunts my mind, my soul. The pain of his loss should not have been that intense but it was. I was not his parent just a brother-in-arms who had a chance to enjoy his life for what time we had at youth. He had seventeen days after he arrived in-country. Not much youth to share, but he made an enormous impression on my heart and soul and forever in my thoughts. Semper Fi, My Brother. Some day we will meet again. "Doc" Wayne Georgiades wgeorgia7@hotmail.com

 

Notes from The Virtual Wall While Hospitalman Steffen, like all Corpsmen, was officially assigned to the Battalion's H&S Company he was in the field with a rifle company at the time of his death. Although he is remembered on the Echo Company memorial, it seems more likely he was with Golf Company, 2/3 Marines, which lost 16 men in heavy fighting on 24 May 1968: Cpl James D. Bowers, Johnson City, TN LCpl Michael F. Anderson, Evanston, IL HN Ronald J. Cook, Phoenix, AZ (Corpsman, H&S Co) LCpl Anthony A. Discepolo, Cleveland, OH LCpl Larry L. Riley, Midwest City, OK HN Frederick G. Steffen, New Baltimore, MI, (Corpsman, H&S Co) LCpl Nicholas S. Vrankovich, Beaver Falls, PA LCpl Roger D. Williams, Roanoke, VA Pfc Clarence J. Baldwin, Cherry Valley, NY Pfc Stephen L. Bean, Saco, ME Pfc Franchot T. Calhoun, Anniston, AL Pfc Charles M. Chessher, Crestview, FL Pfc Kevin Corcoran, Garwood, NJ Pfc Jose Davila, Chapman Ranch, TX Pfc Jerry J. Hill, Minneapolis, MN Pfc George E. Massie, Clear Spring, MD "You guys are the Marine's doctors - There's none better in the business than a Navy Corpsman ..." -- Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller -- Visit John Dennison's Medics on the Wall memorial which honors the Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen who died in Vietnam.

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019.