Frederick George Steffen

Hospitalman
H&S CO, 2ND BN, 3RD MARINES, 3RD MARDIV
United States Navy
26 February 1948 - 24 May 1968
New Baltimore, Michigan
Panel 69E Line 003

3RD MARDIV 3RD MARINES
Fleet Marine Force Corpsman

Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign
Frederic G Steffen

The database page for Frederick George Steffen

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

Fleet Marine Force Corpsman

"You guys are the Marine's doctors -
There's none better in the business than a Navy Corpsman ..."
-- Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller --

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memorial which honors the
Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen who died in Vietnam.





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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Channing Prothro, former CAP Marine
Last updated 08/10/2009