"My best friend had been killed while he was asleep. I had no desire to grieve over the misfortune of the enemy. Was I becoming too hard? No! I believe I was becoming experienced too fast in the ways of the war." Memoirs, page 72

Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr.

Paul Alexander Steppe Jr., Baltimore, MD. December 1950 War: Korean War, 1950-1953 Branch: Marine Corps Unit: 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division Service Location: Camp Pendleton, California; Korea Rank: Corporal Place of Birth: NC

Paul Steppe, a Marine infantry corporal serving in Korea, saw fierce action, punctuated by long nights when he and his foxhole buddies alternated two-hour watches. Wounded by a grenade on Christmas Eve 1951, Steppe was evacuated to a hospital, narrowly escaping death when his transport plane lost its landing gear on takeoff. In his memoirs, An Everlasting Watch, Steppe notes that American troops are still "on watch" in the Korean peninsula, his war's resolution still incomplete. His mother, Meda Brendall, is featured on this site, under Hurry Up and Wait, for her service as a welder during World War II.