"I wanted to quit flying and go fight the Japanese," Stephen recalls of his anger over the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. Stephen, born in Steubenville, Ohio entered the Army Air Corps in September of 1938 and was first assigned to the Medical Corps. He was sent to Hawaii, where he served first as a mechanic and crew chief on a B-18. Yearning to fly Stephen left Hawaii in February 1941 and began flight training for enlisted men in September of 1941. Trained in a B-24 Liberator and commissioned as a second lieutenant, Stephen was sent to Cerignola, Italy in "March or April" of 1945. There he was assigned to the 454^th Bombardment Group at San Giovanni Airfield, from where he flew supplies to British troops in northern Italy. He recalls giving the candy in his rations to local children. After the war in Europe ended, he returned to the States and volunteered for duty in the Pacific. He was sent to Okinawa as part of the Second Air Reserve Squadron. Stephen remained in the Air Force, serving at Barksdale Air Force Base during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He also worked in Guam where he was chief of logistics and responsible for logistical support of B-52s in Vietnam. Stephen was stationed at Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha in 1967, and worked as deputy chief in headquarters of Second Air Force in logistics. He retired in June 1971 as a lieutenant colonel. During his thirty-three years in service, he recalls, he flew forty-seven types of aircraft.