Richard Steffen World War II Interview

Richard Steffen World War II Interview

World War, 1939-1945 -- United States.

United States -- History, Military.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Interviews.

United States. Army. Air Corps -- History.

Lawrence (Kan.) -- Oral history.

Richard Steffen served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 until 1946. He served in the 489th Squadron as a clerk-typist. Interviewed by Pattie Johnston on June 28, 2007, Steffen talked about his military experiences during the Second World War. Steffen was born in Haviland, Kansas, on September 18, 1922. He was raised in Eudora, Kansas, and graduated high school in 1940. He then attended Lawrence Business School and began working at Sunflower Ordnance Works in 1941. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He was first stationed in Midland, Texas, where he worked as the secretary to the commanding general of ACE. He then transferred to the Air Transport Command in Greenwood, Mississippi, and later went to Lunken Air Force Base in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was discharged on February 14, 1946. Following the war, Steffen worked for Charlton Insurance for seventeen years. He passed away on October 5, 2017.

Steffen, Richard

Kansas Veterans of World War II Oral History Project / Lawrence Remembers: The World War II Years Project

Lawrence Public Library (Lawrence, Kan.)

2007-06-28

Johnston, Pattie

Kansas State Historical Society

The original copy of this video is available through the Lawrence Public Library. The Watkins Museum of History and the Kansas State Historical Society also have interviews associated with this project, which was funded through a grant program passed by the Kansas State Legislature in 2005. This interview can be used freely for purposes beyond educational or scholarly research. https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/

To access the video recording of this oral history, go to: https://archive.org/details/steffen-richard-wwii-interview

Obituary: https://obituaries.ljworld.com/obituaries/ljworld/obituary.aspx?n=richard-steffen&pid=187019633&fhid=24990

The Watkins Museum of History also holds items related to this collection.

Transcripts for this project are available through the Kansas Memory Digital Collection: https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/218576

Other resources for interviews with World War II veterans are available through the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project: https://www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.htm

MP4

eng

Oral History

Steffen_Richard WWII Interview

Midland (Tex.)

Greenwood (Miss.)

1942 - 1946

Johnston, Pattie

Steffen, Richard

Lawrence (Kan.)

VHS

0:55:37

127 kbit/s (audio)

1618 kbit/s (video)