CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - DANIEL STEFFEN STORY ==================================================================== NEGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the NEGenWeb Archives by Curt Arens <> ====================================================================== DANIEL STEFFEN STORY By CURT ARENS CONSTANCE - Christmas time around the Joe Steffen household in 1950 was a little eerie. The Steffen's son, 25-year-old Daniel, had just been called up for active duty in the Army in Korea. So their Christmas celebrations were tempered with worry and uncertainty. Just three months later, on March 29, 1951, Daniel was hit in combat, a victim of shrapnel from a mortar shell and one of 33,742 American soldiers who perished in the Korean War. Daniel, who was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, was a member of the courageous 5th Regimental Combat Team (5th RCT). The 5th RCT was engaged with the enemy 94 percent of the time during the Korean War. Daniel served in the Air Force for 14 months during the end of World War II. Afterwards, he returned home and helped on the farm. Steffen was a typical young man, enjoying parties and dances like everyone else, said his friend, Ken Dreesen. He loved livestock, especially working with the purebred Poland China hogs his family raised. In fact, Dreesen said he first met Daniel while exhibiting 4-H livestock projects at the Cedar County Fair. When Daniel was called back into active duty during the early months of the Korean War, he was uneasy about his future. Dreesen said he still remembers vividly the day he and Daniel bid each other farewell before Daniel shipped off. "He shook my hand outside the Constance church," said Dreesen. Steffen told Dreesen that he had a feeling he wouldn't make it out of Korea alive, Dreesen remembers. After a brief stint at basic training, Steffen shipped out of Fort Lewis, Washington, headed for the Korean front. At the time, American soldiers and their United Nation allies had been beaten back from the 38th parallel. By the time Steffen arrived on the scene, the United Nation Forces had begun a new offensive trying to retake Seoul and push the North Koreans and Chinese troops back to Phase Line Kansas. A letter dated March 17, just twelve days before Steffen was hit, serves as a grim reminder of the cruelty and horrors of war in Korea. Steffen wrote that he had gotten little sleep lying on the cold ground in his pup tent not far from the Han River. "I'm 20 miles from the 38th parallel near Seoul," he wrote. "The last week was the worst of my life," wrote Steffen. He wrote about walking among the ruins of nearby villages with another soldier and witnessing firsthand a little Korean girl living among the rubble, hungry and half-froze. Steffen worried about the children of the towns around who were getting by under similar conditions. "Tomorrow is Palm Sunday," he wrote. "A Catholic chaplain came over last Tuesday night and I went to Mass and received Holy Communion." He wrote about his awareness of spirituality, especially under the life and death conditions he was living in. Finally, he ended his letter, "I hope I get out of it alright. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm really scared. Happy Easter, Danny." On April 8, Daniel's younger brother George was getting ready to celebrate his 22nd birthday by going into Fordyce. Hank Kuehn, who ran the bar in town and Ben Juergens, the postmaster and telegraph operator in Fordyce came out to the Steffen farm. Joe was on a hill by the barn around chore time when the two men approached him and told him a telegraph from the War Department notified them that Daniel had been killed. George remembers witnessing the scene and walking up to his father, only to see the painful expression on his face. "Dad couldn't talk," said George. They all went into the house and Father Buehler from Constance came over. There would be no celebrations for George's birthday in 1951. Dreesen was in Fordyce all day on April 8. He too was hit hard by the tragic loss of his friend. It was hard to believe that just a few months earlier Daniel had been home and enjoying life like everyone else. He was gone, but few details were given at the time about his death in battle. According to accounts written by Michael Slater in his book on the 5th RCT, "Hills of Sacrifice", on March 19, the entire unit, including Steffen's Able Company attacked, pursuing Chinese soldiers through the rugged hills. They continued tough fighting, on the offensive for the next few days overtaking stubbornly held Chinese defensive positions. One man in Steffen's company was wounded on March 22. On Good Friday, March 23, Chinese soldiers decided to thwart the advance with heated mortar fire. But the 5th RCT also had objectives to take more hills in front of them. Two men were killed and 12 wounded on that day trying to take Hill 814. That night, the Chinese shelled the exhausted, miserable soldiers of the 5th RCT with mortar and artillery and even rushed King Company positions in the darkness. The next day, 49 soldiers from the unit were killed or wounded from arms fire and mortar shells. On March 28 and 29, the fight took place over Hill 581 near Pochon around strong Chinese defensive positions not far from Seoul. Baker Company made it to within 100 yards of the hill's crest when a mortar exploded around the men and arms fire caught the soldiers of the company, including Steffen, exposed and pinned down on a hill with no cover. Five from Baker Company were killed and wounded there on Hill 581, three from Charlie Company were wounded and two from Able Company, Steffen among the fallen. Daniel died of his wounds on Apr. 1; the day after his fellow soldiers drove the Chinese back to the 38th parallel and installed a rough sign stating "38th Parallel - Courtesy of the 5th RCT". A memorial service was held at Constance on Apr. 16, but it wasn't until October that his body made the solemn journey from Hill 581 back to Cedar County where he was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery at Constance. Dreesen's wife, Rosie, is also Daniel's sister. She remembers that an army guard accompanied the body back home. She said the family went to Yankton where Daniel's body came in on the train. They brought him to the Steffen home as was the custom and neighbors and friends visited the body and family at a wake service before burial. The whole time, the honor guard remained with Steffen's body. Rosie remembers hiding behind the curtains in the house, even though she was 18 years old at the time. Father Kluthe told her, 'You can't hide from this', she recalls. The story of Daniel Steffen was not unlike many other veterans who served in Korea. Cedar County alone lost 8 men in the war, including Gerard "Ray" Burbach, the first Cedar County man drafted into the conflict, who died of wounds just three weeks after Daniel. It's still difficult after fifty years for Dreesen to think about the Steffen story, not only because he lost his friend in the war but because he has his own war memories to deal with. He was called into the service a year later and served in the trenches along the demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel in 1952 until the end of the war. Dreesen remembers how cold it was in Korea and he said the wind blew like it does around here. He didn't serve with any other Cedar County residents in the 25th Lightning Division, but Dreesen recalls running into Frannie Mueller from Crofton while at the front. Perhaps Daniel's story is best illustrated by the regimental history of his 5th RCT. The unit, commanded by General John Throckmorton and attached at the time Daniel served with the 24th Division, was called to fill gaps in the line again and again. Some members of the unit won the Purple Heart five times. Throughout the war, the unit lost 867 killed in action, 3188 seriously wounded, 16 missing in action and 151 taken prisoner of war. Over 4000 Purple Hearts were commissioned collectively to the men of the unit. On July 27, 1998, a special memorial was unveiled at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the 5th RCT and their gallantry under fire in Korea. The inscription reads, "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met." KILLED IN KOREA FROM CEDAR COUNTY Eight men from Cedar County died in the Korean War, more than from any other single county in extreme northeastern Nebraska. Two men from Thurston County died in Korea, two from Dakota County, three from Dixon County and two from Pierce County died in the conflict. From Cedar County, according to National Archives data, the following eight men gave their lives in Korea, 1950-1953: Korean War Honor Roll - Gerard R. Burbach, Army, died of wounds, April, 1951 Eugene M. Kalin, Army, killed in action, Sept. 1952 John E. Lammers, Marines, killed in action, Aug. 1951 James A. Newton, Army, died of wounds, Sept. 1952 Richard L. Pedersen, Army, killed in action, July 1953 Ray Rasmussen, Army, killed in action, Nov. 1950 Charles R. Sohler, Army, killed in action, Aug. 1951 Daniel F. Steffen, Army, died of wounds, Apr. 1951