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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Korean War, 1950-1953
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Unit of Service: 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Camp Pendleton, California; Korea
  • Highest Rank: Corporal

View full service history

"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 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,

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[ Memoirs: An Everlasting Watch ]

About this Item

Title

  • Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr. Collection

Names

  • Bishop, Linda
  • Long, Bryon
  • Steppe Jr., Paul Alexander
  • American Legion Post 22, Towson, Maryland

State of Birth

  • NC

Home State

  • MD

Headings

  • -  Steppe Jr., Paul Alexander
  • -  Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Korean War, 1950-1953

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Unit of Service: 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Camp Pendleton, California; Korea
    • Highest Rank: Corporal
    • Dates of Service: 1950-1952
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Copy photographic print [4 items] -- Photograph (collected 1950 - 1952)
  • Manuscript: Memoirs [1 item] -- (collected 1999)
  • Video: S-VHS [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2/8/2003)
  • Manuscript: Correspondence [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)
  • Video: Digital Betacam [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/4941

Cite as

  • Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr. Collection (AFC/2001/001/4941), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Bishop, Linda, Bryon Long, Paul Alexander Steppe Jr, and Towson American Legion Post 22. Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr. Collection. 1950. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04941/.

APA citation style:

Bishop, L., Long, B., Steppe Jr, P. A. & American Legion Post 22, T. (1950) Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr. Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04941/.

MLA citation style:

Bishop, Linda, et al. Paul Alexander Steppe, Jr. Collection. 1950. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04941/>.