Joseph F. Steffan
Rank: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Serial: O-719786
Unit: 714th Bomb Squadron, 448th Bomb Group
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Awards: Purple Heart
Biography
Joseph F. Steffan is memorialized on the World War II War Memorial in Clementon, NJ, under the name Joseph Steffen. Born in Pennsylvania in 1922, Joseph Steffan was a student with one year of college completed when he enlisted in the United States Army Reserves as a private on December 2, 1942, with the understanding that he would be sent to the Air Corps when activated.
Trained as a B-24 bomber pilot and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, on November 12, 1944 Joseph Steffan reported to the 712th Bomb Squadron, 448th Bomb Group at Station 146, Seething, Norfolk, UK, with his crew, which included Second Lieutenant Henry Y. Edgerton, co-pilot; Second Lieutenant Gerald J. Gottlieb, navigator; S/Sgt. Edward C. Murphy Jr.; Cpl. Harold Resnikoff; Cpl. Davis E. Denning; Cpl. James H. Gilmore Jr.; Cpl. Donald A. Payne; and Cpl. William Wright Jr.
Joseph Steffan appears to have flown enough missions to qualify for the Air Medal with at least one Oak Leaf Cluster. He was killed while flying with the 714th Bomber Squadron on March 25, 1945, along with his entire crew except Second Lieutenant Gottlieb, who was taken prisoner by the Germans and freed at war’s end.
Joseph Steffan was the son of Joseph and Jennie Steffan. Joseph Steffan Sr. had emigrated from Hungary and was a machinist in one of the many shipyards in the area. By 1920 he had married and was living at 119 White Horse Pike in Audubon, NJ. He remarried shortly thereafter, and Joseph Jr. was born circa 1922. At the time of the 1930 census, Joseph Jr. was seven years old, and the family owned a home at 1101 New Freedom Road in Clementon, NJ.