Herbert Gustav Steger

Herb Steger (SSN 506-09-2770)was the 6th child born to an Evangelical Protestant (Lutheran) minister in Nebraska. He loved sports and lettered in football, basketball & baseball in high school. He suffered a sports injury, so could not play his senior year, serving instead as class president. After graduation, he and a classmate, Bud Maloney, left for California, with the intention or continuing on to Hawaii. He stopped in Oceanside, where he worked as a cook at a beach hotel. He met and married Kathryn Whisler, the mother of 2-yr old Charlene, in 1939. He started working for a gas station and within a short time started, along with his older brother Ted, a Texaco station on Pacific Coast Highway. He was ambitious and had plans of expansion into the auto parts business, but had to forgo these his plans when he was drafted into the Army on October 21, 1944, at Ft. McCarthur, San Pedro, California. His Army Serial No. was 39731195. He attained the rank of staff sergeant during his service. He was on board a troop ship taking him to the invasion force that was to invade Japan. He then spent the rest of his enlistment in the Philippines where he was a mess sergeant.