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NAME Harrell Standard Steed |
NICKNAME Bill |
SERVICE NUMBER 263582 |
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| UNIT VMF-214 Pilot |
HOME OF RECORD Milledgeville Road, Augusta, GA |
NEXT OF KIN Wife, Mrs. Eleanor Steed |
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| DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1914 in Augusta, GA |
ENTERED SERVICE January 26, 1938 |
DATE OF LOSS March 17, 1943 |
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| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Russell Islands group |
CASUALTY TYPE Missing Declared dead March 18, 1945 |
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| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Technical Sergeant Harrell “Bill” Steed was an enlisted pilot who flew with VMF-214 – the “Black Sheep” – on their first combat tour in the South Pacific. On 17 March 1943, during his first flight in a war zone, Steed was escorting a DUMBO search plane when he “unaccountably” left the formation and “spun in,” crashing into the sea. He was the squadron’s only fatality on the tour. Steed was declared dead on 18 March 1945. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS — |
LAST KNOWN RANK Technical Sergeant |
STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered. |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
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Biography:
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“The flight was making good progress when disaster struck. Just east of the Russell Islands the last man in the formation suddenly dropped out. Bill Steed, on his first flight since arriving in the South Pacific, inexplicably rolled over, spun in, and vanished beneath the waves. The others searched, but Dave Rankin saw simply ‘a hole in the water’ and that was it…. The entire squadron was disturbed by Steed’s unexplained disappearance, their feelings of loss compounded by troubling questions about what might have happened. No determination could be made, and Steed’s belongings were packed for return to his next of kin. ‘He was a fine young man,’ wrote George Britt later, ‘and his loss was a grievous one for a squadron just starting out in combat.'”
Bruce Gamble, “The Black Sheep: The Definitive History of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II.”