John Steele felt the call to enlist shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor; he enlisted on December 24, 1941, and by April 1 was serving aboard the fleet carrier USS Lexington. As a member of the Marine detachment aboard the Lexington, Pvt Steele's primary responsibility was his battle station on an antiaircraft gun. He served with the #2 Antiaircraft Battery, as a second loader for the #6 five-inch gun. John Steele was at his gun on the morning of May 8, 1942, as the carrier's air group roared off to attack the Japanese fleet on the last day of the battle of the Coral Sea. Enemy aircraft spotted the Americans, and at about 1100 hours, attack planes broke through the screen of antiaircraft fire. Two torpedoes and one bomb struck near battery #2, killing and wounding many of the gunners and setting off ammunition stored in a locker nearby. Private Steele, along with thirteen other men on Gun #6, was killed in the resulting explosion and fire.
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Entered the service from Illinois.
John Steele felt the call to enlist shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor; he enlisted on December 24, 1941, and by April 1 was serving aboard the fleet carrier USS Lexington. As a member of the Marine detachment aboard the Lexington, Pvt Steele's primary responsibility was his battle station on an antiaircraft gun. He served with the #2 Antiaircraft Battery, as a second loader for the #6 five-inch gun. John Steele was at his gun on the morning of May 8, 1942, as the carrier's air group roared off to attack the Japanese fleet on the last day of the battle of the Coral Sea. Enemy aircraft spotted the Americans, and at about 1100 hours, attack planes broke through the screen of antiaircraft fire. Two torpedoes and one bomb struck near battery #2, killing and wounding many of the gunners and setting off ammunition stored in a locker nearby. Private Steele, along with thirteen other men on Gun #6, was killed in the resulting explosion and fire.
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Entered the service from Illinois.
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