Holmes in Uniform - Jerome I Steeves

Col. Jerome Irving Steeves

(1917 - 2001)

USAF 1940-1970

Jerome Steeves was born in Lincoln, Maine. He entered the US Army Air Corps just before WWII. He enlisted in Portland, Maine on July 27, 1940. He trained at Mitchel Field on Long Island, in what was to become the 33rd Pursuit Squadron, US Army Air Corps. At Norfolk, Virginia, Jerome's air corps unit boarded the aircraft carrier WASP, in July, 1941, for their trip to the North Atlantic. The squadrons found themselves in Reykjavik, Iceland - on active duty, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, well before the US officially entered the War in December, 1941.

 Capt. Thayer, the Squadron commander, wrote in a history of the squadron, "On July 3rd, 1941, thirty
P-40C's arrived at Mitchel Field. They were the nation's most advanced fighter aircraft (in 1941), improved over the earlier versions by the addition of pilot armor, bullet resistant windshields, self-sealing fuel tanks and an oxygen system. It was disappointing that nothing had been done to improve the ground handling characteristics . . . because of its nose heavy condition great care was needed in braking during landing rollouts . . . Work began immediately on the armaments . . . boresighting the guns would require a considerable amount of time . . . A naval officer came to Mitchel Field to prepare the pilots for the anticipated launch from an aircraft carrier . . ."

Jerome wrote the following to his University of Maine Fraternity Brothers about his arrival in Iceland: "We came around a fog bank when suddenly the whole island seemed to literally rise up from the ocean in front of us. The sun happened to be shining down through a hole in the clouds onto the island, so that the profile of the whole country was there before us. It looked like the Rocky Mountains thrown together in one pile. It is that rugged."

Jerome met Bjorg Elfar in Reykjavik, Iceland and married her just before being shipped back to the States.

Lt. Col. Jerome I Steeves was the base commander for the Dover Air Force Base in 1946. In the 1950's and 60's, he was stationed near Paris (SHAPE Headquarters), at a base in Ankara, Turkey, later at Norton AFB in San Bernadino, and then for several years in Colorado before his retirement as a full Colonel in 1970. He spent his retirement years with his second wife, Hattie Ware, in Richmond, Virginia. He is buried in Richmond's historic Hollywood Cemetery.

First photo taken with his first wife, Bjorg (Bibi) Elfar in Washington, DC, in 1945; the second,  with his daughter in Lincoln, Maine. In the third, Jerome is in the front row, third from the left, in the 33rd Fighter Squadron, Reykjavik, Iceland, 1941.


Thanks to Liz Steeves for the photos and history.

Sources: Liz Steeves
Personal letter from Jerome Steeves to his Fraternity Brothers of the University of Maine
http://www.dover.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=18136
http://www.cocke-catesby.com/jeromesteeves.htm
http://lizandstu.com/yelland/getperson.php?personID=I10170&tree=hooper
Excerpt from a history of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron by Capt. Thayer supplied by Liz Steeves.