ItemCo16527 Posted July 13, 2009 Share #1 Posted July 13, 2009 A few weeks ago, I acquired this uniform, named to "E.W. Stees" off of eBay. While I have given up on collecting uniforms due to a lack of space, the price I got this for was too good to pass up. My first stop was Ancestry.com, where I found out that LTC Stees' first name was Ernest, and he was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1917. He originally enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a Private in November 1941. He may have been commissioned sometime in 1942 or '43, since he is lacking an Army Good Conduct Medal. During the late '50s, he had been assigned to the Military Assistance and Advisory Group Taiwan, but I know nothing about his duties or activities at this time. After searching Ancestry, I decided to start Googling. Surprisingly, I was able to find out some information on him, and even find photos of him in his dress blues (a first for me). One of the things I found on Google was the General Order awarding him an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Army Commendation Medal in 1966 (presumably a retirement award). The photo seems to show battle stars on his EAME ribbon, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm waiting for his service records to come from the NPRC, and I will hopefully have a lot of gaps filled in once it arrives. Sadly, Lt. Col. Ernest Stees passed away 18 June 2001. Uniform pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share #2 Posted July 13, 2009 Photo of Lt. Col. Stees: ARCOM General Order: Needless to say, this will be a pretty fun research project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted July 14, 2009 Share #3 Posted July 14, 2009 Very nice!!! Good research project!!! My best, Ricardo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share #4 Posted July 14, 2009 Thanks, Ricardo! I am very excited about this project. It's been over a year since my last uniform research project, and I'm praying the NPRC gets his record out to me quickly... although, they probably won't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted July 14, 2009 Share #5 Posted July 14, 2009 I searched some of the paid databases for info and the only Army Register listing was for 1968 when he was in the retired list (retired 67). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share #6 Posted July 14, 2009 Thank you so much for that picture. I really, really appreciate it. Thanks also for the retirement year. Seems I was a little off in my guesstimation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted November 3, 2009 UPDATE LTC Stees's record arrived last week while I was away on my honeymoon. As it turns out, he made Corporal before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Signal Corps in 1942. After being stationed at Fort Monmouth, NJ for a couple of years he was sent to Europe in 1944 as a "Services Officer" (M.O.S. 4400) with the OSS! Other interesting assignments of his include: Signal Supply Officer (Advisor) with the Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) Formosa from 14 October 1954 to 30 April 1956 Chief, Supply Section of Logistics Branch (Advisor), 8678 DU (no idea what this is), MAAG Taiwan from May to October 1956 Signal Supply Officer, Maintenance & Supply Branch (G4), U.S. Army Element, JUSMMAT (9811) (again, no idea what this means), Ankara, Turkey. He also had temporary duty with the Military Assistance Institute at this time. He is listed as being retired effective 30 June 1966. According to the record he is also entitled to four battle stars on his ETO ribbon and the American Defense Service Medal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted November 3, 2009 Share #8 Posted November 3, 2009 Great job with the research! Stees also shows up in NARA OSS files: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/Show...l.currentPage=0 If you request his OSS record, please let us know what they contain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted November 4, 2009 Awesome! Thanks BEAST! Edit: I've just sent them an email regarding this file, so hopefully I'll hear back from them soon. I had no idea the NARA had the OSS records available. Also, here's another photo of LTC Stees from his service record. My wife and I swear he could've been Robert Deniro's twin brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted November 5, 2009 Share #10 Posted November 5, 2009 Absolutely great ! It's terrific when a collector puts a story back with a medal or uniform! As soon as you wrote in your first posts that it wasn't quite clear what his duties had been, I was thinking Army Intelligence or training of irregulars in China. And he DOES look like De Niro's twin brother! Please keep updating the thread as you learn more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted November 5, 2009 Share #11 Posted November 5, 2009 Great, great, and great!!! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted November 5, 2009 Thanks, guys! I'd e-mailed the NARA last night, and earlier today they emailed me back asking for my mailing address. I'm assuming this means they're mailing his OSS record to me as soon as they can pull it and get it copied. Hopefully they'll e-mail me back with what I should expect. I'll update this thread as soon as I hear back from them and again when I have the records. This uniform is a perfect example of how a simple uniform can reveal a very interesting story. This is why I can't get enough of this hobby and the research that goes along with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share #13 Posted November 18, 2009 I received a quotation in the mail yesterday for the copying and mailing of LTC Stees' OSS record. According to the estimate, it is 48 pages and will cost around $36. I faxed the form back to them with my credit card details, so hopefully I should have this record soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted November 18, 2009 Share #14 Posted November 18, 2009 Well done on the research!! Great uniform by the way! -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share #15 Posted November 19, 2009 Thanks, Ski! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share #16 Posted December 1, 2009 UPDATE LTC Stees' OSS record arrived today. I've only given it a quick read-through, but it seems he was fluent in both Spanish and German. He was attached to Company "D", 2677th OSS Regiment (Provisional) from March 1944 to August 1945 and served in Algeria among other places. One note in his record states he was "enthusiastic about OSS operations in Italy". The record also notes his dates of promotion to 1st Lieutenant (21 January 1944) and Captain (27 May 1944). After the war, he had requested to stay with the OSS, but was turned down due to there not being a suitable assignment for him. This is a pretty interesting record. It has copies of his travel orders after his detachment from the OSS, performance evaluations, and gives a general idea about his overall demeanor - he seems like he was a very likable person, spoke in a low tone, and was a very level-headed officer. Although he didn't get his wish to remain with the OSS post-war, it would seem it was granted, somewhat, when he was later assigned to MAAG Taiwan and the Joint US Military Mission, Ankara, Turkey in the 1950s. I should also note how pleased I am with the rapid turnaround time from my initial email until the record arrived today. The NARA has really done a great job getting the information to me in a very timely manner. I couldn't be happier with their service :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehawk Posted December 1, 2009 Share #17 Posted December 1, 2009 MAAG patches are some of my favorites to see... very nice ones you have there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share #18 Posted December 1, 2009 Thanks, bluehawk The patches were one of the main reasons I bought the uniform (the other being that it was named ). I never see uniforms with the MAAG Taiwan patch on them, so I had to go for it. Now that I've gotten all this research on LTC Stees and discovered his OSS service, I'm very glad I got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rrogerstees Posted January 24, 2010 Share #19 Posted January 24, 2010 I was very impressed with the respect and dignity offered through all of the dialogue about my father, LTC Stees. It is heartwarming to read about the interest and research generated by his US Army uniform. I followed his lead and entered the Signal Corps from R.O.T.C. in April of 1969. At the conclusion of my tour in RVN, I separated from the Army until rejoining the Reserves, as a Chaplain in 1987, for 6 years. Thank you for the fine research (especially the OSS). I learned things I didn't know. Appreciatively, Ray Stees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItemCo16527 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share #20 Posted January 24, 2010 Hi Ray, Welcome to the forum, and thank you for posting Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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