John Arthur Stege was born in Los Angeles, California in October 1920. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] was tough. Stege's father had a butcher shop where he assisted him with deliveries and other things. Everyone was worried about making ends meet. His father was concerned with making house payments, but he managed. Stege was close to his dad. His father suggested that Stege become a flyer rather than an infantryman. Stege took flying classes but when he entered the Army, they wanted to train him the way they approved. With the draft looming, Stege enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His father anticipated the United States entry into the war from what he saw in the newsreels depicting German advances. Stege enlisted in 1940 and completed flight school in December 1941 shortly after Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. As a 2nd lieutenant, he was sent to March Field [Annotator's Note: now March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California] close to his home. He checked out in a Curtis P-40 single engine airplane [Annotator's Note: Curtis P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. He patrolled the West Coast in anticipation of the Japanese invasion. He subsequently checked out in a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft]. The 48th Fighter Squadron [Annotator's Note: 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force] was assigned new Lockheed P-38s for each pilot. Leaving California for a cross-country flight, the squadron arrived in Connecticut. They were to accompany a flight of B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] to cross the North Atlantic en route to England. There were several intermediate stops during the crossing. The squadron was in England from July 1942 until November [Annotator's Note: 1942] when North Africa was invaded.

John Arthur Stege flew across the Atlantic to England then on to Gibraltar and to North Africa [Annotator's Note: as a pilot in the 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force]. The squadron went from Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco] to Algiers [Annotator's Note: Algiers, Algeria] and Constantine [Annotator's Note: Constantine, Algeria] to Youks Lebain [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] about 100 miles from Tunis [Annotator's Note: Tunis, Tunisia] and Bizerte [Annotator's Note: Bizerte, Tunisia]. There was just an airfield there. He trained there and escorted B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] and A-20s [Annotator's Note: Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber] out of that base. With Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel] approaching that area of the coast from Egypt, there were many strafing missions required of the squadron. There were initially 25 pilots in the squadron, but half were lost in three months. Action included aircraft to aircraft combat. Prior to missions, operations would brief the pilots on where they were going. It was a gamble on the mission outcome. Ground fire was a concern for Stege. It had his legs shaking, but he made it through it all. A German plane shot at him one time. He could see the explosions behind him. Stege and his squadron had orders to find targets of opportunity in enemy territory. Anything moving behind enemy lines was a possibility. While in England, the Royal Air Force had helped the Americans a lot. They provided veteran insight into combat conditions and what to expect. Stege was the squadron leader's wingman. He had to stay with him to ward off any single German fighter that attacked them. He followed his leader. The training he received was good, but the German antiaircraft guns on the ground was more than he expected. The enemy pilots were very good. Stege and his Captain Bing [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Captain (later Colonel) Andrew Jackson Bing ] were pursued by two German 109s [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft] but the enemy turned homeward. They must have been short on fuel. The action involved no firing because the planes were not in range of each other. The squadron stayed away from cities or towns. They usually were strafing troops. They escorted bombers until they exited the targets whereupon they left too. Bombers and fighters maintained both visual and radio contact during the mission. Six of the fighters in Stege's squadron strafed a German airfield. Stege shot at a JU-52 [Annotator's Note: Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft; nicknamed Aunt Ju and Iron Annie] that was already on fire. Pilots in the squadron became good buddies. They played volleyball together. They had gotten to know each other well in England. There were not any places to go once they reached their base. Not all of the downed pilots were killed. Some made it safely down only to be captured. Bill Shinacour [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] never made it home. Stege always thought he would. Bill's brother dedicated a book about his brother to Stege and two other squadron mates, Sorensen [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] and Mark Shipman [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel Mark Kauffman Shipman]. When orders came for the veteran pilots to return home, replacement pilots arrived to build up the squadron once again. German fighters did not attack escorted bombers. That probably happened later when the bombers went in unescorted by fighters. Stege always kept track of his time in the air and fuel consumption to assure his return home. He never got a scratch in his plane during combat. He did get an accidental shot through his engine's auto-cooler by another plane during training exercises. Black smoke was emitted so he feathered his prop [Annotator's Note: feathering the propeller blades stops the engine from running and reduces the drag on the plane] and made it back to the field. Stege was a lieutenant in North Africa. He followed the mission orders as assigned in North Africa, but the targets of opportunity became less and less as time there went on. He had no camera on his ship during those days [Annotator's Note: cameras synchronized to firing of the plane's guns capture action]. Orders came in January 1943 for Stege to go home.

John Arthur Stege and 14 other pilots were sent home [Annotator's Note: he was a veteran combat pilot with the 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force]. He was placed in a training command stationed at Muroc which is Edwards Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: North Muroc is North Edwards, California]. He trained P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] pilots in the desert letting them know what to expect. It was tough on some of them even though they had been trained well. Some even had twin-engine time like the P-38. Stege only had single engine training before he checked out in the P-38. He spent a year training pilots stateside before volunteering for the Pacific. His cousin had been a Marine killed on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] and that was on his mind constantly. He was assigned to the 68th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group in the 13th Air Force based out of Guadalcanal initially and then Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea]. When he reached New Guinea, he was stationed at Middleburg Island. Eventually he reached Halmahera [Annotator's Note: Halmahera Island, Indonesia] and then the Philippines. Time spent at Guadalcanal involved transitioning the 68th Fighter Squadron over from P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Aerocobra fighter aircraft] to P-38s. It took some time to get accustomed to working two engines rather than one engine like the P-39 design. Flying a twin-engine was different taking a few weeks to adapt. The 13th Air Force moved across the Pacific as islands were taken. The squadron had a PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft] and a submarine that provided rescue capability for them. That provided reassurance to the pilots. When Stege was requested to provide flight cover over a submarine crew to swim, he refused stating that he needed to return to base. While at New Guinea, missions largely involved escorting B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] and B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]. Some missions involved dropping napalm [Annotator's Note: incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical] bombs on Borneo helping the British. Enemy antiaircraft fire had to be avoided if possible. Kamikazes [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft] were never a threat to Stege because they came later in the war. He received the DFC [Annotator's Note: the Distinguished Flying Cross, or DFC, is awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight] for his actions in the region where the Japanese were getting their oil and fuel. He strafed and damaged enemy positions and facilities. It was the end of 1944, so the enemy air forces were not a major threat. Flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was always an issue. Stege was in the Pacific from 1943 to 1944. He told his colonel he wished to return home. He had continually escorted bombers from island to island until the Philippines. The Japanese had few aircraft left. It was 300 miles from Middleburg Island to Halmahera. It was a good refueling spot but approach or takeoff near dark was not advised. One fighter pilot attempted to do so and was given the wrong bearings. He missed the landing field and was never found. Missions mainly seemed to be routine otherwise. The men were ready to go home. Stege had about 125 missions in both theaters [Annotator's Note: Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters]. When he reached his base in Palawan in the Philippines, things were winding down. After 50 missions, a pilot could apply to go home. Stege was initially a captain in the 347th Fighter Group when the Colonel promoted him to take over the 68th Fighter Squadron. There were 25 pilots with 300 enlisted men. Stege had ten administrative officers to assist him, so he took care of the pilots, and the administrative officers took care of the paperwork. Stege just signed off where he needed to. Two drunk enlisted men got into an argument on Middleburg Island. One was shot and killed. The killer went to prison. Stege had to write a letter to the deceased soldier's parents. He had to take care of that, but the administrative officers took care of the detail work. Stege just took care of the flying aspects. He returned home in 1945 and was discharged in 1946. Nothing in particular stands out about his last mission.

John Arthur Stege briefly used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] at San Diego College [Annotator's Note: in San Diego, California] but could not sit still. Instead, he and his father bought a liquor store in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley [Annotator's Note: Van Nuys is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California] and spent 25 years raising his family. The war left Stege with thoughts and memories of guys he flew with, particularly, those who did not make it. War is tough. The United States did well in the war. The nation covered many battlefronts. Everyone worked hard and saved America. The war changed the rest of the world, too. The United States earned respect from other countries. The worst thing about war is to lose someone in the family. It affects everyone. It is a terrible thing to think an individual is returning home, but they do not. Having a National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is great. People can see photographs, exhibits and hear talks about what happened during the war. Grandchildren learn a lot that way.