Lenwood Steglich was born in September 1922 in Rosenberg, Texas. His father was a farmer and moved to Bartlett, Texas in the central part of the state. That was where Steglich was raised. Steglich had one brother and three sisters. He was closest to his brother, Maurice, who was also in the service. One of his sisters served as a nurse during the war. Steglich grew up on a farm producing cotton, corn and other things. It was during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], so the family worked hard but never went hungry with the food they produced. The work also made Steglich and his brother strong. They were able to throw a 150-pound bale of hay over their heads. Steglich’s mother stayed home with the children. Steglich attended a small two-room country elementary school with two teachers. He attended Bartlett High School using his father’s automobile. He graduated from high school at 15 years of age. Afterward, he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] when he was attending his first semester at John Tarleton [Annotator’s Note: John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, Texas, renamed Tarleton State College in 1949]. Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] announced over the radio that the country had been attacked. Everyone’s adrenaline was flowing and drove them to want to enlist immediately. Steglich also wanted to join, but went in later. After high school graduation but before college, Steglich stayed home for a year to help his father with the farm. He then went to John Tarleton. He studied science and would ultimately become a chemistry major after the war. He stayed in college a few months then returned home and joined the Navy.

Lenwood Steglich joined the Navy [Annotator’s Note: enlisting in September 1942] because all his friends were going into the Army [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. He had never been around water prior to that time. He never regretted that decision. His boot camp was at Great Lakes [Annotator’s Note: Naval Station Great Lakes near Waukegan, Illinois]. His mother was not too happy that he enlisted. His father did not resist and signed the paperwork approving his son’s enlistment. Steglich’s older sister and brother had already entered the service before him. Boot camp was in a cold environment compared to his hometown [Annotator’s Note: in Bartlett, Texas] so he was not dressed appropriately when he arrived. A friend from Kansas loaned him a heavy coat while he stood outdoors for reveille [Annotator's Note: reveille is a signal sounded on a bugle or drum to wake military personnel] and meals. Steglich formed a favorable opinion about Kansas people. He had no advanced training, but went to train with Marines at an amphibious base. Steglich became a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps]. Marines used Navy corpsmen as their medics. Steglich had asked to be a corpsman because of his interest in medicine. He had planned to major in pre-med in college, but really did not know what career direction he wanted to take. The Navy seemed to be planning to invade Japan and prepared a lot of people for that [Annotator’s Note: Operation Downfall was the planned invasion of Japan starting in November 1945. The end of the war in August 1945 negated the need for that invasion.]. That was how Steglich got into that medical training program. He was transferred to the USS Bowditch (AGS-4) which was a survey ship in the Pacific. The Atlantic had a survey ship, the Pathfinder [Annotator’s Note: USS Pathfinder (AGS-1)]. He was a Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class aboard his ship. He had been promoted at Little Creek, Virginia after acceptance in the V-5 Navy aviation training program [Annotator's Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943]. He attended several preflight schools and Wesley University in Connecticut, as well as the University of North Carolina and even gained 14 hours flying solo. He eventually washed out of the program at Bunker Hill, Indiana where he flew Waco biplanes. He could not accomplish the precision flying and landing techniques needed as a carrier pilot. Nevertheless, he loves flying [Annotator’s Note: he chuckles]. He returned to his previous rank and was assigned to the Bowditch as a corpsman. The Bowditch had four YP “yard patrol” boats assigned to it to do surveys with sonic depth finders. There were smaller boats that would manually find depths with strings and weights near islands prior to the start of an invasion. The objective was to prevent larger vessels from being grounded by sandbars or coral reefs. The information would be returned to Bowditch where depths charts would be made of island coastlines and inlets. Bowditch did not enter battle sites, but was still armed with anti-aircraft weaponry. The ship was credited with shooting down four Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] planes. The YPs also had an anti-aircraft gun with gunner. Its crew also consisted of a captain, a cook, two motormen, a bosun, and a couple seamen.

Lenwood Steglich [Annotator’s Note: as a Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class aboard the survey ship USS Bowditch (AGS-4)] sailed from Buchner Bay [Annotator’s Note: in Okinawa, Japan] to an inlet several miles up the coast. The ship was thought to be safer there. Notification of incoming enemy aircraft was received. Steglich’s cadet training [Annotator’s Note: he had spent time in the V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program before assignment to the Bowditch as a corpsman] helped save lives on his ship. He quickly spotted and identified an incoming aircraft as an enemy kamikaze. The gunner downed the plane and the ship was given credit for eliminating a kamikaze [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. That was very exciting. His adrenaline was flowing during that time. Okinawa had a lot of landing craft in the area. Steglich treated wounded during the landing. The largest extent of casualties resulted after the initial landings. Kamikaze planes flew in and out of clouds. Those pilots were young kids who were taught how to takeoff, but not to land. Their goal was to hit ships. They were successful in knocking out a lot of ships. Flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] would cover the skies. The Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] did not resist the landing, but went into caves to fight from there. They figured they could not stop the troops at the beach. Casualties increased with the fighting inland. Steglich was on the Bowditch at the time of the dropping of the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. When the surrender occurred, everyone was singing Auld Lang Syne [Annotator’s Note: he chuckles]. After the war, it took a long time to get the Bowditch back to the United States. Steglich had the hiccups for three days and could not get rid of them. It made him very sore [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. The experience was good but hopefully we will not see anything like it again. It was bad, just bad.

Lenwood Steglich did not want to stay in the Navy after the war. He attended Texas A&M [Annotator’s Note: Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas] using 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]. It provided his education. His degree was in chemistry. He worked over 30 years with Dresser Industries, an oilfield supply company. He worked in the field using chemical mud to control the drilling process and keep the drill hole stable. It prevented blow-outs and drill pipes from being stuck. He worked and lived in New Iberia and Opelousas [Annotator’s Note: both in Louisiana]. He worked in Shreveport [Annotator’s Note: Shreveport, Louisiana] and east Texas. He would eventually manage the coast between Texas and Florida. He moved into sales in California north of San Francisco. He retired in about 1984. His final rank in the Navy was Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class. He married after the war while in business with his brother and father for two years before working with Dresser. He married a lady from Austin [Annotator’s Note: Austin, Texas]. They had three boys and a daughter. They had a great life together. His daughter passed away.

Lenwood Steglich never talked about his time in the Navy. His family never asked him about it. His three grandchildren got interested in it. It is hard to talk about it. Steglich hopes everything will be done to prevent future wars. It is a sad situation. World War Two was supposed to be the last of the wars, but they persist. The Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] had prepared Steglich’s generation for the war. He did not expect anything when he was young. Today, there are all types of games for young people unlike what he had. It is important to educate people about World War Two. It is an example of how bad things can get. We should do everything we can to prevent warfare. Steglich hopes the Second World War sets an example to prevent future wars and get our country back on track. [Annotator’s Note: the tape is briefly interrupted] It is a problem.