Steve went through all three of HQ 1 operations without a scratch until that fatal day in January.

All that morning a Panzer Tank had been firing at us. We had dug a good hole and the Tank could not hit us.

Finally, we fired 3 High explosive 81mm mortar rounds at the Tank, and it quickly backed off.

Steve Tetak got over confident and ran for a barn where he had left his pack. The German Tank saw him and fired a round into the barn.

Steve was killed instantly on the 22^nd January, 1945.