Oldest War Vet Dies; Joined Army in 1899
For more than 30 years, as death thinned the ranks of his comrades in arms, Christian Steinle took on ever-increasing responsibilities at the Santa Monica Gen. MacArthur Camp 25, an organization of Spanish-American War veterans.
Camp commander, adjutant, quartermaster: Steinle held all of those posts, sometimes simultaneously, and for 11 years he chaired the annual Memorial Day services at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.
The oldest surviving U.S. veteran of the Spanish-American War, Steinle died Thursday at the Wadsworth VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles. He was 107.
Infirmities of Old Age
Steinle, whose death reduced the number of U.S. veterans from that war to nine, succumbed to infirmities of old age, said Dick Reid, chief of voluntary service at the medical center.
A volunteer at the medical center for more than 20 years, Steinle drove his 1946 Ford until he was 94. He was a familiar figure on the hospital grounds, visiting patients, playing cards with them, driving patients’ relatives in for visits.
Born in Scheppach, Germany, in 1878, Steinle immigrated to the United States when he was 15, settling in Liverpool, Ohio. His parents had died when he was an infant, and Steinle made the transAtlantic crossing with a brother and a sister.
He joined the army in 1899 and was first assigned to the artillery unit at Ft. McHenry, Md. Within weeks, however, he was shipped to the Philippines as a medical technician, Reid said.
His daughter Margaret remarked recently that “the only action he saw was when someone shot out a lantern he was holding while on guard duty.”
Served on Alcatraz
Just before his discharge, he also served guard duty on what was an officer’s installation now known as Alcatraz Island, Reid said.
He married in 1902 and settled in Cleveland where he was a streetcar conductor before a bout with typhus and tuberculosis persuaded him to pack up his family and move to Santa Monica in 1923.
After settling on the West Coast, Steinle worked 21 years at Douglas Aircraft as a mechanic.
His wife, Amelia, died in 1972, but he is survived by four daughters: Margaret Steinle and Bertha Moseby of Santa Monica; Dorothy Klein of Palmdale, and Betty Lou Terry of Canoga Park.
Services are pending.