User:Gabriel Mackenzie/Forsaken sons, mc

The Forsaken Sons Legend
Jesse Steel -The Early Years

In 1946, Sgt. Jesse Steel was discharged from the United States Army after serving four years overseas during World War II. Steel, who was born in Laughlin, Nevada, in 1922, had been an upper level Batallion Courier for the 101st Airborne in the West Pacific.

As a courier, Steel would travel through the battlefield and countryside on his US Army motorcycle delivering messages and communications to and from battlefield commanders. Having joined at the age of 19, by the time Steel returned to Laughlin in 1945, his dangerous time spent in battle had caused severe and deep emotional trauma that plagued him for the rest of his life.

Returning to his small town after the victory in Japan, Steel worked on the family farm with his father Robert John Steel and Savanah, his much loved mother. Steel was the second of two children for Robert and Savanah. The oldest brother, Jonathon, died in 1939 in a tragic farm accident in which he was mangled to death in front of the family. Those close to Steel in later years described this death of Jonathon as being a turning point in Jesse's life. To those around him, the death of Jonathon caused Jesse to withdraw and become distant and somewhat of a dissident.

After about a year working on the family farm, the restless and increasingly tormented Steel bought a 1938 Indian motorcycle, packed it with all of his belongings that he could, and rode away. His family never saw Jesse again after that day. (It was only in 1968 when they finally heard from him after he was sent to prison for his conviction of illegal gun running in Western Texas.)