Lieutenant David Steeves

[257 words] In 1957, Lieutenant David Steeves walked out of the California Sierra Mountains 54 days after his Air Force trainer jet had disappeared. He related an unbelievable take of survival after parachuting from his disabled plane. For almost three months he said he had eaten berries and dug snow tunnels to sleep in, had seen no one during the entire time and finally walked out on his own. By the time he showed up alive, he had already been declared officially dead. His story was viewed with much skepticism because during that same time frame his assigned unit had been sent to the Korean War. When further search failed to turn up any wreckage, a hoax was suspected and Steeves was forced to resign under a cloud of doubt. He lived for two decades branded as a deserter and possible spy. One story had him selling the plane to…