Richard Wozniak

Steven E Stawnychy of North Chicago, Lake County, Illinois United States was born on May 15, 1957, and died at age 18 years old on June 3, 1975 at Railroad tracks just outside Great Lakes Naval Training Center..

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Steven Edward Stawnychy was born on May 15, 1957, in Ramsey, Minnesota, to Joseph Edward Stawnychy, then 31, and Jean Marie Stawnychy (née Bernier), then 29. He was one of five children, with siblings Mike, Jim, Debbie, and Jo-Ellen. Standing 5'9". Steven possessed a slender yet muscular build, shoulder-length light brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a slightly upturned nose. A devout Catholic, he had once considered becoming a priest. Steven's life ended tragically by suicide on June 3, 1975, at the age of 18. He was buried in civilian clothing at St. Mary of the Lake Cemetery in White Bear Lake, Minnesota; his parents were later laid to rest beside him. High School Years and Personality In high school, Steven earned average grades (Bs and Cs) but often struggled with authority. Despite being popular among his peers, he viewed himself as a loner. During his sophomore year, Steven joined the gymnastics team and earned a varsity letter. However, he did not return the following year for reasons that remain unclear. Bill Murray, the gymnastics coach at White Bear Lake Senior High School, observed that Steven seemed indifferent to his teammates' desire for him to stay on the team Both Coach Murray and Steven's father suggested he might have lost interest once the initial challenge subsided. His mother echoed this, noting that Steven's enthusiasm for activities often waned when they became too easy for him. Steven maintained his physical fitness through calisthenics and regarded his body as a sacred shrine, showering and changing clothes multiple times daily. His mother described him as patient, considerate, and responsible, noting that he often ran errands for local nursing home residents. He demonstrated profound empathy, once persuading a disabled friend contemplating suicide to reconsider, telling him: "God left you on earth for a reason—and you'd better stick around to see what it is." On his 12th birthday, Steven received a rifle from his father but, unlike his brothers, avoided hunting, unable to bring himself to harm animals. Inside his wallet, he carried a yellow plastic label that read: "Life is Fragile. Handle with Care." His brother Jim recalled Steven's deep appreciation for nature and his unique ability to find beauty to find beauty others overlooked. However, Jim also noted Steven's struggle to understand society, his uncertainty about where he was supposed to fit in, and his tendency to daydream about better worlds. Work, Relationships, and Interests During his junior year, Steven worked evenings at a local movie theater but was eventually fired due to tardiness and a carefree attitude. He was rehired six months later but dismissed again after just six weeks. Despite these issues, the manager remembered him fondly as gentle and full of life. That spring marked the beginning of Steven's romantic life. He started dating a girl, and they would often walk by the lake, talking for hours. Steven hoped she would join him on a visit to his brother Mike in California, but her parents disapproved, discouraging the relationship due to Steven's perceived lack of realistic future plans. The relationship ultimately ended over minor disagreements. Steven enjoyed music and played guitar casually, with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" being his favorite song. As a high school senior, he became interested in mysticism, often analyzing music with friends and exploring melodies for moods and lyrics for hidden meanings. He consciously avoided cigarettes, encouraged his father to quit smoking, and, although he tried marijuana, preferred escaping into the fantasies of his imagination. Changes, Navy Enlistment, and Basic Training Steven's disposition shifted during his senior year of high school. He grew more introspective and became impatient when things didn't go his way. Frustrated with school, he took a job as a cook in Minneapolis. Feeling stifled at home, Steven moved in with the restaurant owner, who later described him as moody and adrift in "limbo." Eventually, this job also soured. In January 1975, Steven first mentioned joining the Navy – a surprising choice given his lack of overt patriotism. His brother Jim recalled Steven mocking "Honor the Flag" signs by throwing snowballs at them. Disillusioned with school and uncertain about his future, Steven viewed the Navy as an escape. Two and a half months before graduation, he dropped out of high school. The Navy began to look good, and one day, Steven arrived home and announced to his parents that he had decided to join. The Navy arranged for Steven to take the GED, a high school equivalency test, which he passed. Steve’s parents, seeing nothing more promising on their son’s horizon, agreed to sign the necessary papers. Steve was not yet 18. On Monday, May 5, 1975, Steven Stawnychy (then age 17) enlisted in the U.S. Navy under the “Buddy Plan” with Roger, a friend from White Bear Lake. The “Buddy Plan” was designed to guarantee them the same boot camp. Early that morning, the Stawnychys went out to breakfast. Steve had packed a few belongings, among them his favorite book, the New Testament. The recruiter met them at the restaurant. After breakfast, they walked outside. The suyn had come up, but the air was chilly. Steve said goodbye to his family. “Here we go, Mom,” he said as he left. “Me and my Bible.” His family never saw him alive again. Steven and Roger reported to the Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. That night and were swept into the strict and hectic basic training routine. They were issued their gear, their hair was cropped, and they were put through a long series of tests and checkups, which included a blood test, swim test, dental check, and X-ray. There were lectures from the skipper and chaplain, as well as instructions on how to brush their teeth, fold their clothes, shine their shoes, address their superiors, and march. Steven began basic training at Great Lakes Naval Base. Somehow, Steven found time to write to his family during the first week. He wrote that everyone put themselves above the new recruits, telling them they would get the next best thing to the death penalty if they made a wrong move. About the middle of the week, the recruits were assigned to rifle companies, 80-man groups in which they would spend the remaining weeks of basic training. Steve and his friend, Roger, were soon separated into different rifle companies and saw nothing of each other from then on. A recruit in Steve’s company said, “Steve was mainly a quiet person in the company. He always kept to himself when it came to conversations. He seemed like he had deep problems he wouldn’t discuss with anybody.” Steven became increasingly isolated emotionally. Struggles in Training and the Brig Incident Stawnychy quickly realized the Navy was not the answer to his problems. He was getting increasingly hyper. He didn’t know anyone and couldn’t take it anymore. His athletic ability made it easy for him to meet the physical demands of boot camp. Though physically capable, Steven struggled with authority and discipline during training. He did not take orders well. According to one recruit, Stawnychy didn’t get along with the assistant company commander and appeared to want to demonstrate he had a stronger mind than any authority. Steve’s supervisors claimed they tried getting through to him, but Stawnychy would respond, “You people just don’t understand.” A withdrawn and depressed Stawnychy found solace in reading the Bible he kept under his pillow. He read it whenever he could. It seemed to be the only thing he was willing to focus his attention on. According to the company commander, his gear and personal being started to let down as the week progressed, and his demerits piled up. On Monday, May 12th, Stawnychy was sent to “Happy Hour,” a special corrective drill session designed, as the Navy puts it, to assist recruits in overcoming training deficiencies or faulty attitudes. The drill instructor reported that when Stawnychy arrived, he screamed and was disrespectful, disrupting the session by not performing, throwing fits and threats. They recommended that Stawnychy be sent to the “disciplinary company” for the night, but Steve never arrived. En route, he escaped from his escort, climbed a fence, and disappeared into the woods near the base. Finally, the corporal lost his temper. In less than 15 minutes, Stawnychy was apprehended by the base police. The patrolman found him walking down a nearby road in a mentally unstable and saddened condition. The patrolman and had to tell Stawnychy three times to hop into the truck and took him to the brig. Stawnychy was confined to the Navy Correctional Center for disrupting the military training drill and going AWOL from the base. He entered the brig shortly before midnight on May 12, 1975. According to recruits who spoke to Stawnychy and brig inmates who would witness the sequence of events following his detention, Stawnychy was withdrawn and depressed. He seemed unable to understand what was said to him or carry out the most straightforward orders. He was extremely passive and appeared to be in a shell. On the morning of May 13, witnesses said, Stawnychy was taken to the brig's Confinement and Release building, where he was ordered to make a rack. He made the bed improperly with numerous attempts, and each time, a Marine corporal ripped out the blankets and directed Stawnychy to make the bed again. Finally, the corporal, irritated at Stawnychy's lack of comprehension, seized him by the back of the neck and kneed him in the face. Stawnychy began to cower in fear and was taken to the second-floor sick bay to receive first aid, where he fainted. Upon being revived, he panicked and tried to escape his guards. Witnesses stated the guards threw him against a wall, punched him repeatedly in the body and face, placed him in a straitjacket, and continued punching him even after he was immobilized. Ambulance Ride and Hospitalization Stawnychy was loaded into an ambulance and rushed from the brig to the base hospital. Two Marines accompanied Stawnychy in the ambulance. The beating continued. According to the driver, one Marine punched Stawnychy in the face seven or eight times during the ride, apparently trying to knock him out. The day after the brig incident, the ambulance driver filed a complaint claiming that "excessive force" had been used on Steven en route to the hospital. The corporal who rode along need not have punched him so many times. None of the corpsmen was authorized to administer Steve a tranquilizer. Still in a straitjacket and tied to a stretcher, Stawnychy thrashed, screamed, and swore. At the hospital, the Marines, corpsmen, ambulance attendants, and hospital orderlies struggled to unload the stretcher. In the process, Steve's head struck the ambulance door, and the loosely secured stretcher dropped to the ground, further injuring him. During his brief confinement, witnesses stated that Stawnychy was allegedly physically attacked without provocation and sexually assaulted by seven or eight U.S. Marine Corps correctional guards and Navy medical corpsmen. He suffered a beating so brutal that it left him wholly incoherent. He had been kneed in the face, kicked in the stomach, and punched repeatedly in the body and face. Once in the emergency room, Stawnychy was strapped to a table and given a sedative. The doctor reported that upon admission to the hospital, Steven was "disoriented, loosely organized, violent, abusive, and incoherent. He was having auditory and visual hallucinations ("Little things eating my arms"). He had bruises on his head, neck, arms, and chest. Doctors suspected his jaw was broken, but X-rays showed it wasn't. As a result of the recruit's physical maltreatment in the brig and ambulance, he sustained severe and permanent injuries whereby he was unable to control his actions. Stawnychy remained sedated in the psychiatric ward, where he improved rapidly. After a few days, doctors stopped the drugs. Soon, he ate and slept normally but related to the staff and other patients in an aloof, distant, yet appropriate manner. He remained in the hospital for eight days. When released, the doctors noted that Stawnychy still harbored a highly personalized fantasy life but that he could control it with reality. During that weeklong stay, on Thursday, May 15, Stawnychy turned 18. He seemed alright, but he was anxious to leave the Navy. On May 16, a corpsman at the hospital called the Stawnychy home. Steven's parents were on a trip, and his brother Jim took the call. The hospital corpsman explained that Steven had been hurt in the brig, but was OK now. Later, Jim talked to Steve. "I guess you got in a scramble there," Jim said. "Did you mess some of those guys up?" "No." Steve responded, "They messed me up." Discharge Process and Final Days From the hospital, Steve was sent to the Recruit Evaluation Unit (REU), quarters for housing recruits struggling to adapt to boot camp. Doctors there arranged for his discharge due to what they termed a "borderline personality." His last day in the Navy was to be June 4. A recruit who met Steve at the REU described him as "off in another world." He folded his arms and gazed off into space with wide eyes." Steve told him the other recruit that once he got out, he planned to visit his brother in California. Steve also chillingly stated that once he reached California, he intended to “drown himself in the ocean.” "I don't think Steve had anything to go back to except his brother," the recruit later reflected. On June 2, Steve told his doctor at the REU that he had changed his mind and wanted to give boot camp another try. He said he hadn't accomplished much so far and was concerned about his future. The doctor asked, "Don't you think the pressure might get to you again?" Steve thought about it, said, "Guess so," shook his head, and left. That morning, Steve was transferred to the Transient Personnel Unit (TPU), The Navy's final stop before departure. The following day, he turned in his gear and signed his release papers. "He was in good spirits," one recruit observed, "because he was leaving the Navy, I guess." Steven's father, Joseph Stawnychy, said Steve had phoned him several times. About 8:30 on Tuesday night, June 3, Steve called his parents to confirm the Navy was releasing him, and that he was coming home the next day. They attanged to pick him up at the airport. "Steve was worried about whether the Navy would give him any clothes to come home in," his mother said. "The only clothes he had were what the other recruits had lent him." Steve's seabag had been lost on the way to the TPU. Steve said, "I warn you, Mom, that when you pick me up, you won't even recognize me." Steve's mother recollected, "We talked for over five minutes, and that's the last time we heard from him." The Final Hours and Death The events during the two hours between Steve's call home and his death remain unknown. At some point, TPU staff conducted a muster and discovered his absence. The master-at-arms instructed the watch to report Stawnychy's return immediately. On the clear and mild night of June 3, overwhelmed by despair he had previously shared with friends, Steven left the TPU and climbed a fence near the Great Lakes Naval Base. Around 10:30 PM, a northbound Chicago & North Western (C&NW) passenger train, traveling at 35 to 40 mph, rounded a curve. Eugene F. Boughter, the locomotive engineer, spotted someone emerge from the weeds near the tracks. It was Steven. He approached the rails, laid his head upon them, and showed no reaction—not even a glance—towards the oncoming train. Despite Boughter immediately engaging the train's emergency stop, the short distance—merely 80 feet—made collision unavoidable. Steven Stawnychy's life ended on the C&NW railroad tracks near the Naval Base. Law enforcement and Navy personnel identified the body using military ID cards found at the scene. His death was officially ruled a suicide. Following protocol, his remains were returned to the Navy. In the aftermath, the Lake County Coroner's Office pledged to improve oversight concerning off-base deaths of military personnel. Autopsy, Inquests, and Emerging Controversy The autopsy revealed severe injuries: multiple gashes on his head (top/rear) and chin, lacerations on his foot and wrist, abrasions on his neck, back, buttock, and right elbow, grease stains on the skin, and scars on his chest and legs. The official cause of death listed on the autopsy report was transection of the medulla by bone fragments resulting from a skull fracture. During two Coroner's inquests held on June 18 and July 9, 1975, conducted by Lake County Coroner Oscar A. Lind, the train engineer testified that Stawnychy could have moved off the track before impact. No one else admitted to seeing Steven during the final hour of his life. Adding to the complexity, the mortician who received Steve's body noted bruises that might have occurred before the train incident—a possibility the pathologist who performed the autopsy did not deny. However, both experts agreed it was impossible to definitively determine the timing of those injuries. Steven's father, Joseph Stawnychy, vehemently rejected the suicide ruling, insisting his son was dead before reaching the tracks. He suspected foul play, believing Steven was killed and placed on the rails. Joseph described his son's suffering in the weeks before his death, including severe beatings that led to hospitalization, two days of unconsciousness, and the need for blood transfusions. He maintained Steven was stable and normal before leaving for the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Contradicting the father's view, fellow Navy recruit William Press claimed Stawnychy had spoken of suicide and deliberately stepped in front of the train. Press also alleged that Stawnychy endured horrific abuse in the brig, including restraint in a straitjacket, beating with a rubber bludgeon, and sexually assault. Both Press and Stawnychy had ended up in the Reevaluation Center for psychologically disturbed recruits. Press later petitioned the Navy, accusing it of murder and asserting that the physical punishment caused Stawnychy's severe injuries and mental breakdown. Skepticism lingered. Steven’s fellow recruits, more than 30 of them, had spent weeks alongside him. They knew his pain intimately. Two recruits confirmed Steven’s account of beatings and humiliation during his time in the brig. His parents, living in White Bear, Minnesota, heard the same harrowing tale. Friends and peers largely believed the inhumane treatment at boot camp drove Steven to suicide. Fellow recruit Scott Jaynes witnessed Stawnychy's maltreatment in the brig and observed his resulting mental instability. Jaynes recounted specific incidents of abuse, including a brutal beating over a minor infraction that left Stawnychy bleeding and terrified. Despite attempts to get medical help for Steven, his condition deteriorated. Jaynes later reported the abuse to a Navy lawyer but encountered resistance from authorities. Jaynes only learned of Stawnychy's death after his own discharge, but he later returned to testify at court-martial trials, seeking justice for the deceased recruit. Patrick Hannigan, another acquaintance, recalled seeing bruises on Steven’s back and hips—dark welts inflicted by the Marines. Steven’s had demeanor shifted; he spoke of suicide and withdrew into a silent abyss. Fueled by these accounts, the Chicago and national media seized upon the story, publishing spectacular headlines about the maltreatment and humiliation preceding Stawnychy's death. The case raised disturbing questions about inmate treatment in Navy brigs and the procedures for investigating allegations of prisoner mistreatment—issues the House Armed Services Committee would eventually investigate. ADDENDUM A: Initial Investigations and Political Involvement Steven Stawnychy's death, officially ruled a suicide, remained shrouded in skepticism and controversy. While the case could have ended there, reports of his savage beating in the brig, alleged sexual molestation, and subsequent death placed intense pressure on the Navy to provide an account. A preliminary Navy report found no direct evidence of wrongdoing by Marine guards at Great Lakes in connection with Stawnychy's death. Lieutenant Douglas White, a Naval legal officer, stated that a routine investigation indicated Stawnychy was not physically injured at the brig, merely agitated. Similarly, a Marine Corps investigation into the beating concluded there was no wrongdoing by guards, reporting only that Stawnychy became agitated, required subduing, and that the guards employed "necessary physical restraint." This was despite Stawnychy having no prior history of mental illness. Lake County officials also investigated, conducting an inquest at the urging of U.S. Representative Robert McClory (R-Lake Bluff, IL), whose district included the Great Lakes base. After the Chicago media published accounts of the beating and accusations from peers and parents linking it to the suicide, Representative McClory took an interest. The Navy and Marines, having initially taken no action regarding the beating, launched an elaborate effort to convince McClory the incident was minor and no guards were at fault. Representative McClory highlighted that the vast majority of brig inmates – often incarcerated for military-specific offenses like being AWOL – deserved stringent protection against abuse. In a report to the House Armed Services Committee, he advocated for an investigation into both prisoner protection measures at Great Lakes and the methods for handling maltreatment allegations. The Stawnychy case, he argued, spotlighted systemic abuse long overlooked by officials. On June 15, during a meeting with military representatives in Waukegan, McClory received a report stating, in part, that Seaman Recruit Stawnychy "had to be physically restrained while in the correctional center and did receive minor injuries consisting of cuts and bruises as a result." This explanation starkly contrasted with the facts: Stawnychy required eight days of hospitalization, a transfusion of two pints of blood, spent several days in a straitjacket in the psychiatric ward due to disorientation and hallucinations, and generally showed signs of having been beaten senseless. Representative McClory deemed the military's report "unsatisfactory and incomplete." He had previously criticized the Navy and Marines for misleading him in an apparent "whitewash" of the case. Deeply involved, he formally requested the Committee to investigate further. In a letter to Committee Chairman Melvin Price (D-IL), McClory specifically contested the claim that there was no evidence Stawnychy had been brutally beaten, citing six witnesses who testified directly to observing beatings in the brig and ambulance. Allegations also surfaced implicating several other Marine guards and Navy corpsmen who were not charged. Several recruits had taken the unusual step of contacting McClory directly with their accounts, and some ultimately signed a petition charging the Navy with murder. ADDENDUM B: Court-Martial Proceedings Court-martial proceedings related to the Stawnychy case took place over eight days, from August 6 to August 14, 1975. They resulted in one conviction on a lesser charge and two acquittals. • Corporal William T. Mason (then 22): Accused of kneeing Stawnychy in the face. Two eyewitnesses testified seeing the act; a third saw Mason raise his knee but had an obscured view of contact. Defense witnesses didn't refute the testimony but claimed no marks were visible on Stawnychy's face. Mason was convicted of the lesser charge of "pushing" Stawnychy, fined $100, and demoted to lance corporal. This conviction represented a permanent black mark on his record, though the verdict's inconsistency raised questions. • Sergeant Michael A. Williams (then 23): Acquitted of punching Stawnychy. Two eyewitnesses testified seeing Williams punch Stawnychy repeatedly while he was restrained in a straitjacket. The defense presented witnesses who were involved in the restraint but claimed they did not see Williams strike Stawnychy, although none could definitively deny it occurred. • Corporal Nebojsa Popovich (then 22): Acquitted of punching Stawnychy during the ambulance transport. Testimony conflicted: some witnesses claimed Popovich struck Stawnychy while he was immobilized, while others noted the recruit could still thrash due to an improperly secured straitjacket. ADDENDUM C: Lingering Doubts and Systemic Issues After the court-martial concluded, Representative McClory seemed reluctant to press the matter further. The House Armed Services Committee also declined McClory's request to investigate potential links between mistreatment at Great Lakes and the suicides of three other Navy prisoners (besides Stawnychy) since 1968. Doubts persisted regarding the Navy's commitment to preventing the longstanding hazing (physical and psychological abuse) of inmates at the Great Lakes brig. Before the media attention generated by the Stawnychy case, such allegations were rarely reported, investigated, or prosecuted. Key questions remained unanswered: • Was Stawnychy's death truly a suicide? • One psychiatrist stated suicide was inconsistent with his personality, while another suggested it would only occur under acute stress – what could have caused such stress on the night of his death, especially when his parents confirmed he was welcome home and eager to return? • Was Stawnychy misdiagnosed with borderline personality disorder when paranoid schizophrenia might have been considered? • If his disturbed mental state was evident, why was it apparently overlooked by authorities? • After confiding suicidal intentions to fellow recruits, who then warned medical corpsmen, why was no action taken? • How could a recruit known to be a suicide risk leave his quarters, depart the base, and reach the railroad tracks? What security failures allowed this? • Why were some of Steve's possessions rifled and missing when his remains were returned? • Why was no investigation initiated until after the story broke in the press? • Why were only three of the eight Marine guards reportedly implicated in the maltreatment brought to trial? Was there a military coverup? • Were such abuses common practice in the base brig? • Data from the period lent weight to these concerns. In the two years prior to the Stawnychy incident, 21 allegations of physical abuse against guards at the correctional center had been lodged. None were formally investigated, and most weren't even reported to the Marine barracks commanding officer. Additionally, inmates filed 51 harassment allegations, and three attempted suicides were recorded in the brig. Of these, only one harassment allegation and one attempted suicide received formal investigation – both occurring in July 1975, *after* public scrutiny forced base officials to address the maltreatment issue. • The initial Marine investigation into the Stawnychy brig incident (conducted before his death) failed to interview any inmates, including Stawnychy himself. ADDENDUM D: Summary of Unresolved Issues The tragic death of Steven Stawnychy, an 18-year-old Navy recruit struck by a train in June 1975, raised profound questions about the circumstances of his demise and the treatment of recruits at the Great Lakes Naval Base, particularly within the brig. While officially ruled a suicide, significant concerns persisted. Key issues and unresolved questions remained: • Character vs. Suicide Ruling: o Family described Steven as stable before enlistment; suicide seemed inconsistent with his personality. o He valued physical fitness, viewing his body as a shrine. o He had actively dissuaded a friend from suicide. o He couldn't bring himself to hunt animals. o He carried a wallet label: "Life is Fragile. Handle with Care." o He was reportedly welcome home and eager to return. o He died hours before his scheduled discharge, having just spoken to his parents about coming home. • Concerns Over Mental Health: o Potential misdiagnosis (borderline personality vs. paranoid schizophrenia) was seemingly not explored. o Witnesses stated Stawnychy expressed suicidal thoughts, yet these warnings were apparently ignored by medical personnel. o Failure to provide adequate intervention or security despite known suicidal ideation. • Security and Procedural Lapses: o Stawnychy was able to leave the base unattended shortly before his death. o Some personal effects returned to the family were incomplete or tampered with (missing photos, silver cross), raising suspicions of mishandling or coverup. • Conflicting Assessments: o Psychiatric opinions differed on the likelihood of suicide given his personality profile. o Medical/forensic evidence was ambiguous regarding bruises potentially predating the train incident. • Alleged Mistreatment and Systemic Problems: o Credible witness accounts detailed brutal beatings and potential sexual assault by Marine guards in the brig. o Medical records noted bruises possibly inflicted prior to death. o Records revealed a pattern of prior abuse allegations (21 physical abuse, 51 harassment) and suicides (3 attempted, 3 confirmed deaths besides Stawnychy) at the Great Lakes brig, largely uninvestigated before the Stawnychy case gained public attention. o Links were suggested between brig mistreatment and the deaths of John McCabe (suicide, 1969), Richard Rossom (train incident, 1968), and Mark Stephens (suicide, 1974) – claims largely unexplored. • Inadequate Investigation: o Initial Navy/Marine probes failed to interview key witnesses (including Stawnychy) and downplayed the severity of his injuries. o Only three of eight implicated guards faced court-martial. o Representative McClory criticized the investigation as deficient. o The case was closed in 1976, citing insufficient evidence of brutality despite witness testimony. o Stawnychy's father remained dissatisfied, believing eight Marines were responsible and vowing to press the Navy for accountability regarding the five not charged. The handling of the Stawnychy case – marked by inconsistencies, conflicting evidence, questionable investigations, inadequate supervision, lack of intervention, and a pattern of prior mistreatment – suggested systemic failures within the military system. These observations raised broader questions about the treatment, oversight, and protection of vulnerable recruits, potentially pointing to a pattern of abuse and neglect exacerbated by superficial investigations and institutional secrecy. The dismissal of numerous allegations and additional suicides as isolated incidents, rather than potential symptoms of a systemic problem, left critical questions unanswered and justice potentially unserved. This substandard investigation calls for a comprehensive review of military protocols regarding medical oversight, mental health care, and detention facility conduct. ADDENDUM E: Reflections on Steven’s Story, Suicide, and Legacy Steven Edward Stawnychy: May 15, 1957 – June 3, 1975 • A Promising Beginning: Steven Edward Stawnychy was a young man of deep faith, compassion, and promise. He was born in Ramsey, Minnesota, to Joseph and Jean Stawnychy. A devout Catholic, Steven once had a deep hope to enter the priesthood and serve. Steven enlisted in the U.S. Navy with a friend but was soon separated. • Service and Struggles: At the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, he encountered the intense and isolating realities of military training. Steven endured hardships and experienced inhumane mistreatment during his brief time in the Navy. • A Time of Turmoil: Witness accounts and testimony later revealed that he suffered physical and emotional abuse while confined to a correctional facility on base. These events had a lasting impact on his mental and emotional well-being. Despite these challenges, he remained grounded in his faith. • A Tragic End: Steven passed away in a tragic and deeply troubling manner. Though officially ruled a suicide, the circumstances surrounding his death raised serious questions about the treatment he received and the systems that failed to protect him. • Withholding Judgment: Suicide is an immensely complex and tragic act, often stemming from a confluence of factors, including mental, emotional, and physical health challenges, trauma, stress, substance abuse, relationship issues, and social isolation. Without access to Steven Stawnychy's complete medical records, psychological evaluations, or personal testimonies, it is impossible to diagnose his condition or fully understand his internal state definitively. Suicide is not a moral failing but the heartbreaking result of profound, often hidden, pain and struggle. Perhaps in his despondence, Steven felt unable to cope with perceived uncertainties or the fear of falling short of his potential. Maybe, feeling powerless and fearing further pain, he sought an escape, believing the end of his story was sadly inevitable and electing not to remain around for it. Whether his final act discounts the impact on loved ones is a question overshadowed by the depth of despair that likely drove it. • The Call: Though Steven's life was tragically brief, his passing is a stark call for meaningful reform and greater accountability within military institutions. Even today, his story resonates through the ongoing pursuit of truth, justice, care for the vulnerable, and authentic change. Legacy and Remembrance: Steven's family and friends remember him as a kind, thoughtful, and deeply spiritual young man whose life was cut short at 18. Beyond the hardship endured, all who knew him recall the light, faith, and promise he embodied. His memory lives on in the hearts of those he touched. This memorial honors his life, reflects on the challenges he faced, and affirms the value of every soul lost too soon. May he rest in eternal peace. May his memory be eternal. Let his story serve as a potent reminder to treat every human life with dignity, compassion, and care.

Steven Stawnychy

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Steven Stawnychy

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