By Terry Hillig
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
GRANITE CITY, Ill. — An Army medic described as always ready to help others, even as a child, was laid to rest by friends and relatives Friday.
Sgt. Steven Paul Mennemeyer, 26, of Granite City, died in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter Aug. 8 in Anbar province of Iraq. Mennemeyer was a flight medic for the 82nd Medical Company from Fort Riley, Kan.
At a funeral Mass at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Mennemeyer was remembered as an avid Cardinals fan with a great sense of humor and a dedication to helping others.
Mennemeyer enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1998 shortly after he graduated from Granite City High School; he joined the Army in 2002. He was in his second deployment to Iraq, having earlier served as a ground medic with the 1st Armored Division.
For several years before entering active duty, Mennemeyer had been a paramedic with Abbott EMS, working out of the company’s Belleville station.
“The level of goodness in the whole world has gone down,” Chris Bruss, an Abbott co-worker, said after the Mass.
Maj. Gen. Russell J. Czerw, commanding general of the Army Medical Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, posthumously awarded Mennemeyer the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Mennemeyer was a member of St. Elizabeth Church. The Rev. Pat Jakel, the church pastor, said Mennemeyer was faithful and selfless.
Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Mennemeyer was “an all-American hero” and “a special young man with a servant’s heart.”
Among the survivors are a son, Andrew Mennemeyer, 7, of Granite City; his mother, Ramona Phillips of Granite City; his father, Steve Mennemeyer of New Albany, Ind.; a sister, a stepbrother, three grandparents and a special friend, Staff Sgt. Ginny Akins of the 82nd Medical Company serving in Iraq.