Biography
Steinberg, Joseph Harry. (Fred Gruff); b. July 17, 1913, Poland (July 8, 1913, Poland, Russia); To the US from Putalsk, Russia, in 1917, Naturalized through Father; Russian American; Father Benjamin (Bennie) Steinberg, Mother Fannie (Molly) Steinberg; High School Education, attended Fifth Avenue HS in Pittsburgh, PA; Single; Printer and Office Clerk; YCL 1933; Received Passport# 362991 on January 22, 1937 which listed his address as 212 Covington Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Sailed January 28, 1937 aboard the Aquitania; Arrived in Spain on February 11, 1937; Served with the XV Brigade, Lincoln Battalion, Co. 2, Section 1; WIA February 27, 1937, Jarama; Hospital in San Carlos, spent the remainder of his time in Spain in hospitals; Returned to the US on March 9, 1938 aboard the Paris; Employed as a teacher and lived at 212 Covington, Pittsburgh; Married Ethel Freda Hirshenson in 1938, WWII was rejected by the military due to his wounds in Spain, enlisted in the Merchant Marines; Killed in action May 26, 1942, on the Murmansk run when his ship, the freighter Syros, was torpedoed and sunk near Bear Island.Sibling: brother Filip Steinberg.
Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; Americans; Repatriation List (1/31/1938, ll. 100); RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 994, ll. 60; L-W Tree Ancestry (HS Yearbook, Marriage License, Return Ship Records); American Merchant Marine at War. Code A1
Photographs: Harry Steinberg being fingerprinted, July 9, 1940, Pittsburgh Press; and Senior year photograph, Fifth Avenue High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, yearbook 1929; L-W Tree Ancestry.
