His initial efforts were unsuccessful and he was dropped from the academy for academic deficiencies, particularly in required English, during the second half of his plebe year.

He also had temporary duty as a student at the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field, Alabama, in the second of its "short courses" held in 1939-40.

From August 1942 to July 1943 Colonel Steed was assigned as Chief of Staff IV Bomber Command, Headquarters Fourth Air Force, San Francisco, receiving the Legion of Merit.

[3] In five months of training he supervised the development of the group from a small cadre of transferred personnel without equipment to a unit of 2,300 officers and men and 61 B-24 Liberator bombers.

At Muroc the 456th had only half the number of aircraft it required for training and was unable to secure equipment for high altitude bombing and gunnery practice which were necessary to prepare the crews for combat.

The 456th, based at Stornara, Italy, was assigned to the 304th Bomb Wing, headquartered at Cerignola, as part of the Fifteenth Air Force.

While at Stornara, Colonel Steed met and married his wife, Julia, a captain and army nurse with the 34th Field Hospital, Cerignola.

His post-war assignments for the USAAF and after September 18, 1947, the USAF were: Colonel Steed medically retired from the Air Force on October 31, 1952.

During the attempt to subdue the airman Colonel Steed was struck on the head with a wrench, causing a bone splinter that eventually forced his early retirement.