John C. Stevens III graduated from Parris Island in 1957 and served on active duty until 1959. A retired Massachusetts trial court judge, he graduated from Brown University in 1963, from Suffolk Law School in 1969, and practiced law from 1969 to 1996. Currently, Judge Stevens works part time as a mediator in Massachusetts. Married to Pamela Stevens, an author in her own right, Judge Stevens is father of three children and two step children. John is the author of Court-Martial at Parris Island: The Ribbon Creek Incident, a work of creative nonfiction that relates the story of six Marine recruits drowned during a motivational training exercise under the supervision of SSgt McKeon. McKeon provided John with the only complete interview he ever gave regarding his involvement and responsiblity for a training exercise that went terribly bad. During their correspondence, John’s respect for and understanding of McKeon led to his writing the obituary above.

John served as Milspeak Creative Writing Seminar 10 Guest Writer.