Melburn (Mel) Frank Stein was born on 23 December 1913 to Theodore and Clara (Duddey) Stein in St. Louis. Stein was a sheet metal worker when he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at Jefferson Barracks in April 1933. His assignments took him Arcadia, Missouri and Bena Minnesota, where he was discharged in September 1933.

In June 1937, Stein enlisted in the Marines, going to China with the 6th Brigade in September. His regiment arrived in Shanghai on the day the city was captured by the Japanese. He was later stationed in the Philippines from January 1938 to May 1939, and then returned to Tientsin, China from May 1939 to July 1940. By this time, Stein had been promoted to corporal and was made the Post Exchange Steward at Camp Holcomb near Chinwangtao. Camp Holcomb was a rifle range, a fitting assignment for someone who distinguished himself as a rifle sharpshooter, a pistol marksman, and an automatic rifle expert. When Stein returned to California, he was a drill instructor until his honorable discharge in June 1941.

After his discharge, Stein returned to St. Louis and joined the St. Louis Police Department. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he re-enlisted in the Marine Corps in February 1942. Stein was soon promoted to sergeant and sent to the Pacific theatre where he was in the battles of Bougainville (17 Nov 1943 – 2 Jan 1944), Guam (21 July 1944 – 10 Aug 1944), and Okinawa (24 Apr 1945 – 21 June 1945). He was honorably discharged again in October 1945. In 1946, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his distinguished service.

Stein returned to the St Louis Police Department for a second time in 1945. The department counted his WWII military service as timed also served on the force. Stein spent 31 years with the St. Louis Police Department before retiring in 1973. He gained fame during the 24 April 1953 Southwest Bank robbery, when he shot and wounded one of the three robbers when he tried to leave the bank with a hostage. The robber, Fred Bowerman, was on the FBI’s most wanted list and died nine days later from his gunshot wound. The Knights of Khorassan awarded their Medal of Honor to Stein and his partner at their convention in August 1953. In 1959, Charles Guggenhiem directed a movie, The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery, starring Steve McQueen. Stein played himself in the movie. The St. Louis Police Department belatedly honored Stein in April 2008, when he also received an aldermanic resolution.

On 28 June 1947, Stein married Joyce Florence Maddock of Wellington, New Zealand. Miss Maddock entered the U.S. under the provisions of Public Law 471 allowing an alien fiancee of an honorably discharged serviceman to enter the country for three months in order to marry. The couple had two children: Philip (1948-1964) and Valerie (1951-). Joyce died in December 1980.

Stein remarried in 1982. Mutual friends, who were natives of England living in St. Louis, introduced him to Mavis Elaine Olmsted (1925- ). Mavis had served with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force of the RAF during World War II. They were married for over 30 years before Stein’s death on 27 August 2016, at the age of 102.