When Stephen J. Shevlin was born in October 1918 in Manhattan, New York, his father, Philip, was 37 and his mother, Anna, was 32. He had two sisters. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a Sergeant in the 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division. He entered service in New York. He died on August 24, 1944, was initially buried at Villeneuve-sur-Auvers in France but his current burial is St John Cemetery, New York.