2LT William E. Stuart

William as a CPL in 1940

2LT William E. Stuart was born in 1919 in Roanoke, Virginia. He was the youngest of 4 children born to George William and Carrie Elizabeth (Palmer) Stuart. His father worked as a truck driver and an upholsterer before dying in 1934 at the age of 49 of acute appendicitis. The family continued to live at 723 Patterson Avenue in Roanoke. Sister Stella supported the family working in a rayon mill and William worked as a service station attendant but the pair only earned a reported 1939 income of $912. This is likely why William enlisted in the National Guard serving in Headquarters and Headquarters Company 1st Battalion 116th Infantry. 

When the unit was called to federal duty in February 1941 William was already a CPL. He would have initially trained with the unit at Fort George Meade, Maryland, in the Carolina Maneuvers, and at Camp Blanding, Florida. He then shipped for England with the regiment aboard the Queen Mary in September 1942. Sometime during the training in England William was promoted to SSG. He made the landing on D-Day, 6 Jun 1944. SSG Stuart suffered a bullet wound in the right side on 30 Jul 1944 but remained on duty. SSG Stuart received a battlefield commission as 2LT on 28 Jul 1944 and continued to serve in the same unit but as the Battalion S-2 Officer. 2LT Stuart was killed in action near Vire, France on 5 Aug 1944.

2LT Stuart rests forever in the Brittany American Cemetery. 

Williams grandfather served in the Civil War. James William Palmer served as a PVT in C Company 45th Virginia Infantry (CSA), captured at Cloyd's Farm 9 May 1864 and interned at Camp Chase, Ohio.