PVt Vern Vincent Stewart

Vern at age 18 in 1930

PVT Vern Vincent Stewart was born 1 Jun 1912 in Burlingame, Kansas. He was the oldest of the 2 sons born to Lawrence Charles and Irma Lorena (Linton) Stewart. Before the great depression, Lawrence was a wholesale poultry dealer and the family lived in Topeka, Kansas where they owned their home at 1146 Garfield Avenue. However, Lawrence and Irma divorced soon afterward and Irma remarried in 1922. The boys lived with their mother and step-father, Roy Ernest Summerfelt, in his home Valley Falls, Kansas. Roy was a dealer in hardware and still doing well in 1930. Lawrence Stewart died in March 1930 after a long illness. Vern and his brother were able to complete high school and Vern completed 4-years of college before becoming a bookkeeper. He married Mary Isabelle Ragland in September 1936. The couple was living in Chickhasha, Oklahoma in a home they owned at 1513 20th Street and Verne worked for Melton Motor Inc. in Chickhasha. Vern reported 1939 earnings of $1536 so he was doing very well for the time.

Vern was drafted in January 1944. After completing his basic military training he was sent to the European theater and, on 11 Aug  1944, was transferred from the replacement depot to C Company 116th Infantry to serve as a rifleman. PVT Stewart was only with the unit 14 days, he was killed in action in the attack on German forces defending Brest on 25 Aug 1944.

PVT Stewart was repatriated and re-interred in the Valley Falls Cemetery in Valley Falls, Kansas.