Gerald Herman Stewart - Veterans Legacy Project

Their Story

Gerald Herman Stewart

Gerald Herman Stewart was born on August 26, 1931, in Monmouth, Illinois, to Herman and Mildred (Melaner) Stewart.^[1] In 1940, Gerald and his family were lodgers at a house in Rock Island. His father was an ajax operator for a farm implement manufacturer.^[2] He had three sisters and a brother. Another brother died at the age of two months in 1935.^[3] Stewart attended schools in Rock Island but did not graduate and was then employed by Peerless Dairy Company.^[4]

He enlisted in the Army on August 15, 1949. He is noted in the 1950 census as being stationed at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, at eighteen years old.^[5] He trained there with heavy artillery. He visited home in Rock Island for Christmas in 1950. He served three- and one-half years in the Army, was discharged, and then soon re-enlisted in the Air Force where he served out the remaining years of his military career.^[6]

Stewart served overseas in Iceland, England, Spain, and Vietnam, returning from Vietnam in 1966. He received his high school diploma while serving in the Orient.^[7] In the mid-60s, Stewart was a civil engineer, helping to maintain buildings on air bases and working in new construction. He retired after 20 years in the Air Force in 1970.

In 1972, Gerald and Consuelo Aguirre got a marriage license^[8] and later were married. He was living in Aledo. Gerald Herman Stewart retired to Milan, Illinois. He worked as a sheet metal installer, and was a member of the local Sheet Metal Workers union. He was also a member of the local masonic Eureka Lodge 69 in Milan. In his free time he liked woodworking and gardening. Stewart passed away on August 23, 2016. He was survived by his sisters, daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandchildren.^[9]