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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Unit of Service: K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Parris Island, South Carolina; Jacksonville, North Carolina; Virginia Beach, Virginia; New Zealand; Fiji; Guadalcanal (Marshall Islands); Australia; New Guinea; Pacific Theater
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant

View full service history

"The average Marine lost 20 to 30 pounds…" (Audio interview, 25:04)

Sergeant George Arthur Stewart’s love of football--or, rather, a partially swollen knee that lingered after the last high school game of the season--may have changed his life. After failing the Navy’s physical, he joined the Marine Corps in December 1941, given a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and departed for the Pacific Theater following training. As part of the 1st Marine Division, he was in the thick of both the action as well as the intense food shortages on Guadalcanal; in his oral history interview, he recalls catching lizards for meat. Wounded while walking point in a patrol, he spent a hellish night on his own in the jungle before being evacuated to safety. After recuperating in Australia, he took part in the Battle of Cape Gloucester in New Guinea, where he was wounded again, this time in the arm. The injury and subsequent bone infection were so severe that he was eventually sent back to the States and discharged in 1944.

George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript: XML

About this Item

Title

  • George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection

Names

  • Daughters of the American Revolution, Bend, Oregon Chapter
  • Kifer, Donna
  • Collins-Cooper, Virginia
  • Stewart Jr., George Arthur

State of Birth

  • OH

Home State

  • OR

Headings

  • -  Stewart Jr., George Arthur
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Unit of Service: K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Parris Island, South Carolina; Jacksonville, North Carolina; Virginia Beach, Virginia; New Zealand; Fiji; Guadalcanal (Marshall Islands); Australia; New Guinea; Pacific Theater
    • Highest Rank: Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1941-1946
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 10/17/2008)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 10/17/2008)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/66919

Cite as

  • George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection (AFC/2001/001/66919), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Daughters Of The American Revolution, Bend, Oregon Chapter, Donna Kifer, Virginia Collins-Cooper, and George Arthur Stewart Jr. George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.66919/.

APA citation style:

Daughters Of The American Revolution, B., Kifer, D., Collins-Cooper, V. & Stewart Jr, G. A. (1941) George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.66919/.

MLA citation style:

Daughters Of The American Revolution, Bend, Oregon Chapter, et al. George Arthur Stewart, Jr. Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.66919/>.