SC3c Thomas Lester Stewart

Thomas Lester Stewart was born Nov. 22, 1921 in Independence County in northeast Arkansas. His mother, Bertha Mills Stewart, was a homemaker and his father, Vaud Lester Stewart, a farmer.

The 1930 and 1940 Census said the family, which also included a younger son, lived in Greenbrier, a township of 1,246 people. The 1940 Census, conducted in late April, said Thomas had completed three years of high school and was still enrolled.

He probably graduated in the next few weeks, and on June 4 he enlisted in the Navy.

Mr. Stewart was a ship’s cook and petty officer third class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Sources: the Jackson County (Arkansas) Democrat; Census; Navy muster roll. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.