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

George Arthur Stewart, Jr.

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

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.