Today, I salute 104-year-old World War II Army Veteran, a member of “The Greatest Generation,” Richard Stewart. Richard arrived on Omaha Beach just after D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was with the 459th Signal Construction Battalion, working on lines to secure communications for the troops. He remembers working in the field, inspecting a line when a bomb hit. “The earth shook, as if an earthquake had hit us.” During the war, the U.S. military segregated African Americans from their white counterparts, and they were assigned non-combat roles. Stewart said, “They underestimated us.” Stewart’s unit served in France, Belgium, and Germany until he was discharged on November 13, 1945. Thank you for sharing your story, Richard, and THANK YOU for your service.
