I know that some folks only read the blog, and do not look at the comments left by other readers. I am putting this comment on the face of the blog, contributed by an alert and helpful follower. Thanks, Roger!
Sandie, here is Gordon Stewart's obituary from the Old Fulton New York Post Cards website.
"Marine, Former Moravian Is Killed In Solomons - PFC Gordon R. Stewart, 18, of the Marine Corps and son of Mr. and Mrs. Orville J. Stewart, 126 Groton Avenue, Cortland, was killed in the Solomon Islands fighting, according to word received by the parents from Lt. T. Holcomb, USMC. Father of the marine is manager of the Lehigh Valley Railroad freight office in Cortland. The family formerly had resided in Moravia. The young marine was born May 9, 1924. Accompanied by a cousin, John S. Bunn, he enlisted January 12, 1942 in Syracuse and they both received basic training at Parris Island, S. C., and additional training at New River, N. C. PFC Bunn went to Northern Ireland while PFC Stewart went to the Solomons. He had written to his parents of landing first at Tulagi Island and then crossing to Guadalcanal where he was killed September 26, according to the War Department communication. Surviving besides his parents are a brother, Lt. O. J. Stewart, Jr., attached to the supply battalion, Fort Benning, Ga., and a sister, Mrs. Joseph Titus, 317 Kellogg Street, Syracuse."
-- Moravia Republican-Register, Moravia, Cayuga Co., NY, Thursday, 5 November 1942
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2 comments:
I'm Timothy Bunn of Marcellus, NY, a retired newspaper editor. Gordon Stewart was a first cousin of my father, John S. Bunn, who is mentioned in Gordon's obituary. Orville Stewart, Gordon's father, was my father's uncle. My father spent his early years in Scipio Center, where his father, John Clarence Bunn was from. My paternal grandfather, John Clarence Bunn, married Bertha Stewart, originally of Iowa but who grew up in Scipio Center. They had two children, my aunt, Marguerite (Peggy) and then my father. John Clarence Bunn's marriage to Berth Stewart lasted only a few years. My father spent his early years on his grandfather Stewart's farm. He and his sister, Marguerite (Peggy), eventually joined their mother, Bertha, who'd married another man and moved to Washington, DC, and then eventually to Syracuse. John Clarence Bunn moved to Cortland, where he eventually died in 1970. Bertha Stewart married her third husband, George Williams, after WWII and the two of them opened the Iron Kettle restaurant in Daytona, Florida. My father, John S. Bunn, was career military, having spent 4 years in the Marine Corps and 18 in the Navy. He and my mother, Katherine Smolnycki of Syracuse, had four children - two boys and two girls, of which I am the oldest. My father left us in 1961, after he retired from the Navy and he eventually committed suicide at age 47 in SanFrancisco. He is buried in Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
Tim, thank you for sharing this information on your family. I am sorry for your loss.
The Sherwood School yearbook had a wonderful photo of Gordon, and I felt his sacrifice was honored and appreciated by his classmates.
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