Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1955 Lucky Bag:

WALTER JONES STEWART III

Ten stones of laughter, ping-pong terror, and virtual powerhouse with the ladies, Sleepy, an Oklahoman, kept everything in the family, so to speak, by dragging a girl named Ozzie. Our own Will Rogers, Sleepy, always had a retort to bring Bancroft Hall to its knees. It was the constant battle between Sleepy and the Navy that haunted our halls in search of fresh Mid blood, but as our hero freely admits . . . he never thought he’d make it. It’s farewell to Severn’s shores and hello to the service.

Loss

“Jay” was lost on September 22, 1963 when the C-133A he was aboard crashed shortly after taking off from Dover AFB, Delaware. He was the “2nd pilot” and was a member of the 1st Air Transport Squadron.

From a history of C-133 crashes¹:

22 Sep 63. C-133A 562002. Overwater, 28 minutes after takeoff from Dover AFB, DE. Disappeared from radar near SHAD intersection (37° 43’ N 73° W). Ten crew lost. No floating wreckage or location of sunken wreckage. No cause determined. Crew included: CPT Dudley J. Connolly, Jr. (AC), MAJ George V. Stricklin (CP), 1LT Walter J. Stewart III (2nd P), 1LT Jerold D. Kopp, 1LT Robert J. Wibbels and 1LT Theodore R. McDaniels, Jr. (N), MSG Raymond P. Knott and TSG Elwood M. Griffith (FET), SSG Carl McClung (LM) and AIC Paul R. Ruehl (Asst Crew Chief).

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Born in Los Angeles, California, Walter lived with his parents in Warrington, Florida, in 1940. In 1950, the family lived in Alexandria, Virginia. His father was Captain Walter Stewart, Jr. ’31, mother Audrey.

He married Ann Carlton Cox on July 14, 1956, in the Navy Chapel. They then lived in Pensacola. He and Ann had a daughter, Linda.

Walter was stationed at the Oceana Naval Air Station when his son Robert Carlton was born in July 1958.

He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

Prior to the Naval Academy he had been an enlisted sailor; his appointment was from “Naval Reserve” and his “pay entry date” was earlier than that of his classmates. It’s unclear when he left the Navy for the Air Force; he was listed as a naval aviator (LTjg) in the Navy Registers from 1957, 1958, and 1959. He is not listed in the 1960 edition. Oddly, he is also not listed in the Air Force Registers from 1960 - 1963. Two contemporaneous reports are of “Lt” and “1LT.” His headstone at Arlington National Cemetery clearly identifies him as “Captain, US Air Force.” (There is not a separate register for the Air Force Reserve.) The BIRLS database indicates he entered the Air Force on January 4, 1963.

From Arlington Cemetery’s page on Walter’s parents:²

Their son Walter Jones “Jay” Stewart III, an Air Force captain and pilot, died in 1963 when his plane went down in the Atlantic during a training mission.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

From The Morning News on September 24, 1963

From The Peninsula Times Tribune on March 6, 1957

Memorial Hall Error

Walter is listed in Memorial Hall as a LTjg, USN. He was a Captain in the United States Air Force (per his headstone).

References