Donald Roy Stewart was born 1 March 1920 in Yakima, Yakima county, Washington to Joseph Donald and Madge Helen (Paull) Stewart; he was eldest of three children; dad had a farm. Donald attended Garfield High School in Seattle before attending Broadway High School in 1938 taking part in the Friendship, Program and Social Committees.

Private Donald Roy Stewart (service number 282166) served with the 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division in the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. They were to secure the airstrip to prevent Japanese forces from getting closer to the US and was crucial for the US offensive across the central Pacific. The initial landing was hampered by low tides forcing US troops to leave landing craft and wade ashore. Unfortunately for the Marines, the beach was shaped in such a way that it created a crossfire by the Japanese on shore. For those who survived the landing, they faced a network of obstacles manned by determined defenders with fighting close range and savage. It is uncertain whether Pvt. Donald Stewart survived the landing but he gave his life on 20 November 1943; he is listed in the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, Hawaii as many fallen are buried in mass graves on the islands, yet to be identified.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES: Find-a-Grave; FamilySearch.org; Ancestry.com; Wikipedia