Donald D. Stewart

Donald David Stewart, 28, died on December 11, 1965 while serving his country in Vietnam. A native of Harnett County he was youngest son of Robert G. Stewart, Sr. and Pearl Evelyn Hough Stewart and Odell Hasty of Coats. Donald graduated from Coats High School in 1955. After graduation he joined the Army and spent three years in Germany. After he came home he enrolled at Campbell College and was there for three years until the Cuban Crisis when his unit was activated. The war didn’t happen, but his years in school was interrupted, so he re-enlisted. Donald Stewart and Wandra Adams Stewart were married in 1954 after a three year courtship. Don served as an instructor loadmaster while flying over and above his normal work load to get the critically needed loadmasters on a C123 trained in the shortest amount of time. His plane loaded with eighty-five Vietnamese soldiers and four Americans was shot down on December 11, 1965. America was unable to go in and do a rescue mission due to hostile fire on the ground. All were declared killed in action. A memorial service was held for Donald in 1966 at Coats Baptist Church. The local people were so gracious and the church was filled to capacity and was a very emotional time for everyone. Donald was the first Harnett County Fatality. The war in Vietnam had definitely hit home. In 1974 seventeen bags of co-mingled remains were brought out of the jungle by indigenous people. We were notified by the United States Air Force in February that a service would be held in Arlington in May 1979. Don’s daughter, Dona was born a few months after he left. She never got to see her dad. December 2000, Dona and Wandra went to Vietnam and found Donald’s plane deep in the jungle unexcavated. They brought artifacts and clothing home from the plane. They met with JPAC in 2010 shared their findings and requested that they go to the plane. They did unofficially go to the crash site in 2012, but have not gone for excavating purposes yet. Bobby, Don’s brother gave his DNA to be tested and a match was found at the lab at Hickam air Force base in Hawaii. Wandra thought he was interred at Arlington, but Arlington refuses to disinter what is known as Donald’s grave. Dr. Holland from Hickam says he only had a match for two of the four Americans. According to Holland, the two pilots are still missing. Wandra felt that she needed to go back to the plane and get what was left behind. He is survived by his wife Wandra Stewart Raynor of Emerald Isle, daughter, Dona Stewart of Venice, CA; brother, Robert G. “Bobby” Stewart and wife Joyce and children, Martha Hurd, Robbie Stewart and Samantha Brown of Fuquay-Varina; sisters, Mary Lou Allred and son, Teddy of Dunn; Sue Neighbors and husband, Jim and children, Jane, Loutisha, Jimmy, Melissa and Wandra of Fort Myers, Fl. Mrs Raynor and her daughter will be going to Hawaii to escort Mr. Stewart home. There will be a ceremony at the Delta Airlines Tarmac at Raleigh-Durham airport, on November 9th as his remains are turned over to the motorcade that will take him to Bryan-Lee Funeral Home in Angier. Visitation will take place on Tuesday night, November 10, 6:00 -8:00 at Bryan-Lee Funeral Home, Angier. Funeral service will be held on Wednesday, November 11 at Coats Baptist Church at 3:00. Burial will follow at Lakeside Memorial Gardens with full military honors.