Go Back   Professional Soldiers ® > Special Forces > 5th Special Forces Group

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-24-2009, 10:56   #1
Dan
Administrators
 
Dan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 2,263
Missing Special Forces Soldier awarded the Distinguished Service Cross 42 years after

RELEASE NUMBER: 090424-01
DATE POSTED: APRIL 24, 2009

Quote:
Missing Special Forces Soldier awarded the Distinguished Service Cross 42 years after last seen in Vietnam

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (USASOC News Service, April 24, 2009) - The history of the U.S. Army Special Forces Regiment is short in relation to that of the rest of the United States Army, but long enough for fierce battles to become old war stories and for training missions to be lost to the vagueness of time and personal recollection.

But for the men, who have worn the Green Beret, the memories of their Special Forces brothers, especially those missing in action and killed in combat, will never fade.

After 42 years, Special Forces senior leaders stood at the second annual Special Forces Symposium in Fayetteville April 22 to remember Maj. Jak T. Stewart, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), who went missing during a ferocious engagement in Vietnam. They presented his family with the Stewart’s Distinguished Service Cross, which he received for exceptional gallantry while leading a Mobile Strike Force company comprised of U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers near the Cambodian border March 24, 1967.

On that day two American Green Berets joined with South Vietnamese Soldiers to conduct a helicopter assault near the Cambodian border. The combined unit,included then Cpt. Jack Stewart and Staff Sgt. Roger Hallberg. After landing near Bu Dop in Phuoc Long Province, their patrol was greeted by enemy automatic weapons fire. Hallberg returned to the rear area to report on the contact with the North Vietnamese Army force.

During the firefight, Stewart rallied his men to secure a helicopter landing zone against an advancing NVA force later estimated to be two heavily armed battalions, greatly outnumbering Stewart’s men. Stewart was last seen by American forces as he and Hallberg provided cover to retreating members of their Mobile Strike Force company.

Representing the Stewart family at the ceremony were Diane Hasner, Stewart’s former wife; son Troy Stewart and daughter Karen Kelly; Barbara Stewart Pratt, his sister; and Kermit Stewart, his cousin.

Speaking on behalf of the family during the ceremony, Kermit Stewart recounted the Stewart family’s uniformed service to the nation starting during the Revolutionary War, through the Civil War, both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.

In a brief humorous moment, Kermit paralleled the 55 years required for Ezekiel Stewart to receive a pension for his service with the New Jersey State Volunteers during the American Revolution to the 42 years between the disappearance of Maj. Jack Stewart and the awarding of the DSC.

“I don’t know why it takes the Stewarts so long to be recognized for their service,” Kermit said, “but we finally get there.”

Wearing a red, white and blue scarf embroidered with Maj. Stewart’s name, unit and date of his disappearance, Hasner spoke of the importance of the award and ceremony to give closure the missing Green Beret.

“This has been a long time coming,” Hasner said. “It’s time for closure for family, friends and the men involved in the situation that day.”

One of the men involved in the action that day was John M. Throckmorton, the lone survivor of the firefight. In the days following the fateful mission, then 2nd Lt. Throckmorton submitted Stewart and Hallberg for valor awards. After meeting the Hallberg family four years ago, and learning that neither man had been awarded for their heroism in 1967, Throckmorton resubmitted paperwork which led to Hallberg being awarded the Silver Star, and the eventual awarding of the DSC to Stewart.

The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army and is awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force.

--usasoc--
Dan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 10:57   #2
Dan
Administrators
 
Dan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 2,263
Diane Hasner, formerly married to Army Special Forces Maj. Jack Stewart, holds the Distinguished Service Cross awarded to the Green Beret missing in action from the Vietnam War. Hasner was joined at the ceremony by their son, Troy Stewart, and their daughter, Karen Kelly. Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for exceptional gallantry while leading a Mobile Strike Force company comprised of U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers near the Cambodian border March 24, 1967. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Curt Squires, USASOC News Service)
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Stewart-DSC1.jpg (329.2 KB, 90 views)
Dan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 10:58   #3
Dan
Administrators
 
Dan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 2,263
Diane Hasner, formerly married to Army Special Forces Maj. Jack Stewart, holds the Distinguished Service Cross awarded to the Green Beret missing in action from the Vietnam War. Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for exceptional gallantry while leading a Mobile Strike Force company comprised of U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers near the Cambodian border March 24, 1967. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Curt Squires, USASOC News Service)
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Stewart-DSC2.jpg (319.1 KB, 68 views)
Dan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 11:06   #4
LR27
Auxiliary
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 86
RIP, warriors. Thank you for your service.
__________________
"All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting." - Orwell

"Selection is a never ending process." - Anonymous Special Operations soldier
LR27 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 11:50   #5
greenberetTFS
Quiet Professional (RIP)
 
greenberetTFS's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
RIP, Warriors ........................... You honor all Green Berets with your courage and the DSC you been awarded for heroism.

GB TFS
__________________
I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver

SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney

SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII

Last edited by greenberetTFS; 04-24-2009 at 11:54.
greenberetTFS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 12:46   #6
JJ_BPK
Quiet Professional
 
JJ_BPK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
RIP Maj Stewart, Vaya con Dios..
__________________
Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh

"May you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead"
JJ_BPK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 13:53   #7
Rogue
Guerrilla Chief
 
Rogue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Ohio
Posts: 590
RIP
__________________
LOYALTY - HONOR - INTEGRITY
Understand the problem; pull your weight. Appreciate. Be completely honest and trustworthy in all things. - Jeff Cooper

Practice honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place. Jer 22:3

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke
Rogue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 14:03   #8
wet dog
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
RIP

May you find rest warrior
  Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 14:16   #9
FMF DOC
Guerrilla
 
FMF DOC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: PA
Posts: 419
RIP
__________________
Sometimes you must do dark things to get to the light. "unknown"
FMF DOC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 14:33   #10
swpa19
Guerrilla Chief
 
swpa19's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: south western pa.
Posts: 692
R.I.P. Sir.
__________________
Special Forces Association A-593 Life
_______________________________
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
________________________________

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
swpa19 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 15:13   #11
Richard
Quiet Professional
 
Richard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
MAJ Stewart, Jack Thomas
A-302, 3rd Mobile StrikeForce Command
Phuoc Long, RVN MIA 3/24/1967

The scarves the family wore for the ceremony were similar to those worn by III Corps MSFC.

RIP.

Richard's $.02
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
Richard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2009, 15:21   #12
f50lrrp
BANNED USER
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Monterey California
Posts: 392
Cpt Stewart was talked about many times by B-36 personnel in 1968-69, when I served with the Third Corps Mobile Strike Force (B-36). He was and is missed.

BTW we still wore the red, white and Blue scarfs when I seved.
f50lrrp is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:46.



Copyright 2004-2022 by Professional Soldiers ®
Site Designed, Maintained, & Hosted by Hilliker Technologies