ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — "I'd do it all over again, if I could," Corporal Stewart Conover said about his service to our country, even during some of the bloodiest battles of WW2.
He was a fun and feisty gentleman, who told First Coast News he got a carrot cake for his 97th birthday and saved a leftover piece in his room at the Clyde Lassen Veterans Nursing Home in St. Augustine.
Stewart was born in 1925, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
He was in the 83rd Infantry and fought in one of the first waves to go onto Omaha Beach at Normandy. Then he fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
He would lift his pant leg and show his prosthetic foot, which was one reason he earned two purple hearts.
He became a Master Watchmaker and Jewelry and designed a clock for NASA. He would beam with pride when he talked about his clock being used on board a capsule in the Gemini Space Program.
In fact, he would just break out into a hearty chuckle when he retold the story of his own visit to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
"I about fainted," he said, when he walked up to a Gemini exhibit and saw his clock device on display at the famous museum.
At his funeral service in Jacksonville, his eldest son, Gary, received the honor flag from the casket.
Gary Conover followed in his father's footsteps of service, as he became a member of the U.S. Coast Guard.
His family honors Corporal Conover with this description:
"He was also known for his sense of humor, his infectious smile, his deep faith, and his compassionate spirit."
First Coast News interviewed Corporal Conover during the time he was celebrating his 97th birthday.
We pay tribute to this WW2 veteran, especially considering how few veterans we still have living with us from the Greatest Generation.
According to the VA, in 2021 just over 200,000 WWII veterans were still living. The VA projects by 2036 just a few hundred WWII veterans will still be alive.
