In Memoriam

'He loved his country so deeply'

Hometown bids tearful farewell to La. Marine

Thursday, August 11, 2005

By Chris Kirkham

St. Tammany bureau

The city of Bogalusa stood almost frozen in time Wednesday afternoon.

As the milelong funeral procession for Marine Cpl. David "Bear" Stewart wound through town, shop workers stopped what they were doing, walked outside and stood in front of their stores to pay their respects.

Nearby factory workers emerged to stand silently in honor of Stewart, who died last week along with 13 other Marines and an interpreter when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in western Iraq.

Motorists on the opposite side of the road from the motorcade came to a halt, got out of their cars and placed their hands over their hearts. A mail carrier even stopped her deliveries until the procession had passed.

The entire five-mile route from Elizabeth Sullivan Memorial Methodist Church to the family burial plot at Lee's Creek Baptist Church Cemetery was lined with hundreds of residents who stood in the heat for almost an hour until the final car had passed.

The motorcade rolled slowly past Bogalusa High School, where signs affixed to the football stadium read, "Thanks, Bear," and "Bear, you're our hero."

"It makes you know that patriotism is still strong here," Stewart's father, Joey Stewart, said after the funeral. Stewart said the family had received a similar outpouring of sympathy on Monday evening when they brought his son's casket back from Louis Armstrong International Airport.

After the hearse arrived in Sun, in northern St. Tammany Parish, residents lined the roads all the way into Bogalusa, waving flags and displaying signs to show support, Stewart said.

'A Marine's Marine'

Before Wednesday's procession, more than 400 family members, friends and community leaders packed into the Methodist church to pay final respects to the Marine reservist. The funeral was the day before Stewart's 25th birthday.

"Bear was a Marine's Marine. His love for the Marines went extremely deep," Staff Sgt. Jerod Murphy, one of Stewart's superiors in the 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion based in Gulfport, Miss, told the standing-room-only crowd that was spilling out of the doors of the church. "If there was ever a person who walked this Earth without a mean bone in his body, it was David."

During the service, more than 30 Marines from the Gulfport battalion and other companies in which Stewart had served filled the pews and lined the walls. His coffin was adorned with his photo and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for Valor during combat that he earned during his first tour of duty in Iraq in 2003.

State Sen. Ben Nevers, who lives near Stewart's home outside Bogalusa, talked of his gratitude for Stewart's wartime service.

"I never dreamed I'd be standing here in a situation like this where I'd lay to rest a hero who grew up next to me," Nevers said.

He read from a resolution he wrote along with state Rep. Harold Ritchie of Franklinton to send condolences to Stewart's family, saying, "while Corporal Stewart loved his family, friends and the people of the small town where he grew up, he loved his country so deeply that he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps because he felt he could serve a more valuable purpose in this nation's war on terrorism."

Offering a look into Stewart's youth, the Rev. Phil Stagg recalled a somewhat mischievous but lighthearted teenager from the church youth program.

"He had a twinkle in his eye that wouldn't quit. Whenever he was at a youth meeting or on a youth trip, the chaperones didn't have to worry about staying awake," Stagg said, laughing. "As he grew into manhood, these qualities of the joy of life came into focus."

Stewart loved to fish and hunt with his father and brother near his home along the Pearl River, and he continued to come home on weekends after being stationed in Gulfport, family members said.

'Restored our faith'

After the hourlong funeral procession reached the cemetery, where Stewart's burial plot was dug by hand by members of the community, Marines conducted a solemn burial ceremony complete with a 21-gun salute and the playing of "Taps." Stewart's family, along with his fiancée Andrea Burkenstock, held back tears as they watched Marines fold an American flag in his honor.

Linda Walet, whose son, Lance Cpl. Robert Walet, served alongside Stewart in Iraq, said the tremendous show of support by the residents of Bogalusa was encouraging.

"As mothers, we cannot help but feel sometimes that our sons have been forgotten, but this has completely restored our faith," Walet said. "To the community of Bogalusa, I say thank you."

Later in the day, longtime friends and fellow servicemen reflected on the profound change they saw in the nervous young recruit who joined the Marine Reserves at 20 and grew into a courageous soldier and natural leader.

Cpl. Matt Cole of Mandeville, who recruited Stewart in 2001 and served with him in both tours of duty in Iraq before receiving paralyzing injuries in May, said he remembers when Stewart, a full head of hair still intact, entered the recruiting office and said, "I don't care what job I have to do as long as I can be a Marine."

Cole recalled that after Stewart lost a front tooth during a training exercise, he often would remove the fake tooth to the delight -- and sometimes horror -- of his comrades.

"He'd always do crazy antics, he was just a naturally funny guy," said Cole, who said Stewart was one of his best friends. "He could have stayed in the Marine Corps and made it to the top. He'd give his last cigarette to you, his last dollar. He was just that kind of guy."