Byrd Stewart: A Man of Character

Volunteer Fire Department Specialty Car Tag

Byrd Stewart Memorial Scholarship 

Sponsored by the Randolph County Association of Volunteer Fire Department

The Randolph County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments has created a scholarship in his honor.  Below is information about this scholarship.

- $1,000 scholarship will be awarded for the 2020-2021 academic year to one Randolph County senior
- A minimum cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.0, or the equivalent average
- Will consider factors including scholastic achievement, participation in extracurricular and civic activities, involvement in the community, personal recommendations, and family history in the fire service
- Applicants must complete and sign the scholarship application and provide a sealed high school transcript, SAT and/or ACT scores (if available) and two letters of recommendation
-- One letter should be from a teacher or school official, and 
-- One should be from an unrelated person in the community
- Scholarship awards may be used only for tuition, fees, room, board and/or books charged by the university, college, community college or trade school (including the Alabama Fire College) in which recipient is enrolled. The scholarship payment will be made directly to the school for the recipient’s account

See your school Guidance Counselor for an application package!  Completed applications must be completed/submitted by Friday, May 1, 2020

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Veterans Day by Charley Norton

​ I finished this story the day before Byrd Stewart passed away.I’m leaving the story just as it was written. I am so honored to have had the privilege to do this and get to know Byrds wonderful daughters. My heart goes out to this great family.

              A Man of Character
       I wonder how many people can say that they were born in World War I, lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War 2 and can speak of it today? Not many, if any, I’d say but we have such a person right here in Randolph County. His name is Mr. Byrd Stewart. At 103, he still lives at home, enjoys a good book, conversation and watching the birds outside his picture window.

Byrd Stewart enlisted in the Army in June of 1941, at the age of 25. He went in as a mechanic and as soon as his training was complete, he was loaded on the Queen Elizabeth, seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time, and shipped off to Scotland to eventually join the 6th Cavalry Mechanized Division.

In his service, he witnessed the tragedy of war. The effects of bombs, bullets, fire and inhumanity were obvious everywhere. As his exit paperwork shows, he was there in the Battle of the Bulge in Normandy, Central Europe and Ardennes Rhineland. In all, he was in three different campaigns that were called the Bronze Service Star Campaigns.

For his service, Sgt Stewart earned the Bronze Star as well as the European-African- Middle Eastern service medal with one silver star.

To read more about Mr. Stewart, pick up your copy of Southern Holiday Life.

​Tags: #Community   #Local Flavor  #CharleyNorton

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