MAY 19, 2025 – In the jungle of Vietnam, Army Staff Sgt. Jimmy Goethel Stewart gave his life to ensure the enemy did not further harm injured platoonmates. For his actions, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Stewart was born Dec. 25, 1942, in West Columbia, West Virginia. He was raised by his mother, Ethel Stewart, and his stepfather, Delmar Logan. When Stewart was 15, his family moved to Middleport, Ohio, where he and his three half-siblings grew up.
Stewart enlisted in the Army on April 25, 1960. His first duty assignment was with the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany, where he met and married a woman named Gertraud. The couple went on to have two boys, Robert and John.
In November 1963, Stewart left Germany to join the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), which tested and proved airmobile concepts that would later play a vital role in the Vietnam War. In August 1965 — a month after the 11th and the 2nd Infantry Division were reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), known as “First Team” — the unit deployed to Vietnam. Stewart was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment.
According to congressional records, nearly half of the division’s area of operation was under enemy control at the time.
In the early hours of May 18, 1966, Company B was manning a defensive perimeter when a reinforced company of North Vietnamese soldiers attacked. Stewart, part of a six-man squad, was caught in the direct path of the enemy. He was the only member of the platoon not injured, so he quickly became the lone defender of vital terrain against hostile enemy fire.
Stewart refused to leave his injured comrades, so he held his ground, even when there was a lull in the fight that would have allowed him to withdraw. Instead, he held the company’s perimeter, refusing to let the enemy punch through.
Stewart’s Medal of Honor citation said he “fought like a man possessed; emptying magazine after magazine at the determined, oncharging enemy.”
As enemy soldiers converged on his position, they threw grenades that Stewart, without hesitation, picked up and threw back.
After Stewart ran out of ammunition, he crawled through intense fire to his wounded teammates and grabbed their unused ammunition. Stewart worked well past the normal point of exhaustion, but he held his position for another four hours through three more assaults. His defensive maneuvers killed several enemy soldiers and kept the rest from gaining a foothold in the area.
Stewart’s valiant actions allowed his company to hold its position until reinforcements arrived for a counterattack. It wasn’t until later that his fellow soldiers found his body in a shallow enemy hole, which he’d moved to so he could help fire at the enemy during the counterattack. Around him lay eight dead enemy soldiers, along with evidence of 15 others having been dragged away.
The five wounded soldiers Stewart gave his life to protect all survived.
Stewart’s courage in the face of overwhelming odds inspired his fellow soldiers. For his dedication to the cause, Stewart’s widow received the Medal of Honor on his behalf during a Pentagon ceremony on Aug. 24, 1967. Stewart’s sons and mother also attended.
Stewart is buried at Riverview Cemetery in Middleport, Ohio.
His valor is not forgotten. In 1968, Stewart Field, a training area at Fort Benning, Georgia, was named after him. In 2011, a bridge crossing from Ohio into his native West Virginia was named the Sgt. Jimmy G. Stewart Bridge.
By Katie Lange, DOD News