Roy Stewart was born in September 1926 in Amite, Louisiana. He enjoyed living in a small town. His father was an electrical engineer and worked out of New York but returned home when Stewart's grandmother fell ill and died. He ran a general store during the Great Depression. On 7 December 1941, Stewart was taking a nap before heading to work at a local drug store, when his father woke him up and told him about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor. Stewart did not know where Pearl Harbor was and did not know why his father woke him up to tell him the news. When he went to work that afternoon, everyone was talking about it. The next day, the recruitment office had a line out the door of men ready to sign up for the military. Stewart graduated high school at 16 years old. He agreed with his parents to attend to one semester of college before signing up for the military. He did one semester at Louisiana State University and then, at age 17, signed up for the Marine Corps. He went to boot camp in San Diego, California, and then went to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside where he was trained in infantry. He qualified as a sharpshooter. He was then shipped to Maui, Hawaii as a replacement but was not attached to a regiment.

In 1944, Roy Stewart was shipped out with the 24th Marine Regiment, although he was not attached to that regiment. They stopped at Pearl Harbor and Stewart was able to visit for a day. They then shipped out to Enewetak, Marshal Islands to meet up with a convoy. Stewart had never seen so many ships in his life. The convoy stopped at Guam before heading out to Iwo Jima. They arrived off Iwo Jima on 18 February 1944. The Americans were bombarding the island, attempting to knock out the shore installations, but the Japanese had dug 18 miles of tunnels which made capturing the Island very difficult. Stewart remembered on the morning of 19 February [Annotator's Note: 19 February 1945] the 24th Marine Regiment went ashore and by noon the only hospital ship was filled up. Stewart's troop ship had also taken on some wounded. The following morning, they had a funeral for six men. On the third morning, Stewart was told to gear up, and was put on a small boat. They were to go ashore and meet up on the edge of the first airfield. By this point, Stewart had been assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. There was so much wreckage on the beach that they could not find a place to land. They had to get out of their boats in waist deep water and wade in. As they started heading for the airstrip, the Japanese opened fire on them. Stewart tried to seek shelter in a shell hole, but a guy beat him to it. Moments later, the hole was hit by fire out and the guy was blown to pieces. Stewart was shocked by the blast but took off running as soon as he could, meeting up with the rest of the guys. Of the 30 men he started out with, only 12 of them made it to the airfield that day.

Roy Stewart can recall when the Marines raised the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. He was at an airfield and heard ships blowing horns and people yelling. He looked out and saw the flag on the mountain. He remembered it be an encouraging sight to see. The next day they moved out to continue to secure the island. As he moved out, the Japanese began to attack, he felt a bullet graze his helmet. He kept moving until they quit shooting at him, and he found his squad. Stewart was an ammo bearer on a machine gun crew in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. At one point, his mission was to knock out snipers on Hill 382. They went on ridge after ridge hitting snipers. On the last ridge, they saw a Japanese lookout and began to fire at him. Stewart's Corporal was hit in the chest. His squad leader told him to run back to the post and get a litter bearer. Stewart returned with a litter bearer and two men to help carry the corporal back. The Japanese were firing at them the whole time as they made their way to the aid station. On another day, Company E [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division] had moved too far ahead and they had enemy on both sides of them. Stewart and Company F covered for them as they retreated. He recalled seeing many wounded men trying to retreat to safety.

While fighting on Iwo Jima, Roy Stewart can recall one time when his company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division] had run out of ammunition. Stewart ran back to get some more. He came back with two cans in his pack and two cans underneath his arms. He could feel and hear the enemy fire, and he ran until he got out of range. He remembered they used flame throwers to get them enemy out of the tunnels. Stewart was on the island for about 26 days. During the last days, they would find pockets of resistance and would have to police them up. Much of their capturing of the Japanese would be at night. The Americans finally secured the island and his division was evacuated. As they walked back to the beach where the fighting began a month earlier, it only took them a half day to get there. Before he boarded the ship to leave, he visited the cemetery. His division boarded a troop ship. They were able to shower and shave and they were given new uniforms and a hot meal. Stewart remembered seeing the cemetery from the ship and had a moment when he wanted to jump in the water and go back to the cemetery. He did not like the idea of leaving the men behind. A chaplain was able to bring peace to his mind. His division then returned to Maui. [Annotator's Note: the 4th Marine Division occupied an area of Maui, Hawaii unofficially known as "Camp Maui."]

Roy Stewart was back on Maui [Annotator's Note: the 4th Marine Division occupied an area of Maui, Hawaii unofficially known as "Camp Maui"; Stewart was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division] training for the invasion of Japan when his lieutenant came over to tell him that America had dropped atomic bombs on Japan and the Japanese had surrendered. The Marine Corps sent Stewart to Guam for Military Police duty for a while and then sent him to Nagasaki, Japan during occupation [Annotator's Note: where he served with the 2nd Marine Divison]. He lived in barracks in an old office building. He recalled that much of Nagasaki was destroyed by the atomic bomb. Then he was transferred to Obama, Japan to work with a small detachment. They would ride around to different public areas and remove any war propaganda items. He admitted that he treated the Japanese meanly while stationed there. He stayed in Japan until his discharge in September 1946. He returned to San Diego then boarded a prop plane, which stopped somewhere in Arizona for a night. They then flew through a bad storm and landed in a cornfield in Natchez, Mississippi. Stewart then hitch-hiked to Amite, Louisiana. He was so happy to see his family again.