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<p align="center" style="text-align: center;">Stuart Wood NO. 8146 CLASS OF 1927 Died 1 August 1993 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, aged 87 years. Interment: Cross Creek Cemetery, Fayetteville, North Carolina.</p>
<p>HAROLD STUART WOOD, for that was his name at birth, was the last of eight children. His father, John Quincy Adams Wood, headed a buggy manufacturing company in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, while his mother, Julia, kept the close-knit family in order. His five older sisters watched over Stuart; however, that did not keep him from breaking an arm when he fell from a fence while showing off for his girlfriend.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">His last year of high school was at Fork Union Military Academy, at the encouragement of his brother John, who was in the service. Stuart then entered William & Mary for a year, where he participated in football, baseball, track, and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">Opportunity knocked, and at age 17 Stuart donned cadet gray. Academics were not a problem, and he had plenty of time for athletic, thespian and social life. He participated each year on the gymnastics team, ending up as team captain. Always one to display his many talents, Stuart had a primary part each year in the 100th Night Show.</p>
<p style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">At graduation in 1927 he was assigned to the Field Artillery at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was in Fayetteville--at the Fox Hunters Ball--that he met Mary Cromartie Sutton. They were married on 18July 1928 in the garden of the house which ultimately became their beloved home. In February 1929, their first son, Stuart, Jr., was born. The young family then traveled to Hawaii for assignment to the 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks. It was there that Walter NOVEMBER 1994 ASSEMBLY</p>
<p>Sutton was born. It was also in Hawaii that Harold Stuart had his name changed to ''Stuart.'' Later, at the Artillery School at Fort Sill, tragedy came close as Stuart, Jr. (Class of '50) almost lost an arm when a dud exploded.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">In 1937 Stuart began an overseas sojourn at Fort Stotsenberg, Philippines for two years with the 24th Field. Notable events there included playing scratch golf, traveling throughout the islands with horse shows and his polo team and establishing a cool summer base camp in the caldera of Mt. Pinatubo.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">Stuart went on to Tokyo in 1939 for three years as assistant military attache. Knowing a war was pending, Stuart regretfully sent his loving family home in February 1941, not to see them again for four-and-a-half years.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">Assignment to Hong Kong followed, but an operation took him to a hospital in the Philippines. He was captured there when the war he had forecast began. During his three-and-a-half years as a POW, he was promoted, becoming the youngest colonel in the Army. Because of his knowledge of Japanese and of the Philippines, Stuart served as G-2 for General Wainwright.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">Later, on his way to Australia at MacArthur's request, his plane wrecked, leading to his capture.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">In 1942 he was sent to various Japanese prison camps in Formosa, Japan and Manchuria. For service during the war and in prison camp, he received the Distinguished Service Medal and the esteemed Order of the British Empire.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">The family was reunited at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he served on the faculty. Then, at 44, Stuart decided to attend Airborne School. This led to his assignments to the 82nd Airborne, XVIII Airborne Corps, and the Joint Airborne Troop Board. This master parachutist served as commander of division and, later, corps artillery. Among those tours was a year at the Canadian National Defense College.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">A neck broken in prison camp led to some physical restrictions after retirement in 1957. For 15 years, Stuart was director of Civil Defense for Cumberland County, North Carolina. There, he and Mary welcomed all as they settled into the wonderful house where they had been married. They were to enjoy life there with family and friends for a full 30 years. Tragedy struck in 1966, however, when son Walter (ex, 56), a Naval aviator, was lost in action off North Vietnam.</p>
<p style="text-indent: .5in;">Because of Stuart's wealth of stories, this raconteur was encouraged to write of his POW experiences and completed a first draft. After attending a POW convention, Stuart's cold developed into pneumonia. He fought this and staph infections for several months before succumbing to join his son in the Long Gray Line. One of his last comments was "Well, I guess I'll never get the book finished." A son's promise to him was, "It will be done." And so it will, to keep his memory , wit and love alive for all. He is missed.</p>
<p style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: .5in;">His son</p>
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