A Bronze Star & Purple Heart Group to 7th Infantry Regiment; KIA near Dinozé, France 1944

Bronze Star and Purple Heart, to Staff Sergeant Connie B. Stewart, Jr., 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Army, KIA near Dinozé, France 1944: Bronze Star: bronze, engraved "CONNIE B. STEWART" on the reverse, 35 mm x 36.2 mm, original ribbon with brooch pinback, accompanied by its 9.8 mm x 35.7 mm Ribbon Bar, in its hardshelled case of issue, marked "BRONZE STAR MEDAL" on the lid; and Purple Heart: two-piece construction, bronze gilt and enamels, number impressed "449743" on the edge, engraved "CONNIE B. STEWART / FEB. 16 '44" on the reverse, 34.5 mm x 42.7 mm, original ribbon with brooch pinback, intact enamels, oxidation spot on the reverse, accompanied by its 10.7 mm x 35.8 mm Ribbon Bar and its 3.7 mm x 17.3 mm enameled Ribbon Bar, in its hardshelled case of issue, marked "PURPLE HEART" on the lid. Extremely fine. Accompanied by a binder with large photographs of each medal, along with assorted research papers. Footnote: Connie B. Stewart, Jr. was born on December 30, 1925 in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, the son of Connie B. Stewart, Sr. and Mary Stewart. His education consisted of three years of high school, when he enlisted as a Private (35796803) at Fort Thomas, Newport, Kentucky, on April 1, 1943, at the age of 17 (although some records indicate he was born in 1924, his grave marker in Kentucky states his 1925 birth date), stating that he was Single and that his religion was Catholic. He was later to achieve the rank of Staff Sergeant. Upon arrival in Europe, he was sent to the Italian theatre. On February 16, 1944, the Germans launched Operation Fischfang, throwing seven divisions against the Allied beachhead at Anzio. British Field Marshal Harold Alexander inserted Lucian Truscott (USA) and Vyvyan Evelegh (UK) under Major General John Lucas (USA), in an attempt to alleviate Lucas' poor performance at Anzio. Staff Sergeant Connie B. Stewart, Jr. was Wounded in Action on February 16, 1944 near Anzio, Italy and was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for the same action. He is acknowledged in his records as having received an oak leaf cluster for a subsequent wounding. His unit later participated in the conflict in France in the latter part of 1944. Staff Sergeant Connie B. Stewart, Jr. was Killed in Action near Dinozé in northeastern France, on November 23, 1944, at the age of 18. He is interred in Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France, Grave Reference: Plot A, Row 19, Grave 2. The cemetery was established in October 1944 by the 46th Quartermaster Company (Graves Registration Service) of the U.S. Seventh Army, as it drove northward from southern France through the Rhône Valley into Germany. The cemetery became the repository for the fatalities in the bitter fighting through the Heasbourg Gap during the winter of 1944-1945. A grave marker was also erected in his honor at Calvary Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky, inscribed: "STEWART / IN MEMORY OF CONNIE B. STEWART / S/SGT 7th INF. 3rd DIV. U.S.A. / DEC. 30, 1925 NOV. 23 1944 / KILLED IN ACTION / INTERRED IN EPINAL FRANCE".