A native of central Texas, Rear Admiral Stewart is a 1949 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He has also attended George Washington University at Washington, D.C., where he earned his Master’s degree in Public Administration.
Admiral Stewart has seen service aboard many Coast Guard cutters during his career, including a tour as Commanding Officer of the USCGC Androscoggin which took part in Operation Market Time along the coast of Vietnam. Besides considerable sea duty, Admiral Stewart has also served in various administrative posts at District Offices in Honolulu and Portsmouth, VA.
The Admiral’s most recent assignment before assuming command of the Eighth Coast Guard District was Chief of the Office of Personnel at Coast Guard Headquarters.
Admiral Stewart is married to the former Laura H. of Mobile, Alabama, and has a daughter, Karla Bohn, who lives in Naples, Italy.
Chronology of Duty Assignments
William Hart Stewart was born December 20, 1926 at Gulf, Texas and graduated from Austin High School, Austin, Texas in 1943. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for two years before leaving for the Coast Guard Academy in 1945. While attending the University of Texas he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
While attending the Coast Guard Academy he earned letters in swimming and track and belonged to the Monogram Club. He graduated from the Academy in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering and was commissioned an Ensign of the U.S. Coast Guard.
His first assignment after graduation from the Academy was as a Deck Watch Officer aboard the CGC Tampa based in Mobile. He moved on to the position of Operations Officer on the cutter Newell in Honolulu and in 1954 was assigned as Chief, Military Personnel Branch of the Personnel Division in Norfolk, VA.
Admiral Stewart returned to the Gulf coast in 1957 as Executive Officer of the cutter Blackthorn, also based in Mobile.
In 1959 he was ordered to Washington as a student at the George Washington University, where he received his graduate degree, and after graduation was assigned as Chief, Material Management Branch at Coast Guard Headquarters.
He returned to southern waters, first as Executive Officer of the USCGC Sebago out of Pensacola from July, 1964 to November, 1965, and then as Chief, Personnel Division, Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami.
In October, 1967 he was named Commanding Officer of the USCGC Androscoggin out of Miami, and took the cutter to Vietnam in December of that year to participate in Operation Market Time. The Androscoggin remained on station in Southeast Asia until August, 1968.
After bringing the cutter back to Miami, then-Commander Stewart returned to Washington as Special Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard from August, 1969 to June 1971; then served as Administrative Aide to the Commandant until August, 1974.
Admiral Stewart was transferred from Washington to the Fourteenth Coast Guard District in Honolulu where he served successively as Chief, Operations Division and then Chief of Staff.
In July, 1976 he returned to Washington as Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters, and in June, 1978 was named Chief, Office of Personnel, a position he held until his assignment as Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District, New Orleans.
Chronology of Coast Guard Promotions
Following his graduation from the Coast Guard Academy as an Ensign in 1949, he was subsequently promoted as follows: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in 1951; Lieutenant in 1955; Lieutenant Commander on August 1, 1960; Commander on July 1, 1965; Captain on June 11, 1971; His date of rank as Rear Admiral I August 1, 1978.
Rear Admiral Stewart retired in 1985.
Medals and Awards
Throughout his career, Rear Admiral Stewart has earned an impressive list of medals and awards. They include the Coast Guard Achievement Medal; Combat Action Ribbon; Bronze Star Medal (with Combat “V”) and Gold Star; Meritorious Service Medal (with two Gold Stars); Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Gold Star; and the Legion of Merit.
As per remarks by Representative Jo Bonner, “In Memory of Admiral William H. Stewart,” capitolwords, Memorial, Volume 153, Number 191, pp. e2581-e2582, 13 December 2007:
A native of Gulf, Texas, Admiral Stewart graduated from Austin High School in 1943. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for two years before leaving to attend the Coast Guard Academy. He graduated from the Academy in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine engineering and was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Admiral's distinguished Coast Guard career spanned almost four decades. His first assignment was as a deck watch officer aboard the Coast Guard cutter Tampa based in Mobile. He then went on to serve as operations officer aboard the cutter Newell in Honolulu. In 1954, he was assigned to the Fifth Coast Guard District in Norfolk, Virginia, as chief of the Military Personnel Branch of the Personnel Division.
Admiral Stewart returned to Mobile in 1957 as executive officer of the cutter Blackthorn. He was sent to Washington, D.C. in 1959 to attend George Washington University, where he received his master's degree in public administration. Following graduation, he was assigned as chief of the Material Management Branch of the Office of the Comptroller at Coast Guard Headquarters.
In 1964, Admiral Stewart returned to the Gulf Coast as executive officer of the cutter Sebago based out of Pensacola, Florida. He was then assigned as chief of Personnel Division K of the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami. In 1967, he was named commanding officer of the cutter, Androscoggin, a cutter he to took to Vietnam in December of 1967 to participate in Operation Market Time. The Androscoggin remained on station in Southeast Asia until August 1968.
Following this tour of duty, then-Commander Stewart returned to Washington, D.C. and served as special assistant to the commandant of the Coast Guard before serving as administrative aide to the commandant. Then-Captain Stewart was transferred back to Honolulu to the Fourteenth Coast Guard District, where he served as chief of the operations division and then chief of staff. He once again returned to Washington, D.C. in 1976 as deputy chief of staff at Coast Guard Headquarters. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the rank of rear admiral and was named chief of the office of personnel, a position he held until 1981, when he was assigned commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District, Admiral Stewart worked tirelessly to prevent illegal drug smuggling. In 1983, he testified before the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. During this time, he also served as an advisor to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush before his retirement on June 28, 1985.
Admiral Stewart earned an impressive list of medals and awards over the course of his distinguished career, including: the Coast Guard Achievement Medal; the Combat Action Ribbon; the Bronze Star Medal (with Combat ``V'') and the Gold Star; the Meritorious Service Medal (with two Gold Stars); the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Gold Star; and the Legion of Merit.
Admiral Stewart's retirement certainly was not the end of his service to his community, state or nation. Following his retirement from the Coast Guard, he served as a Kiwanian, a founding member of the board of trustees of the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico, a member of the board of governors of the Bienville Club, a past president and member of the Mobile Council for the Navy League of the United States, a member of the board of directors of the Veterans Day Commission, a past chairman and member of the Military Affairs Committee of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, a past division chairman of the United Way, a past chairman of the Disaster Service Committee of the local Red Cross Chapter, and a member of the board of directors of the Alabama Military Hall of Honor at Marion Military Institute.