Honoring our Family Veterans Part 1: Leslie Wendell Stierwalt

Army Air Force recruiting poster 1943-1946.

Early years

Leslie Wendell Stierwalt, known as”Wendell”, was born in 1924 and raised with 9 siblings and numerous cousins on the Cherokee Reservation near Nowata, Oklahoma. HIs mother, Nina Sequichie’s Cherokee family can be traced back to Georgia before the Trail of Tears and father, Claud Stierwalt’s family immigrated to the US from Germany in the early 1700’s. “Winnie” as he was known as a child, didn’t enjoy school and stopped attending after 8th grade, but his keen intelligence and aptitude for understanding complex systems were evident throughout his lifetime.

military service

Leslie Wendell Stierwalt served immediately following WWII (1946-47) in the Army Air Forces Training Command.

In January of 1946, six months after marrying Opal Stookey, Wendell enlisted at Fort Lewis and began training in the Army Air Force as an airplane and engine mechanic. His quick grasp of airplane mechanics led to a promotion from student to instructor two months before his training was scheduled for completion.

In January of 1947, after a year of service, Wendell was honorably discharged from the Technical and Helicopter School located at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois.

washington homesteaders

After leaving the military, Wendell and Opal homesteaded on 5 acres of property outside Ephrata, Washington along with Claud and Nina Stierwalt. The family lived in a small cabin while Wendell and his father built two adjacent houses. Wendall and Opal raised three children in their new home while Wendell used his mechanical skills to work various jobs including a farm engine mechanic and long-haul truck driver.

Wendell had a calm and loving personality, which earned him the reputation of peacemaker among his nine Stierwalt siblings. He was a great hands-on teacher and would always take the time to sit down and read a book or explain his garden to his grandkids, who called him “Papa”. Wendell passed away in 1993, at the age of 68.