Major General Robert L. Stevenson

January 27, 2025

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson, was born in Honolulu on April 10, 1915. He attended grammar school in various Oahu locales, attended McKinley High School and graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1937 with a degree in engineering. He joined Home Insurance Company (now First Insurance) in October 1937 as a fire insurance engineer.

He entered Army service in October 1940 as a captain after nine years of Army National Guard service and served with the 25th Infantry Division throughout the South Pacific during World War II. He was a battalion commander as well as division G2. He left the Army as a full colonel in 1946 and rejoined Home Insurance.

His service record is studded with an impressive array of commendations such as the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, and many others.

Immediately following his departure from full-time Army service he rejoined the National Guard in Honolulu as a Colonel and was charged with reorganizing the 298th Regimental Combat Team in Hawaii. He started with one man-himself, and four years later had built the 298th into the largest regimental combat team in the nation. He was active in the National Guard from 1946 until his retirement in 1958. He was called out of retirement in December 1962 when appointed Adjutant General of the State. He served almost four years in this post and then returned to First Insurance, as vice president. He was made president of the company in February 1967.

He is President of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and a member of the rotary Club of Honolulu and the Aloha Temple of the Shrine. At this time he also serves on the Board of Directors of many community organizations including the American Red Cross and Mid Pacific Institute.

Stevenson lives with his wife in Kaneohe. They are parents of a daughter, Mrs. George Naukana and a son John Stevenson who is a Captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard.

Last updated unknown

Position Appointment 1962
Retirement 1966
Biography 1982
Obituary 1999

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson Appointed Adjutant General

Maj Gen Robert L. Stevenson

(Picture from the 1962 December The Hawaii Guardsman)

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson, 47, newly appointed Adjutant General for the State of Hawaii, officially assumed his duties at noon on 3 December 1962, following the retirement of Major General Fred W. Makinney.

General Stevenson first joined Company “E,” 298th Infantry Regiment, of the Hawaii Army National Guard as a private in 1931. Five years later, upon graduation from the University of Hawaii, he received his second lieutenant’s bars after successfully completing the Advanced ROTC Course.

As a new lieutenant, he continued to serve in the 298th, a regiment he was destined to command nine years later.

He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1938 and, just prior to being called to active duty with the Hawaii National Guard in 1940, he was promoted to captain.

While in the South Pacific in 1942, he was elevated to the rank of major. One year later, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. During this period of World War II, he served as intelligence officer and battalion commander in combat duty on Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and Luzon.

He was promoted to full colonel on 22 January 1946 and, seven days later, was separated from active duty.

Assigned in January 1946 to reactivate the 298th Regimental Combat Team, Stevenson built it into one of the largest National Guard combat teams in the nation before serving as Hawaii Army National Guard Chief of Staff from 1953 to 1957.

Due to the pressure of business, Stevenson left the Guard in June 1957.

General Stevenson holds the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal with one star, American Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and four battle stars.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 10 April 1915, he attended St. Louis College and McKinley High School and received a degree in civil engineering from the University of Hawaii in 1937.

For the past 25 years, General Stevenson has been an insurance executive. He and his wife, the former Mary M. Fidler, reside in Manoa. They have two children and two grandchildren.
– 1962 December The Hawaii Guardsman pp. 14

General Stevenson Retires

In a surprise ceremony in General Stevenson’s office, Maj Gen Carl Darnell, Jr., the then Commanding General, United States Army Hawaii, presented Stevenson with commendation plaque “in recognition of his devoted service to his State and Country,” This is first time that plaque has been awarded to a Guard officer by the Active Army. Excellent rapport existed between both officers.

During luncheon at Cannon Club, Steven son received golf cart and woods. Brig Gen V. A. Siefermann is pictured behind Stevenson. At right is Col William Meyer, Deputy Adjutant General.

More than 600 Hawaii Army and Air National Guardsmen paid tribute to retiring General Stevenson in ceremonies held in Diamond Head crater 23 July. During ceremonies, four Air Guard jets passed overhead and three HARNG helicopters dropped orchid, and plumeria blossoms on the Guardsmen, spectators and dignitaries. Walking past men of the 298th Artillery with Stevenson is Governor Burns. Other officers are (L to R): General Siefermann; Brig Gan Francis Takemoto, Commander of the 29th Infantry Brigade; and Brig Gen Fred A. Schaefer Ill, Commanding General, Hawaii Army National Guard.

(Pictures from the 1966 September The Hawaii Guardsman)

Major General Robert L. Stevenson, popular State Adjutant General, retired from State service 15 July to return to private business.

“It was a hard decision to make, but I will continue to be your best booster and will continue to take an active part in your activities, if you will allow me,” he told a group of full-time Guardsmen attending a July luncheon in his honor.

General Stevenson, who will be 51 next April 10th, has returned to First Insurance Company as vice-president, the firm he left almost four years ago to take the job as Adjutant General.

No Adjutant General in the history of the HNG received more honors on his retirement than did Stevenson.

In addition to many letters and phone calls from high-ranking military and civilian members of the community wishing him luck in his new position, the personable General received a “first time” award from the C.G. of USARHAW (see picture). He received the HNG Medal for Merit during special ceremonies in Diamond Head Crater and was honored at a number of dinners and luncheons.

In a presentation made in the Lieutenant Governor’s office, General “Steve” received a golf bag from members of the State Cabinet. He received golf irons and a silver letter opener from the officers and their wives during a dinner at the Hickam Officers Club. The woods and golf cart were presented to Stevenson by full-time Guardsmen at a luncheon at the Cannon Club in early July. At another function, he received a tiki paperweight from the HNG Association.

Brig. Gen. Valentine A. Siefermann, Commander, HANG, has been named Acting Adjutant General by Governor Burns.
– 1966 September The Hawaii Guardsman pp. 18

Hawaii’s AG Past to Present

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson
Dec. 3, 1962 – July IS, 1966

(Picture from the 1982 Summer Pūpūkahi)

In December 1962, the Hawaii National Guard got its second kamaʻāina adjutant general with the appointment of Robert L. Stevenson. Born in Honolulu on April 10, 1915, Stevenson attended St. Louis College and McKinley High School. He attended the University of Hawaii, graduating in 1937 with a degree in civil engineering.

Stevenson (no relation to the author of the same name) joined the Hawaii National Guard as a private in 1931. He received his commission in 1936 while still at the University of Hawaii.

He was called to active duty in 1940 along with many other Hawaii Guardsmen. He saw combat duty on Guadalcanal, West Georgia, and Luzon islands. He returned to Hawaii in early 1946 as a colonel.

Stevenson took over command of the 298th Regimental Combat Team before serving as Army Guard chief of staff from 1953 to 1957.

Back in the ’30s, Stevenson started out on another career, one that would heavily impact his service with the Guard. He began to work for Home Insurance Company in 1938 after a brief engineering stint with the Honolulu Police Department, where he worked alongside a young man named John Burns. Stevenson stayed with Home Insurance, later to become First Insurance. In 1957, business forced him to resign from the Guard.

In 1963, there was a new governor, former policeman John Burns, and Stevenson came out of military retirement to take the job of adjutant general at the request of his long-time friend. After he left the Guard the second time in 1966, it was to take over as president of First Insurance.

Among numerous decorations, Stevenson holds the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. He’s retired now from the insurance business and devotes his time to his family and Mānoa home.

For six months after Stevenson retired, Brig. Gen. Valentine A. Siefermann, then HANG commander, served as acting adjutant general (July 1966–December 1966). More on him later.

On Dec. 5, 1966, a former three-star Air. Force general became Hawaii’s adjutant general.
– 1982 Summer Pūpūkahi pp. 4

Warriors Remembered for Their Place in Hawaii Guard History

By Stephen M. Lum

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson

(Picture from the 1999 Summer – Fall Pūpūkahi)

This summer the Hawaii National Guard said aloha to two of its well-known sons: Maj. Gen. Robert L. Stevenson and 1st Sgt. Edgar W. K. Alexander.

TAG in the 1960s

Stevenson, Hawaii’s tenth adjutant general, who served from December 1962 to July 1966, died Aug. 1. He was 84.

The Honolulu-born general enlisted in 1931 as a member of the 298th Infantry Regiment, Hawaii Army National Guard. In 1937, after graduating from the University of Hawaii with a degree in engineering and completing ROTC, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. He returned to the 298th, the regiment he would go on to command nine years later.

Stevenson, then a captain, was called to active duty and served with the 25th Infantry Division in the South Pacific during World War II. His five active-duty years included combat tours in Guadalcanal, New Georgia and Luzon, where he earned the Legion of Merit, Silver Star and promotions to colonel.

In 1946, he returned to command the 298th Regimental Combat Team and later served as chief of staff. Stevenson went back to private enterprise in 1957 as an executive for Home Insurance Company (now First Insurance Company) and retired from the Guard in 1958.

He was called out of retirement in December 1962, when he was appointed adjutant general by Gov. John A. Burns.

In 1966, during his tenure as adjutant general, the Hawaii Army Guard was designated as a Selected Reserve Force. Training was stepped up by 50 percent, and two years later, on May 13, 1968, at the height of the Vietnam conflict, the 29th Infantry Brigade was placed on federal active duty.

The general served for almost four years before returning to First Insurance as vice president and, a year later, as president.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Fidler Stevenson; daughter, Bobbie Naukana; son, Jack; seven grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a sister.

Maj. Gen. Edward V. Richardson, the adjutant general, represented the Hawaii National Guard at the funerals. . .
– 1999 Summer – Fall Pūpūkahi pp. 3