2nd Lieutenant Wilbur Francis Stonestreet was born in Topeka on September 3, 1889.  His father was an undertaker, and Wilbur followed him into the business.  He earned an embalming diploma from the State of Kansas; no other education has been found mentioned, so this may be what qualified him for the officers’ training school.

Stonestreet served with the 349th Machine Gun Battalion, 92nd Division.  He passed away in Topeka on May 25, 1930, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

The image below is from the Topeka Daily Capital, July 31, 1920.

Continuing the recognition of African Americans from Kansas who attended the officers’ training school at Fort Des Moines, Iowa:  https://www.kansasww1.org/the-african-american-soldier-kansans-at-fort-des-moines/

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.