Medal of Honor recipient Col. James E. Swett dies

Col. James E. Swett

James E. Swett, a Marine Corps pilot who received the Medal of Honor for shooting down seven Japanese bombers, has died at age 88.

He had to ditch his plane off Tulagi island and hit hard, breaking his nose and getting dragged into the water before breaking free. He was rescued by a small Coast Guard boat.

Born on June 15, 1920 in Seattle, Washington, James E. Swett graduated from the San Mateo (California) High School and enrolled at the College of San Mateo in 1939. He earned a private pilot’s license, which amounted to 450 more hours of flying than he received during his Navy flight training. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a seaman second class on August 26, 1941, and started flight training in September.

On April 7, 1943, on his first combat mission, Swett both became an ace and acted with such “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” that he would be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Swett commanded VMF-141 flying Corsairs at NAS Alameda, California, following the end of World War II. After the onset of the Korean War his squadron was deployed to Korea, but he was left behind because the Navy thought putting a Medal of Honor recipient in combat was too risky. Swett left active duty and continued service in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring in 1970 in the rank of colonel

Read the Medal of Honor Citation on our People page.

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Father, Son Share Insights On Service-related Stress

Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rich Glasgow and Cpl. Robert Glasgow

By Linda Hosek American Forces Press Service

Rich Glasgow and his son, Robert, served in different military services at different times, but they know what it’s like to deal with the same psychological enemy. And both have recommendations for the military.

Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rich Glasgow directed search and recovery operations out of New York in the 1990s, overseeing boating accidents, airplane crashes and even Fourth of July events. But the post he really wanted was commanding officer of Station Golden Gate in San Francisco – not for its beauty, but for a grim reality.

By Linda Hosek

“It was known throughout the Coast Guard as the station where you pick up bodies,” he said, referring to people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. “I was going to figure out the trend.”

Glasgow got that job in 2000. But as he immersed himself in efforts to lessen the number of suicides and ease the burden on his Coast Guard crew, he began his own psychological struggle against post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event.

“I thought I was prepared,” Glasgow said, but the vivid sights and sounds of people falling and hitting the water replayed over and over in his mind and affected his behavior.

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