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Retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant A.W. Swanson of Inglis enjoys saying that he was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Marine Corps. Born in 1929, Swanson's father was a Swedish sailor who had emigrated to the U.S. while his mother's American roots extend to ancestors who settled in the Hudson River Valley in 1640.
Raised in northern New Jersey, Swanson quit high school at 17 to enlist in the Marine Corps in April 1946. Following boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina, he was assigned to the Naval Annex in Arlington, Virginia in August 1946. In 1947, he was posted to China serving with various units until being transferred in 1949 to the 3rd Marines where he witnessed history as the Communist Chinese entered the city of Shanghai in its march to power.
In July 1949, Swanson returned with the 3rd Marines to Camp Pendleton, California. In the spring of 1950, he was reassigned to Quantico, Virginia. With the outbreak of the Korean War weeks later, Swanson was dispatched back to Camp Pendleton to join the 1st Marine Division.
Assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Swanson departed Camp Pendleton for Korea in September 1950 landing at Wonson, Korea in November 1950. From Wonson, his unit moved north to Hagaru by open rail cars in sub zero temperatures to join in the pursuit of retreating North Korean forces.
The day before Thanksgiving, Swanson's regiment moved from Hagaru to Yudam-ni 13 miles north of the Chosin Reservoir. Shortly after its arrival at Yudam-ni, overwhelming Communist Chinese forces attacked Swanson's regiment.
With the battle raging all around, Swanson's battalion was tasked to extricate Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines from encircling Chinese forces. As Swanson's battalion moved toward the beleaguered company, the scene was reminiscent of General Custer's last stand with besieged marines using the frozen bodies of fallen enemy soldiers as parapets.
The battle to extricate Company F and the ultimate breakout of the 7th Marines from the Chosin Reservoir earned Swanson's battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond G. Davis, and four other marines of the 7th Marines, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In the early morning hours of December 3, Swanson earned his Purple Heart. As he and six members of his patrol were returning to their company's position, a sniper's bullet struck Swanson's right leg shattering it between the ankle and knee. A medical corpsman and a fellow marine braved enemy machinegun fire to carry Swanson on a litter to the battalion aid station a couple hundred meters away. Upon reaching the aid station, the battalion surgeon crouched down to examine Swanson's wound only to be mortally wounded in the chest by a sniper's bullet as he stood up.
With the battalion surgeon dead and the aid station filled with seriously wounded marines, Swanson was left unattended in the freezing temperatures amid the frozen bodies of fallen marines. As a helicopter approached, the sniper's bullet found its mark again killing the pilot instantly. Spinning out of control, it crashed near the aid station with the rotor blade striking the ground about 50 feet from Swanson.
After 24-hours, Swanson was transported by jeep to a makeshift medical clearing facility in Hagaru. Again, he went untreated as doctors performed emergency amputations amid a growing pile of limbs. Swanson was airlifted the next morning to Yongpo and then to Japan where he received his first medical treatment 96 hours after being wounded. He was then sent to medical facilities in Japan, Hawaii, California and New York City.
From 1951 until 1965, Swanson saw duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Quantico, Camp Pendleton, Japan, Hawaii, Camp Lejune, Paris Island and Pensacola. In March of 1965, Swanson was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines as a platoon sergeant.
In August 1965, the battalion deployed off the coast of Vietnam where it conducted operations inland by helicopter and landing craft. During a helicopter assault near Chu Lai, his platoon came under heavy enemy mortar and small arms fire. Of the 21 marines with Swanson, 17 were killed or wounded. Miraculously, Swanson survived unscathed.
Contracting malaria in August 1966, Swanson's three-month medical journey took him to naval medical facilities in DaNang, the Philippines and Chicago. Thereafter, he was assigned to the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in November 1966 where he was a company gunnery sergeant with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 28th Marines.
In February 1968, the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive prompted Swanson's reassignment to and deployment to Vietnam with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines as its operations sergeant. Swanson returned from Vietnam in August 1968 to Camp Pendleton where he retired in September 1969 with over 23 years of service.
Upon retirement, Swanson used the GI Bill to earn his high school diploma and, having lived history, a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Florida International University. Since relocating to Inglis in 1994, he has been a member of the Levy County Republican Executive Committee, past president and member of the Inglis-Yankeetown Republican Club and a life member of Aaron A. Weaver Chapter 776 MOPH.
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