Warbird Information Exchange

Decorated war hero Swett dies
World War II dogfight led to heroic action, Medal of Honor award
By Jim Schultz
Thursday, January 22, 2009
James Elms Swett of Redding once said that notoriety can at times be a "darn nuisance."

He got pulled over more times than he could remember by inquisitive California Highway Patrol officers because of the distinctive license plate on his car.

But it had its perks, too.

He rarely got a traffic ticket and had a lot of autographed photographs from a number of U.S. presidents.

Swett, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II for shooting down seven Japanese bombers within 15 minutes, died Sunday at Mercy Medical Center in Redding after a long illness. He was 88.

Awarded the Medal of Honor for valor because of his courageous actions during World War II, Swett never thought of himself as a hero.

A lot of people did.

Randy Clement, a Vietnam War veteran and past commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 7705 in Weaverville, said Swett was a hero in every sense of the word.

Clement said Swett, whom he described as a humble man who radiated a "quiet heroism," volunteered countless hours to the community and was often a guest at the community's annual Little League baseball opening day ceremonies.

"There was not a year I can remember that he missed," he said. "His death is a true loss."

Swett was one of two Medal of Honor recipients in the north state. A Seattle native, he grew up near San Mateo.

He moved to Redding in 2007 after living for more than 20 years in tiny Trinity Center.

A former U.S. Marine Corps pilot, Swett also was awarded two Purple Hearts, six Distinguished Flying Cross medals and 21 Air Medals. He said that 30 minutes of combat over the Florida group of the Solomon Islands during World War II forever changed his life.

It was on April 7, 1943, when the 22-year-old first lieutenant led his first combat mission.

It was that mission that resulted in him being awarded the Medal of Honor.

According to the official citation that accompanies the Medal of Honor he earned that day, Swett was quickly caught up in an air-to-air fight with a wave of 150 Japanese planes.

"1st Lt. Swett unhesitatingly hurled his four-plane division into action against a formation of 15 enemy bombers and personally exploded three hostile planes in midair with accurate and deadly fire during his dive," the citation reads. "Although separated from his division while clearing the heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire, he boldly attacked six enemy bombers, engaged the first four in turn and, unaided, shot down all in flames."

With a hole in one of his wings and his ammunition nearly exhausted, Swett pursued a fifth bomber. The rear gunner fired, shattering Swett's windshield. Swett shot and killed him with his remaining ammunition, setting the bomber on fire.

His F-4F Wildcat's engine gave out, and he crash-landed in Tulagi Harbor. With a nose broken on impact, he climbed out of the sinking cockpit, floated to the surface and was rescued by a Coast Guard picket boat.

"God was with me in that cockpit," Swett said in a 1996 Record Searchlight interview.

Over the course of his World War II service, Swett was credited with more than 15 downed enemy planes.

Swett also saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was again shot down in July 1943 near New Guinea. He spent four days in a rubber raft, living on chocolate bars and coconuts, until he was rescued by natives.

After leaving active duty in the Marines in 1950, he joined the reserves, where he became a colonel before retiring in 1970.

He also worked in his father's company in San Francisco, making marine pumps and turbines.

In 1960, after his father's death, Swett took over the company and ran it for 23 years.

He moved to Trinity County with his wife, Loie, in 1983 from Los Altos. She died in 1999 at the age of 75, and Swett remarried in 2007.

In 1999, Swett was one of then 98 Medal of Honor recipients on hand for the dedication of a $2.5 million memorial in Indianapolis honoring America's greatest war heroes.

His name, etched in one of 27 huge glass walls, joined those of such well-known Medal of Honor recipients as Audie Murphy, Alvin York and Eddie Rickenbacker.

In 2006, Swett's Medal of Honor heroics were recreated using computer graphics for The History Channel series, "Dogfights." Swett himself provided commentary.

He is survived by his wife, Verna, of Redding; two sons, James Jr. of the Seattle area and John of Redwood City, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation is from 4 to 7 p.m. today at McDonald's Chapel in Redding.

His funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the chapel followed by a 12:45 p.m. burial with full military honors at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo.

Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at jschultz@redding.com.