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Contact Info
Home Town Oneida, IL
Last Address He retired to Coronado, Calif., in 1976.
Date of Passing Oct 01, 2008
Location of Interment Buried at Sea, Pacific Ocean
Wall/Plot Coordinates buried at sea from a U.S. aircraft carrier
CORONADO, Calif. - Rear Admiral Leroy Swanson, USN (retired), 92, Coronado, Calif., passed away Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, at the Coronado Hospital. Leroy was a farmboy born Nov. 11, 1915, in Oneida, Ill., the son of George and Anna Peterson Swanson. On Sept. 28, 1940, he married Margaret Fentress in Norfolk, Va.
The first in his family to attend college, he graduated from Bradley University in 1937 after finishing at Oneida High School, class of '32. He was commissioned as a naval aviator June 24, 1939. The ensign would go from biplanes to jets to admiral and serve in three wars. His combat missions in World War II were bombing and torpedo runs - notably in the Bonin Islands of Japan as CO of Attack Squadron 45. During the Korean War, he commanded an air group of Banshees off the carrier Wasp, and during the Vietnam conflict, commanded Carrier Division Two that rode on the USS America.
As a commander, he was XO of the USS Shangrila; his fourth stripe came as CO of the Naval Combat Information School; then his first command, an ammunition ship, USS Haleakala. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he skippered the aircraft carrier USS Independence. He was Chief of Staff Carrier Division One, then minted Admiral, his flag hoisted aboard the America as ComCarDiv Two in 1968, catapulting bombing, fighter, rescue and support missions from Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin.
In 1969, he became Deputy Commander-in-Chief U.S. Naval Forces, Europe. In 1972, he assumed Commander Field Command, Defense Nuclear Agency, Kirtland AFB. His 37 years of Naval service were served with distinction: Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 gold stars), Air Medal (3 gold stars), Navy Commendation Medal (with "V"), Navy Commendation Medal with star, Navy Unit Commendation (w/stars), American Defense, European and Asia/Pacific Campaigns, World War II Victory, National Defense Medal (w/stars), Korea and Vietnam Campaigns, National Order of Vietnam Fifth Class, Vietnam Gallantry Cross w/Bronze Star, the Gray and Golden Eagle Awards.
Highlights of his career include recovering a lost H bomb off the Spanish coast; becoming a 'mach buster' pioneer - early on, breaking the speed of sound; landing a DC-3 on the South Pole; and perhaps one of his proudest achievements, the only aviator ever catapulted off an aircraft carrier while steaming down the Mississippi River. Asked recently how he got away with that, he laughed, 'You couldn't get away with it these days!'
He retired to Coronado, Calif., in 1976. He was an avid golfer, jogger, handyman, gardener and a populist who lit up a room with his smile.
Leroy was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Vernon Swanson, of Oneida, Ill. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; daughters Carolyn, Mary Margaret and Ginny; a son, Michael; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a brother, Hubert Swanson, Galesburg; and a sister, Beth Olson, Moline, Ill. Admiral Swanson asked for no memorial service except to be buried at sea from a U.S. aircraft carrier. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.
Other Comments:
Highlights of his career include recovering a lost H bomb off the Spanish coast; becoming a 'mach buster' pioneer - early on, breaking the speed of sound; landing a DC-3 on the South Pole; and perhaps one of his proudest achievements, the only aviator ever catapulted off an aircraft carrier while steaming down the Mississippi River. Asked recently how he got away with that, he laughed, 'You couldn't get away with it these days!'
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Iwo Jima Operation
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields (including South Field and Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the U.S. Army as a staging base and useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. However, Navy SEABEES rebuilt the landing strips, which were used as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29s.
The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and complete air supremacy over Iwo Jima from the beginning of the battle by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in arms and numbers as well as complete control of air power — coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement — permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, both of which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. Rosenthal's photograph promptly became an indelible icon — of that battle, of that war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps itself — and has been widely reproduced.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Plank Owner, USS Bataan. Served with VT-50, Torpedo Squadron. Saw action during the first battle of the Philippine Sea, the Bonins and other raids on Turk and Iwo Jima.