James E. Swett

United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient

James Elms Swett (June 15, 1920 – January 18, 2009) was a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot and flying ace during World War II. He was awarded the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for actions while a division flight leader in VMF 221 over Guadalcanal on April 7, 1943. He downed a total of 15.5 enemy aircraft during the war, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses and five Air Medals.

Born on June 15, 1920, in Seattle, Washington, James E. Swett graduated from San Mateo High School, San Mateo, California, 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.

Swett completed flight training in early 1942, placing in the top ten percent of his class. He was given the option to choose between a commission in the Marine Corps or the Navy, and he chose the Marine Corps. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, on April 1, 1942. He continued his advanced flight training, first at Quantico, Virginia, then at Lake Michigan, became carrier qualified aboard the Wolverine, and finally received his wings at San Diego, California. In December 1942, he shipped out to the Southwest Pacific, and when he arrived at Guadalcanal he was assigned to VMF 221, which was part of Marine Air Group 12.

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 was awarded the Medal of Honor. His first mission was as a division leader on a combat air patrol over the Russell Islands early on the morning of April 7 in expectation of a large Japanese air attack. Landing to refuel, the four plane division of Grumman F4F Wildcats he was leading was scrambled after other aircraft reported 150 planes approaching Ironbottom Sound, and intercepted a large formation of Japanese Aichi D3A dive bombers (Allied code name: "Val") attacking Tulagi harbor.

Swett was married to Lois Anderson from January 20, 1944, till her death on December 5, 1999. They had two sons, James Jr. and John, both of whom went on to become Marine Corps officers. Swett later remarried to Verna Gale McPherson Miller in 2007. Swett 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, before passing it on to his son. Swett moved to Trinity Center, California, in his retirement and became a frequent speaker at schools, where he shared his strong feelings about the values of respect and responsibility. He owned 13 Porsche cars during his lifetime. In 2006, Swett's Medal of Honor action was recreated using computer graphics for The History Channel series Dogfights in episode Guadalcanal and Swett himself provided commentary. The episode first aired on November 24, 2006. Swett moved to Redding, California, in 2007 where he died on January 18, 2009, in a Redding hospital from heart failure after a lengthy illness. He was buried with full military honors at Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, California. The airport in Trinity Center, California was named in his honor.