General Joseph Swing, the Father of the 11th Airborne Division - Part 1

0:00You're listening to Down From Heaven, a podcast that covers the history of the 11th Airborne Division from World War II through today. I'm your host, Jeremy Holm. Thank you for joining me today. Let's jump right in.

0:15Hello, friends. Thank you for joining me for today for our discussion on the 11th Airborne Division's Major General Joseph May Swing. My name is Jeremy Holm. I am an 11th Airborne Division historian, as well as the curator for the online museums for the Angels, 511pir.com and 11thAirborne.com. I'm also the author of the book, When Angels Fall, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II, which has been described around the world as the Band of Brothers of the Pacific Theater. That book came out a few years ago, and it's been fantastic

0:51to see its reception with historians and military enthusiasts and Americans and just World War II readers all around the world. But I'm also the author of two other books. This is a historical series on the 11th Airborne Division of World War II. It is called Down From Heaven. So Volume 2 actually just came out. So Volume 1 covers the 11th Airborne Division's formation in World War II up through the Leyte campaign. And then Volume 2 covers the Luzon campaign through the

1:25occupation of Japan. So again, both those books are available. Actually, all three books are available on Amazon or other, you know, online book outlets or your local bookstore. If you'd like signed copies, you can actually order those at 511pir.com. Just make a note of who you'd like it, you know, signed to and I'll get that out to you. We also just came out with our new 11th Airborne Division Challenge Coin, which the first run sold out in like a week. So we have another run coming and then

1:57we have another one scheduled with the manufacturer. So as you can see, these are just, you know, beautiful coins that, you know, really we did our best to design these to honor the legacy and the history of this mighty division and the angels who fought with it during World War II. Now I've wanted to do this video for a while now, but life events definitely got in the way. As many of you know, I got married recently. So, you know, this is actually a pretty cool ring that my wife got me. It is the wood on the outside. The two rings were taken from an M1 Grand stock that was used in World

2:33War II. And then the middle band, which it's kind of hard to see in the video, but it looks like a green stone, but it's actually, it's OD green. It was taken from a uniform, the remnants of a uniform that was used in World War II as well. So just kind of a cool piece of history right here. So, and then I, you know, a little bit after our wedding day, you know, you can see some of the photos here and we got back from our honeymoon and we found out that our water main was broken. So we've been

3:04dealing with that, all the flooding. So I've been reflooring and tearing out carpet. And then I'm getting ready to go speak, uh, on the 11th airborne division at two World War II events. I just found out about another one yesterday, got invited to, so it's a very busy time. Um, but I love it. You know, I, this is what I love doing. Um, you know, being able to travel and educate on the 11th airborne division and just preserve and promote the legacy of the angels. So any of any purchases

3:34that you make of those books, the challenge coins, any other items in our online store that just helps support, you know, this channel and our research efforts, um, you know, and our preservation efforts as well. Um, you know, my, my office is a bit of a mess because I just finished reflooring it again, a lot of remodeling going on, but you can see a lot of things behind me. Um, just a small portion of the collection of things that we're trying to preserve, you know, share with museums, take around, uh, to World War II events and, and just, you know, so we do our best to,

4:10to keep those and preserve those, which there's cost involved with that. So, you know, your support definitely means a lot. And I just want to thank everybody who has been supportive, um, since day one of our efforts to, you know, keep the legacy of the angels going. Um, especially all the Arctic angels up in Alaska, just want to give a shout out to everybody up there. Thank you for your emails and your messages and just, you know, your letters of support. And, you know, I I'm happy to always help where I can. And I appreciate your interest in the history of the division that you are now a part

4:45of. Now I've wanted to do this video for a while now. Um, like I said, all those things got in the way, but this video in this video, we're going to be talking about the father of the 11th airborne division. And that is major general Joseph May swing. Now general swing would have celebrated his 129th birthday, uh, this year on February 28th. Um, you know, and really Joseph swing is a name that isn't quite as recognized as say William Lee or William Miley or James Gavin or Matthew Ridgeway,

5:17which is really unfortunate because general swing had such a tremendous impact on the history of America's airborne. Um, as well as not just the history, but also the, the tactics and doctrines that are still utilized today. A lot of those can be traced back, um, to general swing. And so we'll talk about that kind of more in part two of our video, part one today, we're going to be talking about the early years and the early military career of general swing pretty much, you know,

5:48from his birth up until world war two itself. So let's jump right in. Now, those who served with general swing throughout his five decades of military service used a lot of different adjectives to describe him. So these are all taken from letters and interviews that were written or given by his angels. And they said he was forceful, disciplined, farsighted, innovative, reasonable, sentimental, short tempered, forgiving, sincere, considerate, and demanding throughout the 11th airborne divisions, 130 plus days of combat during world war two, general swing demonstrated his

6:21steadfast courage is clear sense of tactics and his ability to decentralize to his commanders. Um, and he had a sincere concern for the welfare of his troops. And he was not one to ever commit them haphazardly. You know, if you look at the word hero in the dictionary, you'll read something like an illustrious warrior, a person admired for achievements and noble qualities, and one who shows great courage. Now, Lieutenant general Edward fly Flanagan, who served with general swing in

6:52world war two, um, he said when Webster and his successors wrote the above definitions of a hero, they could have been thinking of and describing the traits of character and the accomplishments in peace and war of one man, Joseph may swing a general Flanagan then added to those of us who knew him and served with him. General swing measured up to a hero's qualities as such a man and a model he lives on in our hearts and our minds. As you can see, general swing left an incredible, uh, legacy behind with his

7:26angels, not just in airborne history, um, and the tactics and doctrines. Again, we'll get all to that later, but let's go into his early life right now. Now, Joseph may swing was born on February 28th, 18, 1894 in Jersey city, New Jersey to his parents, Joseph and Marianne. And he was actually the third son born to the family at the time. His father worked as a contractor and a foreman. So the general went to elementary and secondary schools, um, in Jersey city. And then in 1911, he graduated from

7:58Beringer high school, uh, something kind of cool. Uh, Beringer is actually the oldest, uh, one of the oldest high schools in the United States. You know, it opened its doors in 1838. Shortly after his graduation, general swing received his appointment to West point military Academy where his roommate was none other than Dwight Eisenhower. So Joseph swing and, and Dwight Eisenhower, they played football together under head coach, um, Charles W Daly, along with their teammate, Omar Bradley, which is another

8:31name you might recognize. And their team had a five, three, one season, but they were thrilled to win the, the annual army Navy game 14 to nothing, which if you know anything about that game, pretty big deal at the time. Now general swing was part of the class of 1915, which is known as the class the stars fell upon, um, because it produced more general officers than any other class in history, uh, of the academy. Um, of the 164 graduates, 59 attained the rank of general, including our beloved Joseph may swing, who he, he rose

9:05to the rank of Lieutenant general. Um, and that's when he retired. And a lot of people don't know this, but the phrase, the class of the stars sell upon was actually used earlier for the class of 1886, which produced 25 general officers out of a class of 77. So two years, um, after the class of 1886, general swing's future father-in-law, Peyton C. March, you know, the name you might recognize he graduated West Point. Um, and then, you know, went on to lead an illustrious career himself. Um, and then intertwined

9:42with Joseph swing's life. And we're going to get to that in just a second. Now attending West point had always been general swings goal. He said, I went through the usual public school system, always with the idea, having been taken by my daddy to West point on the Hudson, a number of times of going to West point and becoming a soldier. Now, as a cadet, Joe swing had kind of reputation. Uh, they wrote that he was a rough house kid with a happy go lucky disposition. This man is undoubtedly at the bottom of more mischief and practical jokes than any other cadet in the place. He is bright

10:16and versatile. And had he worked even harder, he could have shown the way to most of the boys. We have no doubt of his success. Now swing graduated 38th in his class. So he was actually a head of Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. And he was commissioned a second Lieutenant on June 12th, 1915, who was assigned to battery a of the horse and mule mounted fourth field artillery regiment. And so begins general swings five decades long military career as a young Lieutenant swing was thrown

10:50right into the fire. Uh, when he took part in America's punitive expedition into Mexico against Jose Doroteo Arango Arambila, hope I pronounced all those right. Uh, he's otherwise known as Pancho Villa. So on January 11th, 1916, Pancho Villa's forces attacked officials from the American smelting and refining company in Mexico and executed 16 of them. Now Villa then raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico on March 9th, resulting in the death of over 20 civilians from Columbus and

11:21soldiers from nearby camp for long, which of course kind of kicked over the hornet's nest. There was, there was anger all across the United States. So, uh, general swing who had been promoted to first Lieutenant on July 1st, you know, he took part in the United States actions into Mexico to try to prevent Pancho Villa from affecting more raids back across the border. So the following October, Lieutenant swing was reassigned to the new eighth field artillery regiment out of Fort bliss, Texas.

11:54Kind of interesting. The eighth was actually formed because it was becoming more and more clear that the United States was probably going to be drawn into the growing conflict over in Europe that we now know as world war one. So indeed the United States officially entered world war one, um, on April 6th, 1917. And one month later on may 15th, Joseph swing was promoted to captain. So captain swings eighth, uh, field artillery was commanded at Fort bliss by the legendary Colonel Peyton Conway March.

12:26And after war was declared, March was promoted to brigadier general, and he was given command of the first field artillery brigade, first division in Europe. And this is a little bit of where general swings, um, and general marches histories start to combine, uh, at least initially, and it's going to get a lot closer when general marches, uh, aid to camp Lieutenant Stanley Reinhart was given a command in the 17th field artillery, general march needed a new aid. So he called the young captain that he had come to respect and trust from the eighth

13:01field artillery. And you guessed it, that was captain Joseph swing. General march was so impressed with captain swings, intelligence, character, and skills. The swing remained with the general when he was recalled to Washington to become the acting army chief of staff on March 4th, 1918. So Joseph swing was only in France for about a year before he was called back to the States with general march on may 20th, 1918. General march was made the army chief of staff and he kept captain swing has it as his aid

13:33to camp. And there's actually a funny story of, of this. Um, so there was a reporter who used to go through all the offices at the war department, um, when everyone was out at lunch and he was trying to dig up something to report. So he'd go into their office, go through their papers, so on and so forth. And general march found out about this and he was just, he was so fed up. He told, he ordered captain swing to escort the man off the premises and make sure he never came back. So after less than three years of military service, general swing star was rising quite quickly.

14:03And 1918 proved to be a big year for our beloved general. Not only was he serving in the office of the highest office in the army, but he was also promoted to major. And on June 8th, he married Josephine Mary Bootsy March, General Peyton March's daughter. The wedding was a bright celebration for the marches who were still mourning the death of their son and brother, Lieutenant Peyton March, who was killed in a plane crash on February 13th. 1918 would bring loss to major swing as well,

14:34as his father passed away that same year. And although their first years of marriage would endure the added strains of army life after remarrying in 1925, yes, I said remarrying in 1925, Joseph and Mary Ann would have two children together and enjoyed 50 years together before Bootsy's death in 1972. Now in 1918, major swing labored to assist General Peyton March with his goals to establish the power and importance of the chief of staff in the army hierarchy. In addition to

15:06supervising the buildup of American forces in World War I, General March also centralized control over the military supply chain and created an air service, tank corps, and the chemical warfare school. This of course led to some controversies since change is not always embraced, especially in the old military. But these expansions and adjustments also allowed major swing to meet some of the biggest names in United States military history, um, as well as the government at the time, which was a major factor

15:40that will come into play as we go on with his story. In late 1918, major swing joined the 19th field artillery regiment at Fort Meyer, Virginia. In a few months later, on April 16th, 1919, he and his wife, Bootsy welcomed the birth of their son, Joseph May Swing, um, who they would, they, who they would affectionately call pug. Now, one interesting experience that major swing had at Fort Meyer was a dinner he attended on Thursday, March 25th, 1920, with several other, other officers at the famous

16:15Rauscher's restaurant. Now the dinner was held in the upstairs ballroom and was sponsored by major general in the military attache to the Japanese embassy in Washington. This was major swing's first taste of interaction and dealing with the Japanese military. And it certainly would not be his last in February of 1921, major swing was transferred to Honolulu show field barracks, where he was given command of first battalion 11th field artillery regiment. Um, you know,

16:48general swing and his wife and their son, they were called mala mala heenies, um, or newcomers in Hawaii. And the major and his family immediately fell in love with Oahu's beautiful environment and it's wonderful people. They took part in the normal military activities, uh, the social activities, especially, uh, you know, this included, you know, beach parties and dinners. And I found a record from June of 1921 where swing judged a dispatch carrying competition there in Oahu. So what this involved was four teams transmitting a 50 word message by semaphore flags that would then be

17:23carried by motorcycle messenger one mile to the finish line. And, you know, swing had also established himself as quite the bridge and polo player. You know, he competed in local polo competitions with his fellow officers. Um, and actually they, they would travel back to the mainland, um, for some competitions as well, in which they usually won actually, you know, the, uh, the field artillery journal actually said of general swings team, their teamwork and individual play was of a high quality and their ponies equal to those of any civilian team on the coast. In addition to all those activities,

17:57major swing also coached the 11th field artillery as football team and was given high marks for his efforts. But the strain of army life was beginning to wear on, um, major swings marriage, you know, he was traveling a lot. And so it actually caused a rift. And as I mentioned earlier, he and Bootsy divorced in September of 1923, they would remarry about two years later, um, on May 3rd, 1925. But before that major swing set sail for the mainland on February 26th on the SS Cambrai, um, which was a

18:31transport that would later be sunk by a German U-boat in world war two. Now major swings ultimate destination at the time was Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he took command of the ninth field artillery regiment. Swing then entered Fort Sill's field artillery school, where he furthered his understanding of tactics, techniques, and procedures for the use of fire support systems and combat, as well as his own, as his own leadership abilities. After a few months, major swing was on his way to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where he and his ex-wife Bootsy were remarried again, again in May of 1925. So one year later on

19:08July 2nd, 1926, they celebrated the birth of their daughter, Mary Ann Swing. And at the time major swing was attending the command and general staff school at Leavenworth, Kentucky during the 1926, 1927 course. And upon completion of the course, major swing was one of the group's 18 honor graduates, which is kind of like, you know, he graduated magna cum laude is a good way to look at that. So after graduation, major swing went back to Fort Sill's artillery school, where he would serve as an

19:39instructor for four years. And he still spent plenty of time on the polo field and playing bridge. You know, he would coach his fellow officers and countless students in polo and I believe football as well at the time. And this was an interesting time in the history of America's artillery, since many of Swing's fellow staff members and instructors were helping to develop new fire direction techniques and to make fire support more responsive. So one development that they helped bring about was the

20:10fire direction center, which centralized command and control and helped facilitate massing fire. So Swing and the field artillery school instructors were also working to replace their horse and mule teams with motorized vehicles to better move their guns around the battlefield. You know, they had seen a lot of these officers had experienced World War I in Europe. And so they had seen trench warfare and they had seen the conflict really between the old way of doing things and the more modern motorized vehicles and

20:46tanks and new airplanes and so forth. And so this was a very interesting time in the military and General Swing was right in the thick of it. So let's review. So after 10 years of military service, Major General Swing had already taken part in two campaigns, the Pancho Villa punitive expedition into Mexico and World War I. He had served as an aide to camp to General Peyton March, the army's chief of staff. And while there he helped, he helped General March make significant changes to the way the army

21:17was run. And then after attending field artillery school and the command and general staff school at Leavenworth, Major Swing was right in the middle of the efforts to modernize America's militaries, especially the field artillery from the old ways of doing things to more modern techniques, some of which we still use today, actually. And all this was done before his 35th birthday. Now Major Swing also continued to play polo for the army and was racking up quite a name for himself.

21:48One newspaper article called him a sensational hitter and said his Fort Sill team was the team to beat. Now Swing played with a handicap of three per the U.S. Polo Association. And after a string of wins against teams from other posts and countries, his team from Fort Sill found themselves in the Western Division championships, which they won. The field artillery journal noted for the new champions, the play of Lieutenant Barden on the offensive and major swing on the defensive is especially noteworthy. Now that was in August of 1930. So in July of 1930, the army's first United

22:25States Calvary division team had lost to the Mexican army team in a match done in Texas. And Mexico's victory was seen throughout America's military as, as a tremendous loss since the Mexican army had also defeated the United States army polo team the year before. And just keep that in mind. So during the summer of 1931, Major Swing took his wife and children back to Washington, DC, where he was assigned to the office of the chief of the artillery. And so again, this was the second time the swings were

23:00assigned to Washington. So they were able to renew their acquaintances with old friends and politicians that they knew just, you know, big names in the military at the time and so forth. So Major Swing continued to play polo. He was very successful. His team played against a team from Fort Meyer, which Swing's team won. And I thought this was kind of an amazing photo. It's pretty cool. Well, here he is accepting the victory cup in 1933 from none other than America's first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1932, the field artillery association's president had appointed Major Swing

23:37to a two-man auditing committee, which reviewed the association's treasury report for the year. Now, this was during the great depression. So funding was tight and luckily Major Swing was able to report that the association's financial affairs were in order. Two years later, with Major Swing's career at an all-time high, the Mexican army once again beat the United States army's polo team, which I believe is for the seventh time in a row. So as you can imagine, America's senior leadership,

24:07they were getting tired of losing. This included the U.S. Polo Association. The Polo Association had tried sending teams down to Mexico and they were losing as well. So one person who was extremely disappointed with all these losses was none other than General Douglas MacArthur, who was the army's chief of staff at the time. So MacArthur, who had followed the polo career of one Major Joseph Swing, wanted an American victory. And if the army's regular team wasn't able to produce

24:41that, he thought maybe Major Swing's team can, which was kind of interesting because Major Swing had actually been asking for permission to go down to play the Mexican team, but nobody was letting him do this. So this is where General MacArthur gets involved. He called Major Swing to his office and he said, Joe, you can go down there, but if you don't beat them and you come back here to Washington, you can find another place to be stationed. So we have to remember that Major Swing was serving in the office of the chief of field artillery and was head of the war plans department. So General

25:17MacArthur's threat actually held a lot of weight for this career officer. So in late March of 1934, Major Swing's team went down to Mexico to play the Mexican army team. And several Americans who were down there in the area said they saw flyers for the match just all over the place. Because of course, in Mexico, they thought this was going to be another easy victory. So, you know, the Mexican polo team and all the officials and everybody in the surrounding cities and towns just thought this is going to be fantastic. We're going to beat the Americans again. The flyers actually said,

25:49Mexico has not lost one of the last seven international championships that they have played in. So while the people of Mexico were confident of another easy victory on April 8th, 1934, Major Joseph Swing and his team from the war department did what no other American team had been able to do for seven years. They beat the Mexican army team, uh, 12 to four on their own turf. And this of course caused a huge uproar all throughout Mexico. Um, so one reporter noted

26:22the overwhelming success of the American team was considered somewhat of an upset. Many jubilant Americans testified to the long odds that they had received when placing their bets. So the sentiment was so strong that the Mexican delegation asked for a rematch. So one week later on April 15th, Major Swing's team played the Mexican armies again. And although there were some questionable penalties called in the Americans, which cost them two goals, um, Major Swing's team was victorious this time nine to eight. So a little bit closer match.

26:56Well, this wasn't enough for the Mexican delegation. And they asked for another rematch for, you know, so three matches now. Um, and the Americans won again on April 22nd, seven to five. And this just shocked everyone in Mexico. They couldn't believe that this group of Americans could beat their former champions three matches in a row. And Major Henry Burgess, who would later serve under General Swing in the 11th Airborne in World War II. He said, not only did Swing beat the Mexican polo team,

27:27he humiliated them. And so no wonder Major Joseph Swing and his team returned to the States as national heroes. A few months later, during the summer of 1934, he left the office of the chief of artillery, um, and enrolled in the army war college at what was then called Fort Humphreys and Swing graduated in 1935. He was assigned to the sixth field artillery regiment, um, out of Fort Hoyle, Maryland, um, where he was the regimental executive officer under Colonel William Ennis.

27:57Now, Major Swing continued to win actual horse competitions around the East coast. Um, so he was a fantastic football player, polo player, bridge player. Um, and he competed in the horse competitions all, all over America's East coast and something kind of cool. His son, Joseph Jr. would compete as well and was becoming quite the horseman himself. So he won quite a few of those competitions alongside his dad. So to add to his accomplishments on and off the field on June 24th, 1936, Joseph Swing was

28:30promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. And the following year, the Swing celebrated the appointment of their son, Joseph Jr. to the West Point Military Academy in September of 1937. So three months later, and this was just before Christmas, Lieutenant Colonel Swing received orders to head for Fort Sam Houston in Texas, where he would serve as the assistant chief of staff in the second infantry division. So his role would involve operations and training for the second. And as a member of the general staff

29:01corps, um, Swing would remain in that position for about two years. Then in April of 1939, Colonel Swing was given a kind of an unexpected assignment by his commander, General Walter Kruger. General Kruger told him to organize and direct La Noche de Militares during the Fiesta de San Jacinto. Um, this is, I'm from Oklahoma. So Texas is our, of course, our Southern neighbor. So we know all about the Alamo. So this, this Fiesta that, that Colonel Swing was in charge of, um, was actually a reenactment of the

29:37Battle of the Alamo. So it was going to involve hundreds of soldiers from the second infantry. And, you know, uh, Colonel Swing selected some of the officers to play, you know, William Travis and Jim Bowie and, and Davy Crockett. Um, and this must've been quite a huge undertaking since the army built an exact replica of both the Alamo and the Alamo Plaza inside Fort Sam Houston's Christie Mathewson baseball stadium. So here he is organizing, putting on this reenactment, um, you know,

30:09training all the soldiers that will be involved and then overseeing the construction of a replica of the Alamo and the Plaza and so forth. So this reenactment took place on April 19th, 1939. And I honestly wish I could have been there. This, this sounds pretty cool. The participating soldiers on both sides, uh, you know, they fired blanks when the rifles, they added to the realism with fireworks and by firing blanks from their 75 millimeter artillery pieces. Um, I haven't been able to find any footage of this event, but if you know of any, in any places, please let me know.

30:41I'd be really interested in looking at that. And Colonel Swing was also the grand marshal for the, uh, Fiesta's five mile long battle of the flowers parade. Um, which you can kind of see a portion of here. Now, shortly after the parade, General Kruger officially made Colonel Swing his chief of staff. And this is significant because Swing and General Kruger, um, would work together again to retake Luzon, uh, during World War II in 1945. Swing noted that General Kruger is a dedicated

31:14man, uh, and a great leader, but he, that he had a hard time thinking outside the box when it came to combat operations. Now, about a year after he became General Kruger's chief of staff, uh, Colonel Swing in November of 1940 received orders to head to El Paso's Fort Bliss, where he was given command of the 82nd horse artillery regiment. This is kind of interesting. Part of the reason that Colonel Swing was sent to the 82nd was because again, he was artillery and General Kruger felt that he, his chief of staff should be infantry. So he kind of sent Colonel Swing on his

31:52way. And, and General Swing never really talked about this, never said what he felt about this, but I kind of get the sense that he resented General Kruger's actions and why he did what he did. So out went Colonel Swing, but it all worked out for him in the end because he actually became, um, he was made 1st Cavalry Division's artillery commander. Um, this meant that Joe Swing played a major role in organizing 1st Cav's artillery units and he handpicked many of their initial senior officers and General Swing's history with 1st Cav would last, um, nearly six years and involve

32:28a good rivalry between his 11th Airborne Division and 1st Cav during the war, but we'll get to that later. Now, 1940 marked Colonel Swing's 25th year of military service, most of which was spent in the field artillery, which led to some of General Swing's officers calling him that old horse soldier. So Colonel Swing was to use a Marine's term, part of the old breed of soldiers. Um, he was highly recognized for his leadership skills and his discipline. You know, he had fought in Mexico and

33:00France and spent nearly two decades in positions of high responsibility in America's military. Um, so he was a seasoned soldier, you know, and Swing could see that the world was heading for another global conflict. Um, one that he felt would be equal to or surpass, you know, the great war, or again, what we call world war one, you know, Colonel Swing knew that Nazi Germany had already invaded France, central Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa. And then he also knew that Imperial Japan was moving all throughout Asia, um, and French, you know, into China and French, Indochina, um, and,

33:36and Imperial Japan. He could see that it was obviously, they were planning to expand their sphere of influence. You know, as the saying goes, the writing was on the wall. So Lieutenant Colonel Swing, uh, stayed with first Cav at Fort Bliss for just under two years. Uh, and during which he was made full bird Colonel on, uh, June 26th, 1941, albeit temporarily. And this was a busy time for first Cav as the division saw the organization of the army's first anti-tank troop. So Colonel Swing

34:06became friends with his acting division commander, Brigadier General NSP Swift, who General Swing would meet up with and work with later on Luzon in 1945. Six months after Colonel Swing's promotion, Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Shocked and enraged, the United States was now officially at war. Two weeks later, Colonel Swing watched first Cav's eighth cavalry regiment play an

34:36exhibition football game under coach Ernie Massad. Now Captain Massad would serve under General Swing in the 11th airborne divisions, 675th glider field artillery battalion, uh, in just a couple of years actually. So I give all these little details, not to bore you with details, but just kind of show, I thought it was interesting to see how much General Swing's early career, um, would lead to connections with officers that he would serve with or would serve under him later in the 11th airborne division

35:09in World War II. Some of those officers that served under him would definitely prove their worth in combat while some others tested his patience. We'll just put it that way. Uh, a handful would actually find themselves kicked out of the 11th airborne division because they failed to measure up to General Swing's standards. And General Swing's standards were, were definitely being recognized all across the military service. Um, and on February 16th, 1942, he was advanced in rank to Brigadier General at age 47.

35:39And his promotion came two weeks after he was given orders to head to Louisiana to Camp Claiborne, uh, to join the iconic 82nd Infantry Division, the All-Americans from World War I. Now General Swing went to Louisiana at the personal request of his old West Point buddy, General Omar Bradley, um, who had asked General Swing to come organize the newly reactivated 82nd Infantry's artillery units. Again, General Bradley, uh, was more, his history was more infantry and he knew that his friend Joseph Swing was an

36:14artillery soldier. So he asked him to come over, help organize the division's artillery units. And so General Bradley actually made General Swing his division artillery commander and General Swing immediately got to work. Uh, you know, he set high expectations and he let his demands be known. And those who could not meet those expectations were transferred out of the 82nd. So I'm not really surprised, but one newspaper article described him as a hard driving West pointer, you know, General Swing repeatedly told the men in his command in the 82nd that when it comes to any artillery mission,

36:48it is the results that count. One of the general's many contributions to the 82nd artillery, um, units at the time was he oversaw the construction, um, of an artillery range there in camp, which eliminated the 60 mile, um, route that they would have to take every day to Leesville. And as one 1942 newspaper noted, a week on the range will bring out the artillery swagger at Claiborne. So General Swing was pretty busy. Um, but he did take a break from all of his duties on April 12th, 1942 to attend a special

37:24army day parade in Alexandria, Louisiana alongside generals, Walter Kruger, Oscar Gridwald and Omar Bradley. One month later, General Swing in the 82nd infantry division assembled at the camp Claiborne on May 7th, 1942, where they listened to a speech given by the legendary Sergeant Alvin York, who won the Medal of Honor in World War I. Sergeant York, who can be seen in this photo, addressed the 15,000 gathered men of his old unit in their first retreat ceremony. Sergeant York,

37:59who was actually now a major, gave the All-Americans a rousing speech and told them in his Southern drawl, freedom is not a thing that you can win once and for all. We never owned freedom. We only got a lease on it. A payment came due in 1917 and 1918. Then he told them, now another one is due. But this time we're going to make such a big payment that it will be many a year before another one is demanded of us. Now, General Omar Bradley and General Swing and the other division commanders did such a good job

38:33training their men in the 82nd to make this payment for freedom that when the War Department received records to see which division was in the best position to become airborne, the 82nd infantry was selected. On August 15th, 1942, the 82nd conducted its final parade, then listened as their new commander, Major General Matthew Ridgway, read orders stating that the 82nd infantry division was now deactivated and was thereby reactivated as the 82nd airborne division. And this is where Swing's legacy with

39:07the airborne really begins. We have to remember that General Swing had 25 years of experience in the field artillery, but the airborne, that was something still pretty new. And General Swing decided to become an expert in this new arm of war fighting. General Swing's aide to camp, Captain Douglas Quant. He said, in the inexperienced world of the early airborne, General Swing accurately foresaw its problems as well as its possibilities, and he became an outspoken advocate of division and core

39:37assaults as opposed to those of regimental and smaller size. The joint training and stationing of airborne and troop carrier units, the transfer from the airborne to the air force of the responsibility for accurate placement of the paratroopers on the ground. These were not popular views at the time, but they have long since been accepted and adopted. What a lot of airborne enthusiasts and even historians don't know is that the airborne as we know it today only exists because of General Joseph May Swing,

40:09and that is something that we will be touching on in part two of this series on General Swing's life. With his early and incredibly deep understanding of early airborne doctrines, at least in tactics, General Swing spent about three months laboring to get the 82nd Airborne Division's artillery units ready for combat. Again, he saw the writing in the wall, felt that, yes, we're going to be heading overseas very shortly, and he just did a fantastic job. While researching for my two books that came

40:45out, Volumes 1 and 2 of Down from Heaven, I came across this photo that you see here. It's rarely seen, but it's pretty historic. It is the jumping generals of the 82nd Airborne Division. On the far left, we have General Matthew Ridgway, who again was the 82nd Airborne Division's commander. And then next to him is our own General Joseph Swing, who was the 82nd's artillery commander. And then to Swing's right, we have General William Miley, who was the 82nd's assistant division commander. And General Miley had several years of jump experience at this point, so his expertise

41:20helped the 82nd tremendously in those early days. So second from the right is the jump master for the group, Major Warren Williams of the 504th Parachute Infantry, who was a parachute veteran with numerous jumps before this photo was taken. And then on the far right is 1st Lieutenant Don Faith, and this was General Ridgway's aide. And Lieutenant Faith would go on to serve as a battalion commander during the Korean War with the 32nd Infantry Regiment, and he was actually killed

41:50in action while leading his men from the front on December 1st, 1950, and he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Now, something that I came across while doing research for Volume 2 of Down from Heaven was that General Swing and General Ridgway were almost killed in these early days of the 82nd Airborne Division. So they were both riding in a glider for a test flight, and the pilot was actually future General Frederick Dent Jr. Dent piloted the glider in, and they came in at about 100 miles

42:25an hour, and the brakes failed. And they were heading right for a parked B-24 on the runway. And, you know, someone shouted, jump! And so General Swing and General Ridgway both jumped out, but they hit their heads on an external cable that was attached to the wing. So they both hit their heads and, you know, tumbled on the ground. And, you know, they were bloodied, but they got to their feet. And, you know, they actually watched Captain Dent, he managed to avoid the B-24 and the crash and so

43:01forth. So then in November of 1942, America's War Department ordered the formation of the 3rd Airborne Division in the Army. So we have the 82nd, 101st, and they decided to organize the 11th Airborne Division, which just shows you how the Army does things. 82, 101, 11, those sound like they're in order. Sure, why not? But when names were considered for command of this new division, one name kept coming up over

43:32and over and over again, and that was General Joseph May Swing. Swing was promoted to Major General, and to be honest, his new command came as no surprise to anyone who knew him. Again, General Swing's aide to camp, who was now Major Douglas Quant, he said he would actually serve as General Swing's G3 throughout World War II. But he said he thinks big and has amazing perspective, which to a large extent is derived from a great respect for an encyclopedic knowledge up to the traditions, precedents, and

44:04accomplishments of the service, as well as an accurate and infallible memory. Now, General Swing's new 11th Airborne Division was to be formed at a camp outside Hoffman, North Carolina in November of 1942. The camp didn't have a name yet, but it would become known as Camp McCall. So this began for General Swing, a tenure of service which was unique and, as far as I understand, remains a record to this day, and one that is far too frequently overlooked by airborne historians that perhaps myopically

44:37focus on William Lee or Matthew Ridgway or James Gavin. So as part of General Swing's record, just to give you an example of this, he was the division commander of one division for five consecutive years, which he activated, trained, and then led into combat, and then led during its occupation of Japan. So no other airborne commander in World War II could boast of such a resume. So in late 1942, General Swing and a handful of his staff officers traveled to Washington, D.C.

45:11to meet with General Leslie McNair, who was the commander of Army Ground Forces. You know, General McNair greeted General Swing and his staff in his office, and then they began four days of briefings and orientations. After one of those long days, General Swing presented his idea for the new 11th Airborne Division's shoulder patch, which is iconic. It's the blue shield with white wings crested around a red circle and the number 11. So in this meeting where General Swing presented his idea were Colonel Francis Farrell, his chief of staff, General Albert Pearson, his assistant division

45:48commander, and General Wyburn Brown, who was the division's artillery commander. So all the officers enthusiastically supported General Swing's concept for the new division's shoulder patch. And it's iconic. It's something that you see, and it's powerful with its history and its legacy. And I am thrilled to see it worn on our new reactivated 11th Airborne Division Arctic Angels up in Alaska now. And I hope that whenever the Arctic Angels, you know, look at their patches, they'll think at least

46:22momentarily of Major General Joseph May Swing and who he was and what he wanted that patch to symbolize in the airborne community and the service around the world. Now, the officers that were with General Swing at the time were handpicked by the generals. So they actually would become known as General Swing's royal family. And we'll get into that a little bit more in part two. And it's also covered in detail in Down from Heaven, volume two. So after finishing their four days in Washington, Swing and his earliest

46:56staff officers spent four days at Fort Hollibird, Maryland. And they were undergoing refresher courses is a good way to look at it on the operation and maintenance of the army's motorized vehicles at the time. And Swing and his staff then traveled to Aberdeen Proving Grounds for, you know, weapons orientation, after which the general and his chief of staff, Colonel Farrell, went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to select the division's original chiefs of staff. They then made their way to the new unmanned

47:27airborne camp outside Hoffman, North Carolina. And to be honest, General Swing was less than impressed. The camp was surrounded by tall Carolina pines, which are beautiful, but the place was a cold, dreary hive of construction. You know, roads were still being bulldozed. Shacks were still being tar-papered over. And a lot of the support buildings were not finished or weren't even, the construction hadn't even started yet. So Captain Lou Burris of the division's 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion,

47:58he described Camp McCall at the time as a freshly drained swamp 20 miles west of Fort Bragg. The 188th Glider Infantry Regiment's PFC Edward Hamrich, who would come to McCall a little bit later, he said, my first impression on seeing the camp was one of surprise, thinking that these tar-paper shacks must be temporary buildings while the regular buildings were put up. He then said, it did not take us long to find out otherwise. It was nice being able to see what was going on

48:30outside of the buildings without going to a window. All we had to do was look through the cracks. So what happened was the builders at this camp had used wood that was too green, so they built the buildings and then the wood would shrink, which created gaps in between the planks and the floors. And so it allowed the wind to come through and the rain. And, and, uh, you know, some of the troopers told me that they, the weeds would actually grow up through the floor. So they'd have to, you know, cut them down or, or whatever. Um, so it wasn't a great, great post. Nobody was really

49:05excited to be there. Um, and it is no wonder that a lot of the angels said they would rather be in combat than go back to Camp McCall. So things were so bad that General Swing, when he arrived, he told his assistant division commander, uh, Brigadier General Albert Pearson, he said, you call the chief of engineers in Washington right now, and you get this problem fixed right now. So the message was received. The engineers got right to work, but unfortunately their work wasn't completed. Uh, you know, when swings men began to arrive, which was really in mid February of

49:371943. And if you want to see what this camp looked like during the 11th airborne division stay at Camp McCall, um, you can watch MGM's movie, see here, private Hargrove, which was filmed on location. Now, General Swing had an additional challenge to overcome that the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions never saw. You know, they were taken from existing infantry divisions, whereas the 11th airborne division

50:07was formed new. So General Swing's new command was formed from scratch. Um, although he would be taking from a few existing regiments and battalions, um, at least to form a skeleton that he could build his new division on. So on February 25th, 1943, General Swing's 11th airborne division was officially activated by second army, though several angels said that the ceremony was rather uneventful. It was just a small luncheon whose main guest was Denver, Colorado's major general Elbridge, Jerry Chapman,

50:42who was over airborne command. But just to give you the, give you an idea of the quality of leader, the General Swing was five months after activation, um, General, General Chapman told the 11th airborne, your division, which was the first to activate at Camp McCall has set us high standard for future units, which will come here to train. So I think that's where we're going to leave General Swing's story. I know it was a lot of information, but I just, I really want to tell the story of General Joseph May Swing. You know, I've, I've looked, um, around at all the history books. I've

51:15looked at the airborne history books, you know, I've looked at the documentaries and, and, you know, all the, all the articles out there and the different periodicals and so forth. And General Swing's name is almost never mentioned. This great man deserves far more attention than he has received. As you can see, he was a highly capable leader, a disciplined soldier. Um, and, and really what kind of leader was General Swing? Well, his acting G2, Major Henry Mueller said, I suppose there are two ways to lead

51:46a division. One is to drive. The other is to lead. Both seem to work, but if you're going to drive, you've got to be awfully good, almost infallible. And General Swing was. Now, Major Mueller, who I had the privilege of interviewing, um, several times before, before he passed away a few years ago, he said that General Swing was the motion picture version of the American general. The excellence of the 11th airborne was a reflection of this capable driving leader. I hope to see you

52:18next time for part two of our series on General Joseph May Swing. If you'd like to learn more about General Swing or the 11th airborne division in World War II, I invite you to pick up a copy of one of our books, When Angels Fall, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II, and Down from Heaven, the 11th airborne division in World War II, Volumes 1 and 2. Thank you for joining me for today, and as always, Down from Heaven comes 11, airborne all the way.

53:11To learn more about the history of the 11th airborne division, please subscribe to this podcast or visit www.11thairborne.com today, or consider purchasing one of our books on the 11th airborne in World War II, When Angels Fall, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II, or Down from Heaven, The 11th Airborne Division in World War II, Volumes 1 and 2. All books are available wherever military history books are sold.