Memories of John Willard (Jack) Swanson Jr.
By Jack Phillips
Germany
I first met John Willard Swanson, better knows as Jack, when he greeted me at Ramstein AB, Germany, in January 1965. I had been assigned to the 9th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem AB and Jack was designated as my “sponsor”. This meant he was responsible for showing me around and helping me get settled. We became better acquainted on the nighttime drive back to Spang and he got me checked into the BOQ. The next few days he helped me with checking in and finding housing for my family. Meanwhile, he and Phyllis had me over to dinner several times a week and made me one of their family. Since Jack and I were in the same flight in the same squadron we flew together a lot.
My family and I had a great two years in Germany and really enjoyed socializing with the Swanson family.
Thailand
I volunteered for Southeast Asia flying the F-105 rather than wait another year and then be sent to fly the F-4, a new aircraft, which I knew little about. I don't remember if Jack had a choice, but we both headed to Korat RTAFB, Thailand, with Jack preceding me by a month or so.
As it turned out we were both assigned to the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron.
This was our "hootch" - Jack's room was the far left one and mine was next to it.
The following dated items were confirmed from letters I wrote to my wife.
| January 28, 1967 | I arrived at Korat and there was Jack to meet me again. We were not only assigned to the same squadron, but we had side by side rooms too. We were destined to fly many missions together. |
| February 4 | Jack and I talked for a couple of hours about everything (and put away a few beers). Jack said he's thinking of getting out of the Air Force. Phyllis said she would like that. That came as a surprise to me. Sounds like they have a pretty nice home and if he decides to get out they will probably live there and buy it. |
| February 18 | Jack talked me into heading over to the club and joining the poker game; he knew I always enjoyed the game. We played until midnight; I did fairly well, but it wasn't Jack's night. |
| March 25 | Jack was put in the hospital today. They had a floor show at the club last night where some professional dancers did the limbo; then they had some guys from the audience try it and Jack strained his back. He could hardly move today. I took some things up to him and naturally gave him a hard time about those antics. |
| April 11 | I got to fly and log a "counter" today after Jack's airplane developed a problem just prior to takeoff. I was the spare aircraft. We always kid each other over such things and I thanked him for my counter. |
| May 12 | I led a mission to the Ha Dong Army Barracks, about 2 miles west of Hanoi and it was really bad! They fired more SAMs then I’ve ever heard of before and the flak was unbelievable! Jack was my wingman and got hit, but brought the airplane home okay. |
| June 14 | I was scheduled as #3 for a package six mission (near Hanoi), but ended up leading after the leader, Jack, aborted on the runway. The weather was too bad up North so we diverted to a site in package one. Got counter number 71 without even being shot at, for a change. So once again I thanked Jack; good thing he had a sense of humor. |
Tony Gardecki on the left, Carl McKenzie, the squadron operations officer & my room mate, and Jack Swanson having a Mexican dinner at the hootch. All of us served together at Spangdahlem.
The Last Mission - June 15, 1967
I didn't fly the day Jack was lost, but knew the details.
He was number four in a four-ship flight on a strike of the Dong Khe railroad siding in Route Package 3 (North Vietnam) with the call sign of Goose 4. Other members of the flight were: LtCol Mervin M. Taylor, Major Paul F. Koeltzow, and Captain David C. Carter. While making the attack he sustained a hit from 37-mm anti-aircraft fire. The procedure was to head for the water since rescue there was more likely than on land. The aircraft was barely controllable, but he did manage to get offshore a ways. By the time he could eject the aircraft had entered an uncontrollable dive and gained a lot of airspeed. He was able to eject, but when the wingman circled around and checked the chute it was empty. Evidently the high-speed ejection had somehow thrown Jack out of the chute. I never knew of any of the straps to fail and anything else is only a guess. This was the only case I ever heard of where someone came out of the parachute. A rescue attempt was made, but nothing was found.
The Official Report
“The flight took off from Korat at 06:36 and Captain Swanson was shot down at 07:59. On roll in on target, number 4 (Captain Swanson) called, 'Four is hit,' then 'Goose 4 is hit.' He leveled off and headed out to sea with number 3 following. Number 3 urged him to stay with the aircraft. Approximately two miles out to sea, Captain Swanson's aircraft nosed down, and number 3 called him to get out. Captain Swanson ejected and a chute was observed and beeper signals were heard. Number 3 circled and returned. The chute was in the water and was gradually sinking by the time number 3 returned to the area. Number 3 made two low passes over the area but did not observe number 4 in the water. Several small boats were in the area at the time of ejection. Number 3 was not certain how close the boats were at the time the chute hit the water. Upon his return after a turning maneuver, the boats were heading away from the chute at a distance of from one-half to one mile. Since Captain Swanson could not be located in the water and hostile mortar fire from the shore was being directed toward search and rescue (SAR) aircraft, SAR efforts were terminated at 0945 hours."
A rescue report described the joint Navy/USAF search efforts for Captain Swanson.
"The search objective is for the pilot of an F-105, who was downed due to hostile action, approximately 4 miles at sea south of the North Vietnam coastal village of Dang Xuam, 145 miles north of the DMZ. An HC-130 of the 39 squadron was alerted at 0053Z by the F-105 flight leader to coordinate with Navy SAR (search and rescue). A parachute and helmet liner was sighted. A Navy helicopter lowered a swimmer into the water, but the chute sank prior to the swimmer being able to determine if the pilot had gotten out of the chute. Search suspended at 0245Z by the Navy. Negative sighting of pilot, negative leads. There were several boats in the area, which a Navy helicopter looked over. Pilot is not believed to be aboard small craft. Hostile mortar fire from shore hampered the search.”
Epilog
I wanted to tell the family what I knew at the time, but it was strictly against the rules. The Air Force at that time didn't want anything but the official version given to the family. In many ways this was good since the family still received pay until a final determination was made, but it also resulted in uncertainty and left families in limbo for years.
I wrote the citation and submitted the paper work for an award of the Silver Star for gallantry in action, but I never found out if it was approved.
Jack was a good man, a fine officer and an excellent pilot. We enjoyed many good times together and shared some hair-raising moments on difficult missions. He was one of the best.
More information about the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron can be found on the web site I created to honor that period of time.
Jack is memorialized on the Honor Roll.