Skylar+H.+&+Kyler+H.+-+Terry+Swingholm

__Before Service__ 1. Are there any details of your family members you can give us?

2. What was your job before entering the war?

3. How was your life before entering the war?

4. Did you have any other family members in the army?

__Early Days Of Service__

5. When were you drafted?

6. How did you feel when you were drafted?

7. Where did you go for boot camp?

8. Was it hard trying to adapt to military life?

9. Were you excited to get into the armed services?

10. How hard was it to get into the military?

11. How was your first day of boot camp?

12. Where did you go to complete your specialized training?

13. Where did you sleep?

14. Can you tell us some stories about boot camp?

__Wartime Service__

15. After specialised training where did you go?

16. What was your job at Fort Wainwright?

17. Did you get to communicate with your family?

18. Did you make any new friends while you were at the fort?

19. What was the food like there?

20. Explain the conditions while in the army?

21. How was your experience at Fort Wainwright?

22. Could you describe a normal day in the army?

23. Could you describe an unusual day in the army?

24. What were the trainings like?

25. Did you fear being attacked while at Fort Wainwright?

26. Were you injured during duty?

27. If so how were you injured?

28. What was your favorite experience at fort Wainwright?

29. Were you involved in the Cold War?

30. Were you ever attacked at fort Wainwright?, Explain.

31. What medals were you awarded?

32. How did you get the good conduct medal?

33. How did you get the national defense medal?

34. How did you get the Expert Medical badge?

__After__

35. Where were you when the war ended?

36. Was it hard readjusting into civilian life?

37. Have you had any contact with your fellow veterans since the wars end?

__Reflections__ 38. How did the community react when you returned home?

39. How did your family react when you returned home?

40. How did you feel after you came back home?

41. How did war time experiences affect you?

42. Did you miss your family while you were stationed?

43. Do you regret being involved in the Vietnam War, if so explain?

44. Did you learn anything from your military services?

45. If you had the chance would you do it again?

Thank you for your service and for participating in the Veterans History Project

** __Terrance Swingholm__ **

** Highest Rank Achieved: E-5/Sergeant **


 * Mr. Terry Swingholm was born on June 27, 1949 in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. He worked at Wilbur Chocolate Company from 1967 to 1969. Many of his other family members including his dad and brother were in the army before. “Well my father, he was in WWII, in the Battle of the Bulge under Patton. And years later with another war Vietnam, my brother Charles was drafted and he went to Vietnam.” (Terry Swingholm) . He misses the days before the war, when times were more simple. “Life, umm looking back now I kind of liked that era, it was pretty simple, not complicated.”(Terry Swingholm) . He knew he would be drafted soon and wouldn’t want to get a very good job, so he decided to work at Wilbur’s Chocolate Company. So I just figured I would be drafted, so I worked at Wilbur Chocolate Company until August 67 to April 69, until I got drafted.He lived a “normal life” until he entered the war. **


 * Mr. Swingholm was drafted on April 17, 1969. He went to boot camp at Fort Dix, New Jersey, for eight weeks. It was easy for him to get in and he adapted quickly. “I think for myself it wasn’t too bad, I was scared stiff.” (Terry Swingholm). Mr. Swingholm didn't like being in the armed services, he really didn’t want to be drafted, and was very sad that it happened to him. “No, that’s the last thing I wanted to do, was get into the armed services” (Terry Swingholm). He went to Fort Sam Houston, Texas to complete his specialised training as a medic. “So that’s where I went for my advanced training, which was as a medic, and I spent ten weeks there” (Terry Swingholm) . Swingholm thought he was going to Alaska until he got a paper that said he wasn’t. “ When left there my orders were to go to Alaska, but when I got there then they stamped my order to head to Vietnam, and stay there for training.” (Terry Swingholm). He was very happy when he learned it was a mistake and he would be going to Alaska instead of Vietnam. **


 * Soon after he was finished with specialised training Terry went to Fort Wainwright, Alaska. “I was going up to Fort Wainwright Alaska, and when I got there around the 17th of November there was already this much snow on the ground up there.” (Terry Swingholm). He became an infantry medic at wainwright. As an infantry medic he would stay at the battalion aid station until an emergency occurred. “I was an infantry medic. I humped, a walk, we called it walking, since I was infantry, I’d go with the line units or at times I’d stay back with a battalion aid station in the aid station.” (Terry Swingholm). When an emergency did happened he would fly in a helicopter to the emergency and help the people who were hurt. “If not they would fly us there, in a chopper and thats what we used for a mode of transportation.” (Terry Swingholm). He had to work almost all the time there. Terry also had to prepare for inspections at Fort wainwright. He would communicate with his family by writing letters to them. “I would mainly write home.” (Terry Swingholm). He always missed his family and wished he was back home. To pass the time he would either take pictures or just look up at the sky, daydreaming about being home again. “What was my favorite experience, it was probably looking at the sky, day dreaming to be home again, but the sky’s colors change so much, in Alaska.” (Terry Swingholm). Everyday of being in the army he could only think about his family and his home. **


 * Terry Swingholm gained many medals when he was at Fort Wainwright. “Standard National Defense Ribbon, Good Conduct, Expert Medical Badge, Overseas Ribbon, and the NCO Academy Ribbon, I think thats about it.”(Terry Swingholm). He got the National Defense medal for getting into the army. “Everybody gets that, who enlists at that time or was drafted because you're in a period where there’s a conflict going on, or war, so you're in there for defending your country.” (Terry Swingholm). He got the Expert Medical Badge for going through in his medical batoon. “Well I was put into that because my, my doctor I worked for, my medical batoon, and because of a lot of things I had to do in the field with soldiers.” (Terry Swingholm). He got the Good Conduct Medal by not doing anything that would get him in any kind of trouble. “Probably staying out of trouble. Keeping my nose clean, from the whole time I was in, I never got what they call an Article 15, a minor form of punishment. I just kept my nose clean, that’s how you get a Good Conduct Medal.” (Terry Swingholm). He also gained the overseas ribbon and the NCO academy ribbon. Swingholm achieved many medals from his time at Fort Wainwright. **


 * Terry Swingholm left Fort Wainwright on April 13, 1971 and went back to Pennsylvania. When the Vietnam war ended he was already back home. “They were combined under one police department, so when the war ended I was in civilian life working as a police officer.“ (Terry Swingholm). He adjusted quickly back to civilian life, becoming a police officer after returning home. He was very happy to be back and left the war behind him, but felt a lot has changed while he was gone. “I felt relieved and I felt like I lost a couple years of my life. I was, it was totally different from when I had been drafted, and when I got home Schaefferstown was totally different. It was so, so quiet.” (Terry Swingholm). He still thinks about the war and all of his experiences at Fort Wainwright. He didn’t know some things he had until it was all taken from him. “Absolutely, like I said earlier, all I wanted to do was talk about coming home, I missed everything about being home and appreciated everything a whole lot more too.” (Terry Swingholm). Terry Swingholm was happy but felt he had lost many years of his life in the army. **

** Transcript **
 * Skylar - Mr. Terrance Swingholm was born on June 27, 1949. He served during the Vietnam war in the army, his highest rank achieved was E5. This interview is being recorded in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, the interviewers are Kyler Habecker, and Skylar Hetrick. This interview is being Conducted for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress **


 * Kyler - Are there any detail of your family members you can give us? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Well my father, he was in WWII, in the Battle of the Bulge under Patton. And years later with another war Vietnam, my brother Charles was drafted and he went to Vietnam. And 67 to 68, April 69 then I was drafted. And I went to Alaska. And in 1970 then I was in Alaska, my brother Dennis got drafted. And he went to Germany, and after he got out, my brother Jeffery just bout got drafted but the war ended. If you’re talking about the history of veterans, there it is. Years later of course, my son, enlisted in the reserves and didn’t he get deployed. He had to go off to Iraq in 2004 to 2005. So uh, its, the service has been really within this family a lot. I never thought my son would be in an outfit that one of his own uncles or dad been in, but he was in the 1st Cav division. Same as my brother Charles. Anything else you want to know a little about the family or was that what you were looking for? **


 * Kyler - Umm, like your wife or anything like your children. **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Yes my wife is Beany, sorry she couldn’t be here right now, but her mother’s ill, and she went over to see her over in a home over in Myerstown. I have uh, I have a son and a daughter from my first marriage. And she has children from her marriage too. But we are living here, just the two of us. And uh, all of our children, and grandchildren are just, pretty well in the area furthest one I think is in Chester county. But uh, anything else there? **


 * Kyler - That’s fine **


 * Skylar - Can we know what was your job before entering the war? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Mhmm, I worked at Wilbur Chocolate Company, I got out of high school in 67 and the draft was taking almost everybody when they become around 18 to 19 years of age. So I just figured I would be drafted, so I worked at Wilbur Chocolate Company until August 67 to April 69, until I got drafted. And then when I returned I went back to Wilbur Chocolate Company for another year, and then did what I really wanted to do in life, getting law enforcement. I’m done. **


 * Kyler - How was your life before entering the war? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - How was my? **


 * Kyler - Life **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Life, umm looking back now I kind of liked that era, it was pretty simple, not complicated. And hectic as it is these days. Of course you didn’t have computers, uhh iPhones, and whatever. I, I kinda liked it in the 60’s. It was a wild time in this country. And I kinda enjoyed it. There was a lot of protesting, of the war for many years of the 60’s, but it didn’t seem like here in the country the setting seemed pretty peaceful, like that thing was a 1,000 miles away, a million miles away from us. Until the day they started getting real close and Uncle Sam was knocking on our door. So I kind of liked the 60’s, it was a great time growing up, and I enjoyed it. **


 * Kyler - When were you drafted into the war? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - April 17, 1969. **


 * Skylar - How did you feel when you were drafted? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Not very good. Nobody wanted to be drafted. But I can remember the day I got my draft notice. It’s because I was living in Schaefferstown. I went to the post office and opened up my mailbox and I pulled this letter out and I could see right on the envelope it was from the draft board. And I knew what it was. Without even opening the envelope, and the tears were running down my face. And umm Robert Clauser, he was the funeral director in Schaefferstown on North Carpenter street, just three doors up where I was born and raised. And he was like the Mayor of Schaefferstown. He uh, knew about everybody. He knew almost everybody there. He knew a lot of our businesses. It was a small town so we knew each other real well. But he was like our mayor. He came walking into the post office right when I opened my mailbox, and he saw me standing there holding this envelope, with tears running down my face. And he said, “Well Terry, I see you got the big notice today, didn’t you?”, He knew. He knew just like that. So I didn’t feel too good getting that draft notice, no, not at all. I knew my life was going to change and I didn’t know if I would even be sitting here even to this day, or doing anything after that. So it was quite an impact, yup. **


 * Kyler - Where did you go for boot camp? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Fort Dix, New Jersey, at eight weeks there. **


 * Skylar - Was it hard to adapt to the military life? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - I think for myself it wasn’t too bad, I was scared stiff. But, umm, my mother and father were pretty strict with us. They were disciplinarians, and we walked a chalk line as you use to say. So we learned to take orders from a young age. And I think that really really helped not just myself, but my brothers too in the service. So I think I was adapting pretty quickly, quite well and that’s what probably helped me uhh gain rank faster too. Cause I did what I was told. I tried to do it the best of my ability so this way, these drill instructors would zero in on somebody else, and not myself. You know so, I did okay then. **


 * Kyler - Were you excited to get into the armed services? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - No, not at all. No, that’s the last thing I wanted to do, was get into the armed services. **


 * Skylar - How hard was it to get into the military? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Drafted so, it wasn’t hard at all. I was in good physical shape, I was a track star at ELCO. When my number came up, I was just plain drafted, so I didn’t have to do a thing, just wait for them to draft me. **


 * Skylar - How was your first day of boot camp? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - First day, uhh, I say it was pure Hell. From Lebanon, when we got on the bus, they took us to Cumberland, up in Harrisburg. The army depot up there, and um, we went inside the building and we got in formations. And then we had a Marine standing in front of us marching us back and forward. He was dressed A1, I mean his uniform he was really straight, um, and he told us “I don’t know if you fellows know, but the Marines are also drafting.”. And he said “Ten percent of you lucky fellows are going to be Marines before you leave this room.”. I didn’t want to be in the Army, let alone the Marines, and they’re drafting Marines. Fortunately they didn’t call my name up. They did call the name of one of the fellows standing right next to me. We were standing at attention and, I kind of look over at him, to see what kind of reaction, and tears were running down his face. Because he knew right away he has a ticket punched for Vietnam. And that was the start of it, then they loaded us on to busses and sent us down to Fort Dix. And there was somebody yelling at us on the bus, that was military, that we had our social security number, not our social security number it was our serial number that they gave to us and we had to memorize it until we got down there to Fort Dix. U.S. 51920334, as you know I still know it. Well till we got there then, I knew that number and, then the drill instructors came on that bus, and they’re yelling. And they’re screaming at us and pulling us off there, practically throwing us off that bus, and get us information and screaming at us. It just continued, it continued until we got into the barracks, whatever we did they were right in our faces. Make us do push ups, everything somebody did wrong we all suffered for. That night, I don’t know if you ever saw Full Metal Jacket, that movie when they’re marching in the barracks, have your white tee shirt, white shorts, white socks, and you have your M14 rifle, they already gave us M14 rifles and we were carrying them shoulder arms, and we were marching holding our mid section with one hand, holding our rifle with our other hand, actually saying “This is our rifle, this is our gun, this is for killing and this is for fun.”. And we had to do that just like in Full Metal Jacket. In fact when I saw the movie I thought that was us. That somebody filmed us I didn’t know about. It was real, so uh, they tore our beds apart. We would make them, Then they would tear them apart again. I will never forget that first night, and then we slept with our weapons of course. It was just, uh, God I just said, this is only the first day, and I got two years of this here. I said I don’t know if I can make this. It was very scary, it wasn’t too much fun either. **


 * Skylar - Where did you go to complete your specialized training? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - I went down to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. It’s right next to the Alamo, in fact there is an Air Force base, Lackland, and San Houston is right next to that. And San Antonio is in the center right next to the Alamo. So that’s where I went for my advanced training, which was as a medic, and I spent ten weeks there. That went from June to the beginning August. Until I came home on leave. It was very hot down there It was about 105 there everyday. And we did everything outside. it was actually getting us really use to if we had to go to Vietnam. So it was definitely hot, that’s where I had my training done. **


 * Skylar - Where did you sleep? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Down there? Or even basic we slept in barracks, in bunks. It was always a bunk bed. Somebody above you or either you’re on top. One or the other. So we had our barracks, the ones in Texas were cement block barracks. They were fairly clean, I mean, I don’t know how old they were, but we had to keep them clean. From the floors to everything, the beds made very well, standing tall, so that’s where we stayed. **


 * Skylar - Can you tell us some stories about boot camp? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Hmm, stories about boot camp. We did a lot of walking, especially basic training. Everywhere we went we were walking. And we were also learning how to march, drill in ceremony, and we were singing cadences. When we got out to the range it was always sandy, lots and lots of sand. And I think they did this deliberately, to march us thru this heavy sand, and I guess this was deliberate, because you’d carry heavy packs, it’d get you in shape, your legs and everything, for when you were in combat. You’d learn to carry heavy loads and you’d learn to run through either it was sand or mud or something that was very hard to go through. With heavy equipment that you’d have to carry. I just remember it was a lot of walking with a lot of weight all the time. No matter where you went. What else about boot camp, I can remember. I think it’s just a lot I just wanted to forget, somebody is always in your face, yelling at you. If you were not like I said “Top Notch”, or not that good of a soldier they were going to make you a good soldier. One fellow, he was so skinny, I was skinny but he was even skinnier than I was. His helmet was rocking on his head he was that skinny, and he couldn’t do anything right. And they were always on him, and at that time they could physically hit you, kick you, whatever. And they did this fellow quite a bit. But the way I figured it if they don’t build him up and send him to Vietnam, he will never make it. I mean I don’t think I would ever make it, but he must have done something right because later I found out that he did go to Vietnam, and he saved a bunch of officers when a helicopter went down, and he got highly decorated for it. So it works, it works. To even know you get so mad at these drill instructors for what they do to you, but they are just tearing you down and building you back up to be a good soldier to save your buddy, yourself, and everybody else. I remember that too. There are probably a bunch of other things that I can’t think of at the moment. **


 * Skylar - After specialized training where’d you go? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Well after that I came home for a couple of weeks, and then they sent me to Alaska. They flew me from Harrisburg, out to Fort Lewis, Washington state. And I spent a couple day’s there getting processed for overseas, getting some of my equipment for overseas. In fact there I almost ended up going to Vietnam. They said after AIT, or Advanced Infantry Training, which is my Medical Training down in Texas. When left there my orders were to go to Alaska, but when I got there then they stamped my order to head to Vietnam, and stay there for training. So I thought they changed their minds, and now I am going to Vietnam instead of Alaska. But I guess I did a very smart thing to do at the time, I questioned it. I was very scared to do it, but I went back to the beginning of this processing line, and I gave that sergeant my orders, and asked him if this was correct. Then he saw these big letters stamped on my paper, and I said “What is RVT” Republic of Vietnam Training. So I figured I am going, and he said did you ever have it. And I said “Yes in basic” no no no not in basic, here. Before you’re over country, and he said did you ever have it. No, well then you need it. He was yelling at me, he’s not being really nice. As he is yelling at me, I said well sergeant I thought my orders were to go to Alaska. Alaska? What are you talking about? He whips through the papers and is looking, and he sees that and he crosses out the RVT, and gives me the paper and says go to that line. And then that’s when I figured out I was going back to Alaska, this happened, it happened to others not just me. They ended up going to places where they aren’t suppose to be going. I was going up to Fort Wainwright Alaska, and when I got there around the 17th of November there was already this much snow on the ground up there. It was fairly cold. **


 * Skylar- What was your job at Fort Wainwright? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - I was an infantry medic. I humped, a walk, we called it walking, since I was infantry, I’d go with the line units or at times I’d stay back with a battalion aid station in the aid station. If there were any casualties of some sort, we would get on the chopper and fly out there. We also had an ambulance, and it was some field evidence, and it was in driving distance, within a few hundred miles, we would drive there. If not they would fly us there, in a chopper and thats what we used for a mode of transportation. That’s what we used to get guys out of the field that were hurt. **


 * Skylar - Did you get to communicate with your family? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Yes, up there back at the barracks at Fort Wainwright, I could call home or collect whatever you call it. It wasn’t like today, it costed quite a bit to call. So I limited my calls, I would mainly write home. Infact I might still have a big box of letter in the attic that my mother saved for me. So some day probably after I retire, this coming summer I would like to go through those letters and save some of them, and probably throw the rest away. **


 * Skylar - Did you make any new friends while you were at the fort? **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Well of course the fellows I served with I made friends with. And I met an eskimo. Believe it or not. Up in Nome Alaska, we were on a field project up there and I met this young lady, and we hit it off pretty good. Decided maybe we might see each other because she was going to the University of Alaska, which was outside of Fairbanks, where our fort was. So when I came back from that field project I went to the university to see her. That was in November of 70, and I dated her what I could you know. Being in the service up there. I dated her a few times until April of 71 until I got out. I got in a plane and waved to her and done. I mean I really hated it. But I had to make up my mind if I really wanted to stay up there, or come back. And I kinda would have liked to do it, but it was too far from my home. All my roots are here, so I decided just to move on, and I had to let her go. Fortunately it wasn’t a really really close relationship, like I dated her every week. It would have been even harder for me to say goodbye to her then. **


 * Kyler - Explain the conditions while in the army. **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Explain the conditions of the army? **


 * Kyler - Well, in the army. **


 * Mr. Swingholm - Hmm, explain the conditions. That’s pretty open, ohh, well everything is very well regimented. Everything you do. The day starts always early, it’s always a long day. Yeah, I don’t know what else to say here. You got to wear a uniform and you gotta be up to their standards. There is lots of inspections, not just you and your uniform but there is also inspections of equipment. There are different levels of inspections. There are different kinds of inspections. An IG Inspecting General, an IG inspection are your biggest. **


 * Swingholm: So you always have to keep busy. Do your job plus keeping everything up to standards. So you do your equipment, because the day comes that it’s announced, a IG inspection. It won't be as hard to catch up on things that need to be taken care of, not like what happened with us one year, up there in Alaska, I came back from the NCO which is the commission officer academy, after four weeks, and that was like pure H for four weeks, and I come back, and I had hardly slept every night, for the four weeks, and I came back to the them three days before an IG inspection, and it was chaos, back in my barracks at Fort Wainwrigh. I mean everybody was going crazy working 24/7 to try to get everything caught up and up to stuff **
 * when the general shows up three days later, so I didn’t, have enough sleep for four weeks. Now I don’t sleep for three days solid, 72 hours, no sleep. Its just trying to get everything taken care of with the barracks. New fresh paint job, clothing, mended if it had tears or any patches sewn on, everything must meet standards, and the army has many books of regulations. I’ll never forget that, so they got lots of, lots of regs, but you had to follow time, and I could tell you more about the IG inspection, that morning of the IG inspection I passed out and my roomate passed out, they had to actually get us up. They almost dressed us we were so exhausted, I was out of uniform cause my uniform I turned in when I came back from the NCO academy, and it had to get cleaned and it wasn’t back in time, so I had to wear I’d say my summer uniform versus everybody wearing their winter uniform, and the inspection general saw this when he came up to me, and he asked me why I was out of uniform, and everybody else behind him of lower rank was ready to jump over me, and really chew me out in front of everybody because I was out of uniform. Then I just smartly adressed him and I told him sir, I just came back from the NCO academy, turned my uniform in for cleaning, and it hasn’t come back yet, and when he heard that, that saved, it saved me and it saved the medical batoon. He was so proud of that academy that I had just came through, It was right across the street from where he was housed with all the generals, and high ranking officers and they were very proud of that NCO academy, **
 * because it always was standing tall, so I was like forgave, its okay soldier, so your out of uniform, but we understand it still looks good on you, the one you have on now, and he didn’t even bother he hardly inspected the rest of the medical batoon because I went through that academy, so I learned something from that, but they have rigid standards you have to follow, or there can be consequences, hopefully that answers most of what you're looking for there. **


 * Kyler: What was a normal day in the army? **


 * Swingholm: Normal day. Probably a normal day is bitching about the army, wishing we were home, we never had anything to say good about the army, and that’s every day. I think every day after drafted you don’t want to be there, no matter where you're at, so It was always complaining about being in the service and wishing we were home, We did our jobs, whatever it may be, but we always complain, that’s about it. **


 * Kyler: Could you describe an unusual day in the army? **


 * Swingholm: Unusual day. Gosh, yeah, they can happen, quite a bit, I say that because a lot of things to me as a young man, was very unusual. Some of the things you get into. Which you never experience in your whole life, so for your question something that, I got into that was unusual, well I’d say I was a medic rescuing a fellow that was, fell, he was on a mountain, learning how to climb on the marne, which was the glaciers pushing rock, and he slipped on all this loose rock, and fell pretty far, and we thought he may have broken his back, so with the helicopter we flew out there to get this fellow off the mountain, the mountain’s just so high that the air was thin and the helicopter couldn’t get up high enough, and beside there was so steep, we didn’t want the rotors of the helicopter, to hit the side of the mountain so we had to find a place that jetted out enough so the rotors wouldn’t hit the mountain but we could get close enough to get him on to the chopper, so that was different to me, I mean I’m the lead medic jumping off the side of a helicopter onto a mountain going straight up and down, then I had to go up the mountain and I could hardly breathe cause the air was so thin, In fact, I used a radio and told em, the guys are already up there, spread their guys down because gravity will help them pull him down to me and then they can hand this basket with the fellow in it down till he gets to me and we get him on the helicopter, but we got him on, and it took awhile till the helicopter could get in there so whats different to me is that I literally had to jump onto that helicopter and I kind of missed, I got ahold of the skids and I’m hanging on the skids of the helicopter, while the’re holding my arms, and the helicopter is taking off, and I'm hanging on the outside, but the gravity helped and them holding my arms helped pull me into the helicopter so I wouldn’t fall to my death, did I ever had a brown spot in my pants that day, so and theres other things too that happened that were just eye opening, something unusual, something maybe terrifying or scary, this, this happened quite a bit, you just never know what you're going to get into, like my present job as a police officer, for so many years, each day was different, you just didn’t know what was ahead of it, you know. **


 * Kyler: Did you ever fear being attacked at Fort Wainwright ? **


 * Swingholm: No, no, why, I could I tell you I feared we weren't because it was so, so cold up there. I said who in their right mind would ever want to attack us up here in this frigid cold weather, it’s the cold thats going to take your life if anything. I don’t think there’s anyone crazy enough that would want to fight a war here, I mean it was bitter, bitter cold. In fact we were in the, the one winter was the coldest winter, as far as I found out in the recorded history of Alaska, and I know we were out in the field and that’s what we did, in infantry route all the time during the winter, learning how to survive anything, and the one day we were out there the ambient temperature was 75 below 0, and then for a few days it was windy and took it down to 123 bellow 0, I had frostbite from it, I go to the VA for that, but yeah I never feared that we were gonna get attacked, because like I said, I don’t think anybody would be crazy enough to, fight a war, in such cold, cold weather, it’s just, it’s, you could not imagine how cold it is, it’s cold. **


 * Kyler: What was your favorite experience at Fort Wainwright? **


 * Swingholm: What was my favorite experience, it was probably looking at the sky, day dreaming to be home again, but the sky’s colors change so much, in Alaska. I thought here I’m a teenager, 19 years old, like I said I think the sky, really I it just changed colors and so beautiful, I took lots of pictures in the sky, all the time, and my barracks when I was back to the barracks, I just snapped pictures, When I write home I told my mother and friend how the sky changes colors, all the time, it’s different up here, it’s beautiful, so with the sky of course you have the northern lights too, the northern lights were like almost every night it seemed like when it was really cold, it would just move across the sky, it was awesome, it was really awesome, if you see them on television, that’s what I saw almost every night in the winter time, so I thought that was pretty neat when I was there at Fort Wainwright. They went with the sky, and the ice fog, in the sky, ice fog is like fog we have here, but it is so dense, that even smog, smog can’t get up through it, it’s that dense, and when you breathe it, it freezes up your nostrils, so everything dealt with the sky up there, because of the bitter cold it was definitely different, look in the sky at night time, when it was clear the stars just seem like you could jump up and touch them. They were so much bigger than the stars around here. It was because up there in Alaska and the higher altitudes, the stars seemed so big, so that’s the part I like about being in Wainwright, just seeing, looking up at the sky and seeing everything that has to deal with it. **


 * Kyler: What medals were you awarded? **


 * Swingholm: Standard National Defense Ribbon, Good Conduct, Expert Medical Badge, Overseas Ribbon, and the NCO Academy Ribbon, I think thats about it. **


 * Kyler: How did you get the Good Conduct Medal? **


 * Swingholm: Probably staying out of trouble. Keeping my nose clean, from the whole time I was in, I never got what they call an Article 15, a minor form of punishment. I just kept my nose clean, that’s how you get a Good Conduct Medal. **


 * Kyler: How did you get the National Defense Medal? **


 * Swingholm: Everybody gets that, who enlists at that time or was drafted because you're in a period where there’s a conflict going on, or war, so you're in there for defending your country. Thats why it is called the national defense ribbon. **


 * Kyler: And how did you get the Expert Medical Badge? **


 * Swingholm: Well I was put into that because my, my doctor I worked for, my medical batoon, and because of a lot of things I had to do in the field with soldiers, and they also had testing, back at the barracks they had days of testing of different things we had to physically maybe bandage somebody and show that you know how to do this, not just out in the field but actually testing, they put you at the barracks in a different mode there, so between the barracks line testing and out in the field actually putting into practice, my commanding officer from my medical batoon, put me into it, there was only a few open spots left in our medical batoon. **


 * Kyler: Were you involved in the cold war? **


 * Swingholm: You could say, yes I was, I mean after I got out, I went back in ten years later so I was serving during the time of the cold war in the National Guard, and then I went into reserves, I guess. **


 * Kyler: Where were you when the war ended? **


 * Swingholm: In Vietnam? **


 * Kyler: Yeah **


 * Swingholm: 75, I was home. I was a civilian then, i'm trying to think I was Middle Creek, Richland, Regional Police Department. I was working then, just go over the hill is Richland, Middle Creek township. They were combined under one police department, so when the war ended I was in civilian life working as a police officer. **


 * Kyler: Was it hard readjusting into civilian life? **


 * Swingholm: no, for me the only part was I remember I got out in April and in June I was at Rehobeth Beach and I was on the beach in the hot sun, and my body was used to at that time cold temperatures. I could hardly breathe, I was sweating so bad I had water droplets on my skin the size of half dollars because it freaked me out, I’ve never seen anything like that before, it’s because my body was acclimated to colder temperatures now, not the hot, so it took me several months until, in fact I got sick three times within six months. That was the bad part, Medically speaking I was fine, I was happy. I was out of the service, but my body physically had to adjust from the cold climate to present climate, whatever we have around here, that was the worst thing. **


 * Kyler: Have you had any contact with your fellow veterans after the war? **


 * Swingholm: no, no I tried to make contact with my friend there Mike Primer. And when I finally did track him down, and sent an email, to where, where I thought he was living, he had been living there, but he had been killed in a car accident, his, his wife got back to me and told me what had happened, so he was the closest to me, after that I didn’t try again to seek anybody else out, no. **


 * Kyler: How did the community react when you returned home? **


 * Swingholm: Schaefferstown, I didn’t think they would be like bigger cities where they frowned upon you or spit at you or anything like that, but I wanted to get out of uniform, and when I got home I got out of uniform real quick, I got my sadies on so basically nobody out there that didn’t know me would know I was even in the service, so I just got out of uniform as quickly as possible. **


 * Kyler: How did you feel when you came back home? **


 * Swingholm: I felt relieved and I felt like I lost a couple years of my life. I was, it was totally different from when I had been drafted, and when I got home Schaefferstown was totally different. It was so, so quiet. I couldn’t believe thinking that I’d ever make it through my time being drafted, and here I am, I’m home I just start thinking that, who didn’t come home who didn’t make it? who was still in, Where were they at? There was no one I could really ask, you know at that time. I think I went up to the Franklin House in Schaefferstown, just to sit there and reminisce, and it was just so quiet, it was just totally different, I guess it was kind of like I wanted to stay by myself, and just think about this for awhile . I just felt alone for awhile, but I got kicked out pretty quickly because my brother, younger brother came up and said this young lady I had met a few months before I got out, she wanted to see me and, so I got out of my stupor and went off to see her and how she was doing then. Thats how I initially felt when I got out. **


 * Kyler: How did wartime experiences affect you? **


 * Swingholm: Well, fortunately I didn’t have to go to Vietnam, so I was in Alaska, but I think about it every day, even to this day because of losing a cousin, losing a friend, losing buddies, cause we all got sent different places, so I can just imagine how the fellows that went over to Vietnam, lost lots of friends feel, and I feel the way I feel. They must feel really terrible, and I can understand why they are suffering from PTSD. Sometimes I think I am too in my own way, but, yeah that’s about it. **


 * Kyler: Did you miss your family while you were stationed? **


 * Swingholm: Absolutely, like I said earlier, all I wanted to do was talk about coming home, I missed everything about being home and appreciated everything a whole lot more too, in fact, I was a very picky eater. When I got home I wasn’t picky anymore. I appreciated everything so much it was just unbelievable, so it changed my whole outlook, it probably made me a much better person to. Its like my dad said, wait till the army get ya. He never knew there would be a vietnam, and he never knew we would be serving. He said you’ll learn the hard way then, but three of the four of us got drafted, and we kind of learned the hard way, so it made better persons out of us so, it did. **


 * Kyler: Do you regret being in the Vietnam war, if so explain? **


 * Swingholm: Well yeah I was involved with it, I was drafted for that reason, but they also had our forces, basically around the world so we also had to replace those people that were getting short, like in Panama, Germany, Alaska, or even state side, and other places too, it’s just fortunate like I said when at Fort Lewis they changed my form Alaska to Vietnam and then they changed them back again, and I wound up, 17 of us wound up in Alaska to replace the soldiers up there that were getting short, within that brigade that I got assigned to. **


 * Kyler: Did you learn anything from your military services? **


 * Swingholm: Yes, I learned a lot, In fact, my dad told me that too, He says if you ever have to go into service, keep your eyes and your ears open and your mouth shut, and I really learned that right from the very get go in the service. The guys who didn’t keep their eyes and ears open and their mouth shut, they payed dearly, so that kind of stuck with me for the rest of my life, for the most part but then again I fall short, and I do have a big mouth at times, but it, it help, and I keep thinking about that, it’s better just to listen, you know, and keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut, listen first and then evaluate, what ever it might be before you say something about anything. **


 * Kyler: If you had the chance would you do it again? **


 * Swingholm; Well, I did go back in, in the reserves ten years later, and I served for six years, I was telling you earlier I got commissioned officer then, but things still weren’t quite the way they should have been. They were relying too much on people like myself, since we were prior service, to lead those that were new, but they were throwing me in a position where I didn’t have experience, and they would just take advantage that I was a prior service member, and not what type of experience I had for what they wanted to give me to do. Thats why I got out, that I resigned my commision to get out, but if there hadn’t been a war going on at the time I would’ve taken them up on going to West Point, and there were five of us asked in basic training, if we wanted to go to West Point, and it was quite an honor to be asked at that time, I didn’t know how much it was until later in years, and I did like I said go to college later on, but if there hadn’t been a war at the time I probably would have taken him up on that and made a career, but with vietnam I said no, right in the middle there, like I said no war I would’ve done it. **


 * Kyler: Thank you for your service and for participating in the Veterans History Project. **


 * Swingholm: Oh you’re quite welcome **


 * Kyler: Could you explain the picture **


 * Swingholm: Yes, yeah I can explain this, I framed this picture because the young fellas here were asking me if I had any buddies. I have tried to keep in touch with, well for the most part I did not but, I always wanted to get in touch with my friend here Mike Primer. This is me on the side, you probably don’t recognize me, since I was so young, 19, about 20 I guess here, and Mike Primer from California. He was a very close friend of mine, and, I brought this picture home with me, then later in years my ex-boss, who I sent a Christmas card to, the one Christmas I was up in Alaska, he gave it back to me later in life, and I thought, well I’m gonna frame this with the picture of my friend here, the both of us. This here is a card showing what it would look like, in my attire with an M14 or an M-16 we had both and in my field jacket the hood, and there’s out patch. This is our patch right there, and the snow capped mountains with the northern lights in yellow, spirit for the soldiers,Infantry, that signifies that, and this was the 171st Infantry Brigade, 6th battalion, 9th infantry, at Fort wainwright in Alaska. **