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https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/worldwar_oh/21/

Biographical Information: Russell Leroy Swearingen was born June 27, 1914 in Groton, South Dakota to William and Cora (Carper) Swearingen. After moving to the Brainerd area and joining the National Guard, he married Eleanore Hilda Palmer on June 30, 1939, with whom he would have three children. He trained at Camp Ripley with the 34th Divisional Tank Company of the Minnesota National Guard from Brainerd before his unit was federalized in January 1941, becoming Company A of the 194th Tank Battalion. After training at Fort Lewis, they were sent to defend Clark Air Base in the Philippines as part of the Provisional Tank Group. As a staff sergeant and chief mechanic in the battalion Headquarters Company, he helped coordinate the withdrawal of American forces down the Bataan Peninsula when Japanese forces invaded the islands. Captured alongside most of the American forces, he became a prisoner of war and survived the Bataan Death March. He mustered out as a first lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Star. He worked as an electrician after the war and was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 292 of Minneapolis, the American Legion of Deerwood, and the VFW of Brainerd. He passed away on October 23, 2001, and is buried next to Eleanore at Lakewood Cemetery in Crosby, Minnesota.

Transcript Summary: Russell Swearingen discussed his World War II service as a chief mechanic and prisoner of war in the Philippines. He briefly described his training in the 34th Divisional Tank Company of the Minnesota National Guard from Brainerd, with which he served in the Philippines during World War II when it was federalized as part of the 194th Tank Battalion. The bulk of the first half of the interview focuses on the Battle of Bataan and the events leading up to it. Swearingen described the roles he played as a staff sergeant and chief mechanic in the Headquarters Company of the 194th, which included helping coordinate the withdrawal of American tanks down the Bataan Peninsula. The second half focused on his experiences as a prisoner of war following the American surrender on Bataan. As a survivor of the Bataan Death March, Swearingen described the conditions he and other POWs faced, including inadequate food and water, disease, and brutal punishment by Japanese guards. He also describes his final liberation from Japan at the end of the war and the ways in which being a POW affected him and others, psychologically and physically, including a stress-induced ulcer he developed that the Veterans Affairs hospital had failed to diagnose.

Interview by David Overy

Two 90 minute audio cassettes

Mrs. Lottie Swanson interviewed by Dean Nelson https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/wpabio/1280

Husband Harry Swanson

https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/gen_oh/16 [13667]

Biographical Information: Edwin O. Swanson was a storekeeper, farmer, and community leader in Freedhem, MN. He was born on August 8, 1903 in Freedhem to Alfred and Anna Swanson. Swanson was one of six children—two boys and four girls. Swanson established the Freedhem Telephone Co. and was the first chairman of the Board of the Consolidated Telephone Co. of Brainerd for 30 years. In addition, Swanson served as Belle Prairie Township Clerk for 23 years, Belle Prairie Fire Department treasurer, Freedhem Cemetery Board as secretary, treasurer and maintenance and member of School District 89 Board, Freedhem Creamery Board, and Bethel Lutheran Church. On June 12, 1929, Swanson married Elvira Johnson and they had one son. Swanson died on August 13, 1985 and buried in the Freedhem Cemetery.

Transcript Summary: In an interview conducted on May 15, 1978, Swanson discussed the growth of the town of Freedhem, the various ethnic identities of the town’s inhabitants over time, his family history; the history of the town’s churches, the town’s first mail and telephone systems, and business and farming practices in the early 1900s. Around 1898, his parents immigrated from Sweden to pursue economic opportunities, rather than escape religious oppression, and established the Lutheran church in town. In 1902, Swanson’s father and one of his older sons opened a general store in Freedhem and sold groceries, clothing, and hardware to the local farmers. The family also farmed 80 acres of land. Swanson’s mother died in 1911 and his father died in 1914. An uncle, who previously had come from Sweden to be a cook for the family, cared for the children. All of the children assisted with the running of the family’s small dairy farm, the general store, and a community co-op creamery. In 1929, Swanson married and began farming on his own. He discussed the dire Great Depression era conditions, their impact on farming, and government subsidies for agriculture. He ceased farming and purchased the family’s general store in 1943, when his uncle could no longer run it. Swanson sold the store in 1974, due in part to advanced age and competition from JC Penney, but he continued to work there until his death. Swanson also chronicled establishing the Freedhem Rural Telephone Company in the early 1930s and discussed its growth over time. It was still in operation at the time of the interview.

Interviewed by Calvin Gower and John Ladoux

One tape

Husband Mitchel J. Swan