John Stanley Lee Swarts was born and raised in Wright City, Missouri in February 1925. He had a brother and three sisters. After graduating high school, he enlisted and was accepted in the Air Corps [Annotator's Note: United States Army Air Corps]. He took his basic training at Buckley Field, Colorado [Annotator's Note: now Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado] where he learned the fundamentals of flying. As the war progressed, they needed more men over in Europe. Swarts was offered the opportunity to go to gunnery school and took it. He went to Kingman, Arizona [Annotator's Note: Kingman Army Airfield] where he completed the aerial gunnery school. He then was organized into a crew. They received orders to fly a plane overseas to RAF Peterborough [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Peterborough] in Polebrook, England, making one stop in Iceland. They began gearing up for the D-Day [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France landings 6 June 1944] mission. Swarts did not participate in D-Day, but some of his crew members did. They missed their target due to the weather and could not drop the bombs. His crew then began to go on missions regularly. On his seventh mission, Swarts was wounded when a burst of flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] sent a piece of shrapnel through the bubble of his tail gun position and hit his eye. He did not fly anymore missions until his eye healed. His crew flew the next mission without him. They were hit by flak and exploded before anyone could get out. Swarts was selected to return to the United States to train on B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] in California. His training came to an end when massive forest fires broke out in Northern California. He and the other airmen training with him were sent to fight the fires. By the time they had gotten the fires under control, the war was over. At the end of World War 2, Swarts was sent to Camp Rupert, Idaho where was assigned to oversee cold storage. At Camp Rupert there were several German POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] who were finishing out their terms. Several of the Germans had been bakers or owned restaurants back in Germany before the war. They would frequently cook for Swarts. He got along well with them. Swarts was discharged and returned home. He enlisted in the National Guard for three years.

During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], John Stanley Lee Swarts' father owned a gas station. His family grew a large garden which provided additional income. Swarts would help his dad after school. He did that until he graduated. He played several sports. Swarts got a map to find out where Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] was located after the Japanese attacked it in December 1941 [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941]. He and his schoolmates were ready to join the military and fight for their country. He also thought of it as an adventure and a way to get away from the routine of home life. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings at 0:13:53.000.] Swarts enlisted in the Army Air Corps after he passed the qualify tests in late 1943. He took his basic training to be a pilot at Buckley Field, Colorado [Annotator's Note: now Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado] where he learned the fundamentals of flying. He learned to fly AT-6s [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. By the time he completed basic, however, the Air Force decided that it had enough pilots. Swarts was offered the opportunity to go to gunnery school. He went to Kingman, Arizona [Annotator's Note: Kingman Army Airfield] for aerial gunnery school. The planes towing the targets were flown by women. He was glad that women wanted to help in the war effort. They also could intermingle so Swarts thought it made training even better. Swarts was then sent to Denver, Colorado where he met his crew and became part of the 511th Bombardment Squadron, 351st Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. He spent about a month training with them as a tail gunner. During that time, planes crashed killing several crews. In the Spring of 1944, Swarts and his crew received orders to fly a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] overseas to Peterborough Airfield [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Peterborough] in Polebrook, England with Clark Gable's [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Major William Clark Gable; American actor] group [Annotator's Note: 303rd Bombardment Group, and then the 351st Bombardment Group]. Swarts' first combat mission was a milk run [Annotator's Note: slang term used by American airmen to describe an easy combat mission].

John Stanley Lee Swarts and his crew received orders to fly overseas to England, making one stop in Iceland. They reached the air base [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Peterborough, Polebrook, England] where they lowered the British flag and then raised the American flag. There were a lot of workers on the base, and it made him wonder how many spies could be present. There were people working in the fields, pulling weeds, cutting the grass, and washing their laundry. They stored all their clothes and equipment in their locker. The English people received the Americans well. Some of the Englishmen did not care for the Americans because they would steal the girls and had more money than they did. Many of the English girls were hoping to meet a guy that would take them back the America. The British men and American men would fight over girls. Many families invited the Americans to stay in their homes and did not care if men made advances on their daughters. Swarts felt sorry for the British because their country was destroyed by bombing. He remembers running into air raid shelters all the time while he was on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He lived in barracks on base. They named their plane "Pugnacious Ball". When they were not on missions, they would exercise, play sports, or go to town. They would often take bicycles to town, or girls would come by the base and watch movies with them. Sometimes they made trips to London [Annotator's Note: London, England] when they had a three-day pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. His first mission was to bomb an ammunition dump in France.

John Stanley Lee Swarts and his crew would be briefed the day before and the morning of a mission. They would go over the area of the target and the logistics. Swarts recalls listening to Axis Sally [Annotator's Note: Mildred Elizabeth Gillars] on the radio while flying on his missions. Many of his missions were long when they headed to Germany. The hardest mission was over Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. The enemy planes would give them resistance along with flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. The Americans always had escorts to help keep the Germans off them. They often returned to base with hundreds of holes in the plane. One time, the tail section was shot up but, luckily, he was not injured. Swarts was a tail gunner and he had to be ready for fire coming up from below. When he was not on a mission, he would wait around to see which planes returned to base. On his seventh mission, Swarts was wounded when a burst of flak sent a piece of shrapnel through the bubble of his tail gun position and bruised his eye. After returning to base, he was ordered to the base infirmary. He waited for his crew to return from their mission. To his surprise, and sadness, they did not return. He waited a while before giving up hope on them as they may have been damaged and forced to bail out, crash land, ditch, or land at another base. A few days later he was told by a crewman on another plane that his aircraft had been hit over the target and blew up before any of the crew could get out. They had all been killed. It was the saddest day of his life and he never got over it. His commander did not realize he was not on the plane and put him as MIA [Annotator's Note: missing in action]. Swarts was later trained on the B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and he thought it was very nice. Everything was automated.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses to change tapes.] John Stanley Lee Swarts and his crew dropped bombs over Germany. As a waist gunner, he was trained to drop bombs as well in case of an emergency. Once he dropped the bombs to get some practice. On one mission, they had two engines working and were flying low. He thought for sure his plane would be shot down. There was another time his plane was next to the lead plane going over Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] and received heavy flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. When his crew went on a mission without him and was shot down, the Army Air Corps did not know that Swarts had not been on the plane. They sent a telegram to Swarts's mother saying he was missing in action. When Swarts found out about this he quickly wrote a message to his mother via the Red Cross, and explained that it was a mistake. It was tough for Swarts to continue to live in the barracks without them. He wrote their families letters and went through their foot lockers to send personal items home. Swarts flew a few more missions with different crews but was not able to click with any of them. When he learned that the Army Air Corps was looking for experienced airmen to return to the United States to train on B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] he volunteered immediately. He returned to the United States. He met up with one of his crew member's family, before heading to California to begin training on the automated fire control systems on the B-29s.

John Stanley Lee Swarts returned to the United States [Annotator's Note: from Europe] and was sent to Treasure Island, California [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, California] to train on B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. The B-29 was a wonderful plane because it was more advanced than the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. His training came to an end when massive forest fires broke out in California. He and the other airmen training with him were sent to fight the fires. This took several weeks and by the time they had gotten the fires under control the war was over. He was sent to Camp Rupert, Idaho to oversee the cold storage. At Camp Rupert there were several German POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war]. Swarts had several former enemy soldiers who he dealt with on a regular basis. Many of the Germans had culinary experience back in Germany before the war and would frequently cook for Swarts. He got along well with the prisoners. Some of them even tried to convince him to lend them his uniform so they could go into town for the evening, but he never accommodated them. Swarts was discharged as a staff sergeant from the Air Force in 1948 at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Lemay, Missouri]. He signed up for the Reserves and used his G.I. Bill benefits to take a few business classes. Swarts suffered from nightmares due to his war experience. He worked a few different jobs before going to work for the railroad and had an over 30 year career. Later in life, he and his wife opened a Dairy Queen [Annotator's Note: American ice cream restaurant]. When Swarts was overseas to Europe, he met the Queen of England [Annotator's Note: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Queen of the United Kingdom] and Commander Doolittle [Annotator's Note: then US Army Air Forces Colonel, later US Air Force General, James H. Doolittle].

John Stanley Lee Swarts' most memorable experience of World War 2 was when his crew did not return from a mission. He never got over losing his buddies. He often talked with other veterans during reunions. Later in life he spoke at schools. He was glad to do his part and make his family proud. The war made him appreciate life more. He was proud to do his part for his country. He thinks that most of the younger generation does not know much about World War 2. He hopes that whoever listens to this video appreciates the sacrifices of the many people who risk their lives to save this country. He hopes other will step up when they need to in the future. Swarts thinks it is important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana[ and that they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.