Richard N. Swanson was born in May 1922 in Des Moines, Iowa. When he was four years old, he moved to Mead, Nebraska and lived on his uncle's farm. His father was a traveling salesman of art goods and sewing threads. His family always had enough during the Depression. His father earned about eight dollars a month. Meade was a small town where school and church were the main focuses of life. [Annotator's Note: A female off-camera tells Swanson to talk of Saturday night movies that were shown on the side of a bank.] Swanson and his mother would pop corn in a kettle for the movies, which is how he made spending money while growing up. Swanson enjoyed high school and he played varsity basketball for three years. He recalls hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio in his car while driving on Long Island, New York. At that time, he was serving in the Coast Guard and based on Ellis Island in New York harbor. He felt he didn't have to hurry back to base, but they contacted him before long to get back there right away.

Richard Swanson had two friends who had gone to the local military recruiting stations and liked what they heard about the Coast Guard so he decided to join them in enlisting. Swanson played in a local dance band. He enlisted on 10 August 1940 and went to Omaha, Nebraska and from there to Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest via train to the big Coast Guard training station. He was in pretty good physical shape before boot camp. He took a lot of classes and kept busy for the six weeks there. After boot camp, Swanson went on the USCGC Aurora (WPC-103) down to San Pedro, California. Then he was assigned to the USCGC Cahoone (WSC-131) for quite a few years patrolling the coast rescuing small boats. The Coast Guard would protect the seal herds migrating from Alaska to Mexico from poachers who wanted the white fur of the unborn seals. [Annotator's Note: Music is heard from a clock and the interviewer stops the tape.]

Richard Swanson was assigned to the USCGC Cahoone (WSC-131). He was a Yeoman and an extra person on board, so he was selected for sonar training. He enjoyed this training and became a sound operator after about eight weeks of school in San Diego, California at the Naval Destroyer Base. They were trained in measuring the distance and direction of submarines underwater. They would train with actual submarines. They received a lot of dispatches warning of the approaching war. After sonar training, he was transferred to the East Coast of the United States. There he was the store keeper for the ship, in charge of ordering supplies and food from Naval supply depots. In March 1942, Swanson voluntarily transferred to the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) in Boston, Massachusetts.

Richard Swanson was assigned to the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) on escort duty for the convoys crossing the Atlantic to England during World War 2. The Comanche's main route was to Greenland, escorting a supply ship, a freighter, and a tanker into Greenland and then back to the United States. Their job was to watch for enemy submarines. He did see some action as subs targeted the ships in the convoy. The Comanche would then pick up the survivors and Swanson would often have to go into the life rafts to assist them and hoist them aboard. His commanding officer was supposed to be going after the submarines once they crossed paths, but when he would come upon the rafts, he would stop to pick up any survivors even though those were not their orders. On the ship, Swanson would be mostly on the port side bridge and be assigned to the sonar as well as serve as gun captain on the .50 caliber and 20mm cannons. [Annotator's Note: Swanson has difficulty remembering and the interviewer often cuts and takes breaks]. He rarely used the guns and only against enemy observation planes to make them keep their distance. He never shot any down. The convoys would start with 60 to 80 ships and the Comanche would take three to five of them to Greenland while the rest continued to Europe. He never saw a submarine or it's periscope, he only heard them on the sonar. He said the knowledge that they were present would cause apprehension. Pinging them tended to hold them off as well. Swanson spoke with German crew men at a reconciliation ceremony in Washington D.C. a long time after war's end, who said the pinging had scared them and caused them to go lay the sub on the ocean bottom in terror. They told him that the depth charges would come closer and closer and then be gone. [Annotator's Note: A female off camera tells the story and brings something to interviewer.]

[Annotator's Note: Interviewer asks Swanson about a downed army transport and a female off-camera reminds him of the story.] Richard Swanson was assigned to the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) on escort duty for the convoys crossing the Atlantic to England during World War 2. He once mushed with dog sled teams on Greenland looking for a downed US Army transport. In January 1943, the Comanche went into a dock in Newfoundland to begin escort duty for the troop transport SS Dorchester. They spent some time getting to know the crew and the chaplains. [Annotator's Note: There isn't much of an explanation of what this event was about. There were four chaplains on board who gave away their life jackets to save soldiers and became known as the Four Chaplains or the Immortal Chaplains.] The Comanche was escorting the Dorchester. It was very bitter cold, and the waves would soak and chill them to the bone. On 3 February 1943, the Dorchester was hit by an enemy submarine [Annotator's Note: in the Labrador Sea]. Swanson was one of two men on watch at that time and remembers hearing the torpedo explode as it hit the ship. The transport immediately began to sink, and they picked up what survivors they could. Swanson describes acres of red lights of the life preservers and recalls that most of the men wearing them died within minutes due to the cold water. They could not bring the bodies aboard. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer says what happens next to Swanson to refresh his memory, they were immediately ordered to general quarters, so Swanson took up his gun position.] The Comanche started a zig-zag [Annotator's Note: an anti-submarine maneuver] course and found the enemy sub. The sub dove below the Comanche's ability to track them so they returned to picking up survivors.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Swanson was assigned to the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) on escort duty for the troop transport SS Dorchester when that ship was torpedoed by a German u-boat on 3 February 1943 in the Labrador Sea.] Swanson recalls that they used a 40-foot cargo net that they had earlier found at sea to assist in climbing down to the life rafts from the Dorchester. The first few survivors could climb the net, but it did not take long for the icy water to make the other survivors unable to do so. About six or eight crew members helped with the rescuing. The Escanoma [Annotator's Note: USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77)] crew had wet suits but the Comanche's crew did not. The Dorchester survivors were mostly in shock and were close to being frozen. A few were able to talk and thank the rescuers. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks about the chaplains and whether any survivors mentioned them. There were four chaplains on board who gave away their life jackets to save soldiers and became known as the Four Chaplains or the Immortal Chaplains.] Swanson thinks the rescue effort took around four hours from the time the Dorchester was hit. He says you do not stop and think in those moments. It is just something that has to be done. He did not even feel scared. A large African-American named Charles David helped Swanson get another bosun up the net because he was so exhausted and freezing from the wave sprays. They saved his life. David then went to Greenland where he died from pneumonia. Swanson said he was a tower of strength, never stopped hauling men into the boat, and saved a bunch of people by himself. Swanson met David's daughter and family some time later in life, which was emotional for him. The Coast Guard named a cutter for David [Annotator's Note: USCGC Charles David, Jr. (WPC-1107)] and Swanson attended the program. After being saved by David, Swanson and the crew took the rescued sailors to the mess deck where they had heat and hot food. They also gave them Navy blankets. [Annotator's Note: Music starts to play and the interviewer cuts and then repeats much of the story]. It took Swanson several hours to get back into shape for working. David's death was due to his exposure to the cold. Swanson said he would not quit until he could just do no more. Before that time, Swanson had a saxophone on board and he and David would play and sing together. David was the captain's mess attendant [Annotator's Note: Steward's Mate] and there were a few more African-Americans who were also mess attendants for the officers. The Comanche left Greenland shortly after David died and came directly back to Boston, Massachusetts.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Swanson was assigned to the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) on escort duty for the troop transport SS Dorchester when that ship was sunk by a torpedo from a German u-boat on 3 February 1943 in the Labrador Sea.] Afterwards, the Comanche returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and Swanson asked for a transfer to any ship or station on the West Coast. He was transferred to the district station for a while, and worked as an auditor. He wrote a letter to the Commandant of the Coast Guard requesting transfer and he was sent to Los Angeles and then San Pedro, California where he was put in charge of supplies. His title was Supply Officer although he was an enlisted man. He stayed there for the remainder of the war. He was awarded enough points for being at sea that he could be discharged. His wife was anxious to get back to her home town so he separated from the service and they went to Dallas, Texas. In Dallas, he got a job in audio-visual work and eventually became the Vice-President of two different companies. He retired afterwards and moved back to Mead, Nebraska. He did not talk about the war much and says that not many veterans did. He was on some programs where he talked about his experiences but not in any detail. His grandchildren would ask him to tell them stories, but he would gloss it over with them. He says there are some things you do not want to remember. He only talked of the Dorchester when asked in interviews about it.

Richard Swanson received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal [Annotator's Note: the highest non-combat decoration awarded for heroism by the US Navy and US Marine Corps], the same as John F. Kennedy, for his actions in rescuing survivors of the sinking of the SS Dorchester in February 1943. Admiral Rorschan [Annotator's Note: most likely US Navy Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon] quizzed him about the story of the Dorchester and rescuing the sailors. He then put the information together which resulted in Swanson receiving the medal. He was very honored by it. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Swanson, how he thinks the war changed him.] Serving during World War 2 made Swanson more serious about life. It made him a more sober person having seen what he had seen. He had quite some time where he would have nightmares of going through the water and seeing dead men in their life jackets. It only lasted months and eventually went away. He does not think about it much anymore. He feels it is important to study the lessons of the war, both what was done right and what was done wrong, and that the United States stood against the Nazis. He thinks The National WWII Museum is very important for the youth of today. He would like future generations to remember the hardships the war caused to the military and civilians alike. North Atlantic duty was tough service, the seas were never calm, always waves and chops due to the wind and storms. It was not a pleasant place to be for very long as it has mostly bad weather which is what he remembers most. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer prompts him for his thoughts on the Dorchester sinking.] Swanson says that the chaplains never stopped serving the men. [Annotator's Note: There were four chaplains on board who gave away their life jackets to save soldiers and became known as the Four Chaplains or the Immortal Chaplains]; David [Annotator's Note: Charles David, mess attendant on the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76), who saved Swanson's life and many more lives and died just days later of pneumonia] never gave up and had a wonderful being about him. He really enjoyed life and he brought that with him to whatever he was doing. He recalls that there were a lot of good times too, companionship and camaraderie.