Allen Swezey
Army
Middle Island
Allen Swezey
Allen Swezey was born
in 1912. He entered the service on February 18, 1943 and was
assigned to Company G, 143rd Infantry. The 143rd
Infantry took part in the first American invasion of mainland Europe
when it landed near Salerno, Sicily on September 9, 1943. In
December the regiment succeeded in capturing San Pietro, and on June
4th 1944 it was the first Allied force to reach Rome. The
Regiment would go on to invade southern France and fight it’s way
into Germany. Swezey was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple
Heart, Combat Infantry Badge, American Campaign Medal, World War II
Service Medal, and a European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
with 2 Bronze Stars.
An entry in the diary
of Albert Bayles makes this note about Allen Swezey,;
Oct. 3, 1944
“…Cpl. Allen
Swezey just got home on 15 day leave from Army hospital in Ohio
after being in action over a year in Italy and France and being
wounded in action in France.
Swezey
was discharged from the service from the Army hospital at Cambridge
on may 26th, 1945.
Written by
Jesse Cahill
Longwood JHS
Feb. 2006