Ward C. Swalwell, Jr., was born in Cook Co., IL, and he grew up in the family home at 7618 Saginaw Ave., in Chicago. He was the son of W. C. and Lenore Walsh Swalwell.

His father served in World War I. As a civilian, he was a lawyer and served as an assistant to the Illinois state's attorney office until February, 1929.

As a child, there was probably great tension in Ward's family. In 1932, while there were several high profile cases of kidnapping in the country, his father was charged and acquitted of kidnapping Dr. Max Gecht and his wife, Georgia, who were family friends. She claimed he was just trying to negotiate the ransom money. This story made national news and was carried for months.

More sorrow was endured by the family when his paternal aunt, Kathleen Stack McKeown, died in 1937 at age 33, leaving a husband and 3 children.

His paternal grandmother, Catherine Dulin Swalwell, died on January 20, 1945, while reading a letter from Ward. It came after it was announced that her grandson was missing in action.

Ward, Sr., died from heart disease in Cedar Lake, Indiana, on 4/18/1970.

Mother Lenora K. Walsh was born in Illinois. She married on 9/6/1922 in Chicago. She traveled to Germany in 1960, looking for answers about her son's death. She died on April 8, 1985, in Brookfield, WI.

Her father, Joseph L. Walsh, was born in the U. S. and was a Chicago City Inspector. Her mother was born in Ireland and died before 1931.

Ward's sister, Jacqueline Swalwell, was a young girl when her brother went missing. She married Warren S. Laird, Jr., on 9/14/1949, in Chicago. Ward's nieces are Kathleen, Susan and Judith.

His maternal uncle, Joseph H. Walsh, was an attorney and lived as a divorced man with the Walsh and Swalwell families in 1940.

Ward attended Myra Bradwell grammar school and graduated from Hirsch Metropolitan High School in 1941. He then attended Woodrow Wilson Jr. College.

His draft registration on 6/30/1942, describes him as 5'10" and weighing 150 lbs. He had black hair, hazel eyes, and a dark complexion. An appendix scar was noted.

The Daily Calumet, Chicago, reported on 1/30/1943, page 2, that he "left this afternoon" for Miami Beach, FL, for aviation cadet training. He served as a radioman and gunner.

The plane, the "Hunconcious," and his crew crashed in Belgium, near the border of Germany, on 12/23/1944, when he was "declared missing in action," after flying over Seffern, Germany. Staff Sgt. Swalwell's name is on a monument in Luxembourg. The U. S. military awarded him a Purple Heart and an Air Metal with 3 oak leaf clusters. His service number was 16137952.

A memorial service was held at St. Bride's Catholic Church in Chicago, on 1/6/1946.

Beginning in 2012, teams work to recover remains at the crash site. DNA of family members was used to get correct identification of the remains of the crew. Family members and those of the other crew on board met in Washington, D.C., on 8/16/2015. His service and burial at Arlington Cemetery took place on 8/20/2015.

Ward C Swalwell, Jr