Current data for Contributor

Keizer, Herman Jr. (Interviewer)

Current data for Creator

Swim, Vernon G.

Current data for Date

2016-10-26

Current data for Description

Vernon Swim was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1935. He entered the Army chaplaincy in 1962 and completed his basic chaplain's course at Fort Slocum, New York. His first assignment was in South Korea with the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and he served there from 1964 to early 1965. Upon returning to the United States, he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, as the artillery chaplain. After Fort Carson, he served at the 98th General Hospital in West Germany for three years with his wife who was an Army nurse. Vernon served a tour in Vietnam as the chaplain at Long Binh Jail, working with the American soldiers imprisoned there. After his tour in Vietnam he was sent to the American Institute of Family Relations to get his master's degree in marriage and family therapy, which allowed him to be a family and marriage counsellor at Fort Lee, Virginia, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He did a second tour in Germany at a retreat center in Berchtesgaden. He ultimately served in the Army chaplaincy for 24 years (most likely retiring in 1986).

Current data for Source

Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)