Bobby Swindell

After 26 years of service, including 19 years of accumulated sea duty, most Coast Guard personnel would consider that a job well done and move on to other endeavors. Not so Bobby Swindell of New Bern, NC.

Two months after retiring in October 1980, Retired Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Swindell joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary. On November 11, 2004, Bobby completed his 24th year with the Auxiliary for a total of FIFTY years combined service with the United States Coast Guard/Auxiliary!

Bobby Swindell is well known in the Fifth District-Southern Region (D5-SR) for the many rolls he played and continues to play at the District, Division and Flotilla levels. He has held positions leading to Rear Commodore (RCO) and on November 11, 2004 he was appointed “Honorary RCO-SA For Life, 5th District-SR

So how do you honor and say thanks to such a man? On November 20, 2004 Coast Guard and Auxiliary members of the Southern Area held a ceremony for Bobby, his wife Linda and other members of the Swindell family on the parade ground of Group Ft. Macon in Atlantic Beach, NC.

The celebration was attended by several Coast Guard Officers, Auxiliary officials and approximately 100 friends of Bobby Swindell. While many officials and officers spoke and gave praise to Bobby, an honor guard stood at attention behind the podium. The guest of honor was awarded more plaques, letters of appreciation and sincere letters of thanks to add to the many other awards he has earned in his past fifty years of service.

Bobby’s career in the Coast Guard was reviewed in detail, with Bobby and others adding personal insights. He joined on September 21, 1954 and attended boot camp at Cape May, NJ. Over the next twenty years, he advanced steadily in rank and served on nine cutters all over the East Coast and over two years in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Bobby was commissioned as a Warrant Officer in 1969; this eventually lead him to the position of which he is the proudest – Commanding Officer of the CGC Azalea at Charleston, SC in 1971. He finished out his CG career at Group Ft. Macon as an operations officer. Group Ft. Macon continued to be his base of operation for his next 24 years in the Auxiliary.

The true measure of a man’s life is the legacy he leaves behind and can be found in what others think of him. Consider the following thoughts:

“Your years of service to the Coast Guard and our nation have been nothing short of inspirational, ” says Commander Donald Rose, Commanding Officer, USCG Group Ft. Macon.

“Bobby Swindell should be a recruitment poster for the US Coast Guard,” says Francine Sawyer, New Bern Sun Journal (11-29-04)

“One of the main reasons we have the Auxiliary is to give some stability to the Coast Guard, and Bobby is the rock of the entire Southern area,” says Steve McElroy, Vice Commodore, D5-SR.

Senior Chief Mark King, Group Charleston, when asked why he came all this way for the ceremony, he stated: “I would have come here just to change Bobby Swindell's tire. Almost nothing I would not do for this man!”

Near the end of the celebration Commander Rose told the group about a situation that had occurred a few years earlier when Station Oak Island was consumed by a fire. He recalled receiving the news and quickly gathered a team for the four-hour drive to the Station in southern NC.

A few hours after they were on the scene he spied Bobby Swindell and some local Auxiliarists. Bobby had heard the same news and had set out immediately from home with his cell phone. Bobby remained on scene several hours offering assistance where ever he could.

Many other “Bobby stories” were shared for a few hours after the formal ceremony, during the traditional “Pig Pickin” that followed. When asked about the 50 years of service put in by her husband and the time away from the family, Linda Swindell commented: “He was always happy doing what he was doing and that made us happy. Bobby could prepare coffee and doughnuts for a Flotilla meeting and Captain a ship. He did it all.” This said with pride in her voice and a smile on her face. Linda has logged over twenty years in the Auxiliary herself, joining a few years after Bobby.

In a personal letter to Bobby from Admiral Thomas H. Collins the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Collins thanked Bobby Swindell “for commendably implementing Operation Patriot Readiness and significantly improving maritime safety and security throughout the State of North Carolina.”

This letter ended with the same words that all of us in the Auxiliary would like to extend to Bobby and Linda Swindell for their past 50 years of service:

“On behalf of all Americans, I (We) congratulate and thank you for your self-sacrifice, dedication, and devotion to duty throughout your 50 years of service to others. Semper Paratus!” Bobby continues to actively build his legacy in the Fifth!

Editor’s note: Thanks to the New Bern Sun Journal, Francine Sawyer (staff writer), Bob Murphy (photographer) for background information, use of direct quotes and photos.