You may recognize some of the pictures in this video titled  Final Salute. I've seen the one with the people on the plane and the one with the wife looking at the computer. I received them singly, but didn't know the story. Now I know the back story - and I dare you to watch it and not be moved.

In other "Marine news": America has lost it's last  World War II Medal of Honor Recipient aviator. Marine triple-ace James "Jim" Swett, 88, passed away Sunday January, 18 at his home in Redding California after a long illness.

The following is from Gary Alexander over at http://leatherneckm31.typepad.com/. He provides "weapons grade blogging" so I cut and pasted the following from his blog:

Colonel Swett's passing ends a remarkable era of aerial heroism during the greatest war in American history; and brings to 98 the number of living Medal of Honor Recipients. Only 24 WWII Recipients survive.

Swett good-naturedly once said that notoriety can at times be a “da*n nuisance.”

Swett said that he was pulled over more times than he could remember by inquisitive California Highway Patrol officers due to his distinctive Medal of Honor license plates.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Col. Swett's decorations include two Purple Hearts, six Distinguished Flying Cross medals and 21 Air Medals.

Swett's Medal of Honor action saw him shoot down seven Japanese bombers within 15 minutes and he said that 30 minutes of combat over the Florida group of the Solomon Islands with VMF-221 forever changed his life.

And... he became an ace on his first mission.

Targets of Opportunity

On April 7, 1943 Lt. Swett's four-plane formation scrambled to attack 150 enemy planes approaching Ironbottom Sound, and specifically intercepted a large formation of Japanese dive bombers attacking the harbor at Tulagi..

When the fight became a general melee, Swett pursued three Vals diving on the harbor. After shooting down two, and while taken under fire from the rear gunner of the third, the left wing of his F4F was holed by U.S. antiaircraft fire directed at the Japanese. Despite this, he shot down the third Val and turned toward a second formation of six Vals leaving the area.

Swett repeatedly attacked the line of dive bombers, downing each in turn with short bursts. He brought down four and was attacking a fifth when his ammunition was depleted and he had his cockpit shot up by return fire.

Wounded, he decided to ditch his damaged fighter off the coast of Florida Island, after it became clear that his oil cooler had been hit and he would not make it back to base.

After a few seconds of further flight, his engine seized, and despite initially being trapped in his cockpit, Swett extricated himself and was subsequently rescued in Tulagi harbor after crash-landing his Wildcat.

From his citation:

“1st Lt. Swett unhesitatingly hurled his four-plane division into action against a formation of 15 enemy bombers and personally exploded three hostile planes in midair with accurate and deadly fire during his dive.

“Although separated from his division while clearing the heavy concentration of antiaircraft fire, he boldly attacked six enemy bombers, engaged the first four in turn and, unaided, shot down all in flames.”

Swett, shown gesturing in below photo, was credited with 15.5 kills and four probables which ranks him ninth among the Marine's Corps' WWII top aces. 

His luck ran out in July 1943 over New Guinea when he was shot down.

After four days in a rubber raft, existing on chocolate bars and coconuts, his good luck returned when he was rescued by natives and returned to U.S. control.

While recovering from his wounds in a Navy hospital, Swett learned he had been nominated for the Medal of Honor.

Returned to duty, Swett was promoted to captain and now in the cockpit of the new gull-winged Corsair F4U, Swett covered the Rendova landings on June 30, 1943, adding two Betty medium bombers to his score and sharing the downing of a Zero.

Eleven days later, near the island of New Georgia, Swett knocked down two more Bettys. Seeing his wingman's Corsair under attack, he also shot down a Zero. However, he failed to see a second Zero and was himself shot down.

He was rescued by natives and traveled by 10-man canoe for several hours to an Australian coastwatcher's location. A PBY flying boat returned Swett to the Russells.

In October 1943, over the major Japanese airbase at Kahili, Bougainville, Swett added one confirmed Zero and one probable, but lost his wingman.

In November, he added to his list of kills two more Vals and a possible Ki-61 Tony, a new Japanese fighter.

On December 11, Swett returned to the United States aboard a Dutch ship, arriving in San Francisco on New Years Eve. In less than 24 hours, he shipped out to San Diego, where he was granted 30 days leave and married Lois Anderson, his long time sweetheart.

Swett was then transferred to the naval air station at Santa Barbara where he worked up a newly manned VMF 221 in the Corsair.

Return to war

Now carrier-qualified and flying off the USS Bunker Hill, Swett's first two missions carried him over the Japanese home territory for the first time, supporting the landings at Iwo Jima and the operations on Okinawa.

On May 11, 1945, he downed a Judy Kamikaze which he described as a "sitting duck".

Swett then saw the Bunker Hill struck by two kamikazes, causing such damage that he was forced to land on another carrier.

He later returned to the States and was assigned to El Toro where he began to train for the invasion of Japan... Operation Olympic.

After the war he transferred to the Marine Corps Reserves from which he retired in 1970 at the rank of colonel.

His brushes with death continued in civilian life however. Through the years he owned 13 Porches and he survived three car crashes, in one of which he broke two neck vertebrae. He also survived prostate and lymphoma cancers at different times, facing his life with a trademark wide grin.

ALAN'S NOTE: Just reading Gary's account of this guy's life makes me proud to be a former Marine. I hope and pray I'm grabbing life by the throat like that when (and if) I hit that age.

Oh, and one more thing Marine related. I saw a new book on Marines that's going on my reading list: The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of Marines in Combat looks like it will be a really good read.