Still serving: Hagerstown WWII veteran to lay Veterans Day wreath

World War II U.S. Army veteran Charles Robert "Bob" Swain is still proud, willing and able to serve his country.

On Friday, the 93-year-old was looking forward to laying a wreath at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as a part of the official observance of Veterans Day.

"I think it's an honor that they honor the veterans," he said. "It's an honor to do anything for veterans and your country."

Swain was nominated to lay a wreath by friends Steve Gaudette and Christine Abelow.

Abelow had attended the ceremony before and responded to a notice in the program seeking veterans interested in participating.

"It's very moving," she said of the event.

Swain would be up to the job.

A stalwart patriot, the flagpole outside his home off Sharpsburg Pike south of Hagerstown flies the American flag and the flag of the 87th Infantry Division, with which he fought in 1944 and 1945 in Germany. His toy poodle, Mindy, sports a Stars-and-Stripes collar.

Swain was still a student at Boonsboro High School when he was drafted.

"We were in the Battle of the Bulge my senior year," he said with a laugh. (He finally received his diploma in 2001.)

Things moved quickly after Swain became a soldier.

"We were pulled off of basic training and sent overseas. They knew the Battle of the Bulge was coming," he said. "We were there.

"I was 18 years old and I said, 'Oh my God, I'll never see 19.' And here I am, 93"

The battle in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Germany's last major offensive of the war and so named because the push into the American defensive line made it look like a bulge. After claiming victory, the allies marched toward Berlin, and Germany surrendered less than five months later.

Swain still has vivid memories of that period.

"Every basement had wine and champagne," he said with a grin, talking about Cologne, Germany.

Other memories are darker.

He spoke of German soldiers "coming in droves" and of the month he spent at a place dubbed Suicide Hill, where he and his buddies always came under fire at mealtime.

"I just can't understand how I got through it," he says.

Once, a German sniper who fired on Swain's unit was met with a volley of returned fire and ultimately surrendered to them.

"Maybe he wanted to be a prisoner of war," Swain said. "They (German soldiers) wanted to get away from the Russians."

After Germany surrendered, Swain's unit was training at Ft. Benning, Ga., for an invasion of Japan, but the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war while they were still there.

"Thank Harry Truman. He saved more lives than you can shake a stick at," Swain said. "We'd be under Japanese rule."

After the war, Swain was discharged at the rank of corporal, returned home and got a job at Danzer Metal Works in Halfway. He worked there until the late 1950s, then got a job at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., from which he retired as maintenance supervisor in 1990.

Before he left for his military service, Swain made sure he put a diamond on the finger of his high school sweetheart, Betty Iline Poffenberger.

They were married in 1947 and shared life until she passed away on St. Patrick's Day in 2018.

"She was a good 'lil girl," he said.

A display case on the wall of his den contains a picture of him in uniform surrounded by his medals.

He was awarded the Bronze Star for "something I did that was crazy." He won't say what.

The case also houses just one of his dog tags. The other has been on his key ring since his discharge.

Though Swain lost much of his hearing in the war, he values his service.

"I'm very proud that I had the chance to serve this country," he said.