The
American Legion
Albert E. Schwab Post
555
Midway City, California
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Albert E. Schwab Post
555
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Albert E. Schwab
Biography Private First Class Albert E. Schwab Albert Schwab was just five days short of having one year in the Marine Corps the day he fearlessly walked into a blazing Japanese machine gun on Okinawa. He destroyed two guns that day and subsequently took his place on that highest pedestal the Marine Corps reserves for its Medal of Honor winners. Albert Earnest Schwab was born July 17, 1920 in Washington, D.C., the son of George Albert Schwab and the late Mrs. Schwab. His father was born at Charleston, West Virginia, while his mother was a native of Minnesota. The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, early in Schwab's life, and he attended the local schools, graduating from Tulsa High School in 1937. After one semester at Tulsa University, the young athlete went to work for an oil company. Schwab was married on October 21, 1939 to the former Kathryn Ellen Schlosser of Tulsa. Their son, Steven Albert, was born September 1, 1942. Inducted into the Marine Corps on May 12, 1944, Schwab was sent to boot camp in San Diego. His boot leave of ten days was the only time his family was to see him in the Marine uniform. After his furlough, the former oil worker went to the 2d Training Battalion at Camp Pendleton, California. In November, Private Schwab was transferred to the 13th Replacement Draft and on the twelfth of that month departed for overseas duty aboard the USS Wharton. He joined the 1st Marine Division at Pavuvu Island, in the Russells, and was assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. On December 24, Schwab was promoted to private first class and in February, he, along with the rest of the division, embarked for maneuvers which eventually led to an enemy landing on the shores of Okinawa on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. Private First Class Schwab was a flame thrower operator with Headquarters Company. When that company was pinned down in a valley on May 7 by the withering fire of a machine gun coming from a ridge high to the company's front, the Oklahoman scaled the cliff in the face of the devastating fire and attacked the gun with his flame thrower. Quickly demolishing the position and its crew, his company was able to occupy the ridge. Suddenly a second machine gun opened fire inflicting more casualties on the unit. Although he had not had time to replenish his supply of fuel, PFC Schwab unhesitatingly advanced on the second gun and succeeded in eliminating it before its final burst caught him in the left hip, inflicting fatal wounds. The Medal of Honor was presented to Private First Class Schwab's three-year-old son at Boulder Park in Tulsa on Memorial Day, 1946, by Rear Admiral J.J. Clark, USN, Commanding the Naval Air Basic Training Command, Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas. PFC Schwab's body was returned to the United States and buried with full military honors at Memorial Park, Tulsa, February 27, 1949. On October 3, 1959, a Marine camp constructed on Okinawa was named Camp Schwab in honor of the heroic Marine.
Biography reprinted from the |
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