Thomas Charles Swope
Ft Thomas Matters Newspaper-1944
Back home after spending eight months fighting with the US Navy
in the Mediterranean theater of war, Thomas Swope Jr. 20, fire control man,
third class is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R Swope, 258 Ridgeway
Avenue, Southgate Ky.
The young sailor, who enlisted Sep 31, 1942, was a star football player at Newport High School. He played center and graduated from the school in 1941. Assigned to a destroyer, Swope saw action in the invasion of Sicily at Gela and of Italy at Salerno. In the latter engagement Swope's destroyer was the first American ship to contact the enemy.
"The going at Salerno was plenty tough, but we gave the enemy everything we had." Swope said. He has a brother, Corp. Robert (Bob) Swope, 22, who is stationed with the Army Air Corps at Dayton O. The father of the two servicemen was a member of Uncle Sam's Navy during World War I. Their uncle, Jacob Swope, 1043 Washington Avenue, Newport, coordinator of the civilian defense council in Campbell County, was a member of the US Army Tank Corps in the last war and saw overseas action in France and Germany for 18 months.