Swindle Joins 149 POWs in Endorsing Romney for President

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Malia Zimmerman
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Orson Swindle

BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN – Orson Swindle, a former Hawaii resident and decorated Vietnam Prisoner War who served as a Federal Trade Commissioner (1997-2005), joined 149 other Prisoners of War in endorsing Mitt Romney for President today.

Swindle told Hawaii Reporter: “Our country is in desperate need of a leader with sound experience in real world issues and business; a leader steeped in good character and devoted to family; a leader who is intelligent, courageous, knows how to make tough decisions, believes in accepting responsibility, and loves this country.  In other words, we need competence, character, commitment and courage in our president.

“Barack Obama, in my view, possesses none of these traits.  He has failed the American people and our Country through his ego, arrogance and amateurish ways.  He has embarrassed us abroad and time and time again seems to indicate that he doesn’t like very much the America I came to love as a child.  Mitt Romney alone will be an outstanding president.  Barack Obama has failed on virtually all counts.  This is why I am supporting Mitt Romney for President.”

Swindle flew 205 combat missions over South Vietnam, but during his last mission on November 11, 1966, he was shot down and captured by the enemy.  Swindle was held a prisoner of war in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” for the next 6 and a half years. That is where he met John McCain, who later became a United States Senator. Swindle was released on March 4, 1973, and since has been awarded 20 military decorations for valor in combat, including two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Legions of Merit and two Purple Hearts.  He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1979 as a lieutenant colonel.

McCain, a candidate for President in 2008, joined Swindle in endorsing Romney.

About the endorsement, Romney said: “I am deeply honored to have the support of these American heroes who suffered so much for our nation and her people,” said Mitt Romney. “Our military men and women are America’s best. They put everything—including their lives and their liberty—on the line for our freedoms. When I am president, I will honor their dedication and those sacrifices by ensuring that we maintain the strength of our military, provide the care our veterans need, and build an economy that gives every American the chance to live their dreams.”

“Our nation’s most sacred commitment is to our men and women in uniform,” said Lt. Colonel Orson Swindle, USMC, (Ret.). “But for the last four years, we’ve been letting them down. Too many veterans come home without opportunities for good jobs. Too many of our wounded are seeing the cost of their medical care on the rise. We need new leadership in Washington. That’s why I am supporting Mitt Romney. He not only appreciates the sacrifices the men and women of the armed forces make, he has the experience and the plan to turn this country around. He’ll make sure that none of our bravest come back from war only to face new and sometimes even more difficult battles at home. Our nation is hungry for that kind of leadership. Mitt Romney will provide it.”

Here is the Complete List of Former Prisoners Of War Endorsing Mitt Romney:

  • Senator John McCain
  • Rep. Sam Johnson
  • Captain Ray Alcorn, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Everett Alvarez, USN, (Ret.)
  • CWO Frank Anton, USA, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Tim Ayers, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Elmo Baker, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Ted Ballard, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Robert Barnett, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major Richard Bates, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain James Bell, USN, (Ret.)
  • Major General John Borling, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ron Byrne, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major Peter Camerota, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain David Carey, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Al Carpenter, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel/Chaplain Robert Certain, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Harlan Chapman, USMC, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Larry Chesley, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander George Coker, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel James Collins, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Thomas Collins, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel James Condon, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ken Cordier, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major Joe Crecca, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Tom Curtis, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Samuel B. Cusimano, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major J. D. Cutter, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel George “Bud” Day, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Rob Doremus, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Dale Doss, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Dan Doughty, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Jerry D. Driscoll, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Dave Drummond, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel John Dunn, USA, (Ret.)
  • Brigadier General Jeff Ellis, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Jack Ensch, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Robert Fant, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel John Fer, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ken Fisher, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Fredrick Flom, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Dave Ford, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Bill Franke, USN, (Ret.)
  • Rear Admiral Robert B. Fuller, USN, (Ret.)
  • Brigadier General Norm Gaddis, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Ralph Gaither, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Paul Galanti, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel William A Gauntt, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Terry Geloneck, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Wayne Goodermote, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Paul Granger, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Dave Grant, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Lawrence Guarino, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Staff Sergeant Gary Guggenberger, USA, (Ret.)
  • Captain Collins Haines, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Porter Halyburton, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Gregg Hanson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Tom Hanton, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Carlyle Harris, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Jay Hess, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain James Hickerson, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel James Hivner, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain David Hoffman, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ed Hubbard, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Robert Hudson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Gobel James, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Robert Jeffrey, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Harry Johnson, USAF , (Ret.)
  • Colonel Murphy Neal Jones, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Sergeant Everett King, USA, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Joe Kittinger, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Rod Knutson, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel James Kula, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Hal Kushner, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Jim Lamar, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Mike Lane, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Gordon Larson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Tom Latendresse, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Laurie Lengyel, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Edward Leonard, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Henry Lesesne, USN, (Ret.)
  • Major Stephen Long, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Vice Admiral Ed Martin, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Ron Mastin, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Norm McDaniel, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Eugene McDaniel, USN, (Ret.)
  • Major Fred McMurray, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Tom McNish, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Read MecLeary, USNR, (Ret.)
  • Captain James Mehl, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Bill Metzger, USN, (Ret.)
  • Vice Admiral Joe Mobley, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Ernest Melvin Moore, USN, (Ret.)
  • Major John S. Murphy, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lewis Meyer
  • Major Spike Nasmyth, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Martin Neuens, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Aubrey Allen Nichols, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Tom Norris, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Dale Osborne, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Gordon Paige, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lieutenant Mike Penn, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Joseph C. Plumb, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ben Pollard, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Thomas Pyle, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Dale Raebel, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel James E. Ray, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Brigadier General Jon Reynolds, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Paul K. Robinson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain William A Robinson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander David J. Rollins, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel George Alan Rose, USAF, (Ret.)
  • CWO Joseph Rose, III, USA, (Ret.)
  • Major Wesley D. Schierman, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Pete Schoeffel, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Bill Schwertfeger, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Bruce Seeber, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Brian Seek, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Bill Shankel, USN MC, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Lew Shattuck, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker, USN, (Ret.)
  • Major Theodore S. Sienicki, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Gary Sigler, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Gene Smith, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major Mark A. Smith, USA, (Ret.)
  • Commander J. B. Souder, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Charles Southwick, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel William Spencer, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Tom Storey, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Richard Stratton, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Leroy Stutz, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel Orson Swindle, USMC, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Bernard Talley, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Richard Tangeman, USN, (Ret.)
  • Commander Gary Thornton, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Leo Thorsness, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Bill Tschudy, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Jack Van Loan, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Major Samuel R. Vaughan, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Dick Vogel, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Raymond Vohden, USN, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Wayne Waddell, USAF , (Ret.)
  • Captain Jim Warner, USMC, (Ret.)
  • Colonel Ronald Webb, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Dave Wheat, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Irv Williams, USN, (Ret.)
  • Captain Bill Wilson, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Captain Brian Woods, USN, (Ret.)
  • Lt. Colonel John Yuill, USAF, (Ret.)
  • Commander Charlie Zuhoski, USN, (Ret.)

Comments

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5 COMMENTS

    • History tells us that "if" the USA had a civil war opt out program during the Vietnam "draft" years, we would have a much different armed forces today. Happy Veterans Day!!

  2. […] By Watchdog Staff  /   November 2, 2012  /   Comments Off Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); By Malia Zimmerman | Hawaii Reporter HONOLULU — For Orson Swindle, a decorated Vietnam prisoner war, President Barack Obama is not a leader with “character, commitment and courage.” Instead, Swindle joined U.S. Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, in endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday. In response, Romney said: “I am deeply honored to have the support of these American heroes who suffered so much for our nation and her people.” Read the complete story at HawaiiReporter.com. […]

  4. romney spent his draft-age days in France,i believe,during the viet-nam war.on a deferment just like many of those brave chicken-hawks that sat out the viet-nam war,but since then have become war-mongering hypocrites.

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