Rank: Staff Sergeant
Unit: M Company, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11E – Armor Crewman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 9-Feb-1947
Hometown: Clarksburg, West Virginia
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 4-Mar-1968
Start of tour: 29-Jan-1969
Incident date: 7-Sep-1969
Date of casualty: 7-Sep-1969
Age at death: 22
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Unknown. Other causes.
Richard Jackson Swiger was killed while commander on a military vehicle on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Tank commander of tank on reconnaissance in force mission. Engaged hostile force in firefight.
Three Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SGT Leo Francis Hartsuff
SGT Anthony Standifer
SSG Richard Jackson Swiger
Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam, XT 713 835
Place of interment: Greenlawn Cemetery, Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA
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