Ray Swalley, WWII Marine fighter pilot

Lakewood resident Ray Swalley holds photos of his fighter pilot days with Marine Fighter Squadron VMF 451.

By Phil Raschke

Ray Swalley and his wife Margie love living in Lakewood, but Ray's life took an adventurous turn back in the early 1940's.

In January 1945, following flight training, 1st Lt Ray Swalley took to the air as a new Marine Corps fighter pilot. Swalley flew the gull-winged F4U Corsair as a member of VMF 451 more commonly know as the "Blue Devils". The Blue Devils were stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17). The Bunker Hill was one of 24 Essex class carriers built during World War II. Beginning in January 1945, Swalley and the Blue Devils flew combat missions over Tokyo and the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. By early May, Swalley had shot down three enemy aircraft and assisted in the shooting down of two others. On the morning of 11 May 1945, the Bunker Hill was supporting the fierce fighting that was still raging in and around the island of Okinawa. Swalley was below deck in the wardroom when the Bunker Hill was suddenly hit by a Japanese kamikaze. The crash destroyed parked aircraft and ignited their fuel tanks. Within 60 seconds a second kamikaze appeared from a low cloud, dropped a 550 lb bomb and crashed into the flight deck near the control tower. The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded below deck. Soon huge fires and explosions were taking a devastating toll on the Bunker Hill. Swalley fought his way through smoke and flames to the flight deck. The heat was so intense that the rubber soles on his shoes melted. Initially, Swalley aided wounded personnel being brought to the forward portion of the flight deck. He later joined a firefighting team that went below deck in an attempt to save the now listing Bunker Hill.

Before the battle to save the ship was over, over 345 men had been killed, 43 were missing and 264 were wounded. Although one of the most heavily damaged aircraft carriers of WW II, the Bunker Hill made it back to Pearl Harbor and then on to Bremerton Naval Shipyard where she was eventually decommissioned in 1947. The name "Bunker Hill" lives on, however. The USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser is currently serving in the U.S. Navy.

Returning to civilian life after WW II, Swalley married his sweetheart Margie and together they raised three children. Swalley also became interested in the rapidly developing field of television and soon became a career television engineer with KCPQ, Channel 13. Swalley's love of flying kept him in the Marine Crops Reserve until he retired from the Reserve as a Lt. Col. Swalley lives in Lakewood, WA with wife Margie, a retired Steilacoom school teacher, and their much loved four legged horse friends. Swalley is also an active member of the MOAA Mount Rainier Chapter.

Ray Swalley holds a recently released DVD that highlights the exploits of the famous WW II "Blue Devil" squadron plus a piece of the second kamikaze plane that struck the Bunker Hill on 11 May, 1945. Swalley's wife Margie holds a photo of the burning Bunker Hill taken shortly after the kamikaze attacks.

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