FORT SCOTT, Kan. (AP) - When Savannah Schwab was a young child in Fort Scott, she knew of her grandfather only as a mail carrier from Nebraska, not a World War II hero.
Only later did she learn that 1st Lt. Donald K. Schwab of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division single-handedly knocked out a German machine gun position on a French battlefield in 1944. So, for her government class at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., she began a project documenting her late grandfather’s exploits.
Now, Savannah Schwab will gain valuable material for her project - a blog called “Letters to My Grandfather” - when she and other descendants visit the White House on March 18 to accept a posthumous Medal of Honor on Donald Schwab’s behalf, The Joplin Globe reported (https://bit.ly/1gfnXs2 ).
“I only heard my grandfather talk about the war once in my presence before he died in 2005,” Savannah Schwab wrote in her blog. “Little did I know, that the story he shared with me that day would one day soon be the story President Barack Obama tells from a paper called a Medal of Honor Citation.”
Savannah Schwab’s father, Dr. Terry Schwab, a surgeon at Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, also recalls his father as talking little about his own service.
“He was a humble man; he didn’t think he did anything special. If he knew about this, he’d probably say, ’I was just doing my job. This is what I was supposed to do - fight for my country. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary’,” Terry Schwab said. “That generation was like that. It was pretty amazing.”
Born in 1918 to a farming family in Hooper, Neb., Donald Schwab enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school in 1936.
His service in World War II with the 3rd Infantry Division took him to Algeria, then Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and France, where on Sept. 17, 1944, he led his company over more than 400 yards of ground under machine-gun fire near the town of Lure.
Forced back three times, according to military records, Donald rushed the final 50 yards alone, firing his carbine at the German foxholes as he headed straight for the key machine gunner.
When he reached the German encampment, he ripped off the shelter cover and, with a strike from his carbine butt, knocked out the German gunner. Donald then dragged him back to friendly lines through a volley of fire.
As a result, the enemy became so disorganized that it withdrew. Schwab had broken a powerful German position.
He was awarded the Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross - the nation’s second-highest military award - after his overseas tours.
But it was not until a federal review of war records for minority servicemen unfairly excluded from receiving the Medal of Honor that officials discovered Schwab and other soldiers deserving of the honor for extraordinary heroism in action.
Savannah Schwab and Terry Schwab will be at the White House to receive the award, as will Terry Schwab’s four brothers and sisters who are scattered across the Midwest.
“They allow us to have seven people there,” Terry Schwab said. “The five of us siblings are going, and we agreed to put the names of the 16 grandchildren in a hat, and draw for the two who will get to go.”
___
Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, https://www.joplinglobe.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.