World War II Army veteran Orville Swett of Port Orange, Fla., has seen a lot in his life.
The Purple Heart recipient sustained a brain injury that nearly killed him while fighting in the Battle of Anzio in Italy. Recovered, he went on to have a fulfilling career as an optician and eyeglass shop owner in Maine. In 1985, Swett retired to Florida and has been on a mission to help fellow vets see better.
Swett, now 91, inquired if the VA clinic in Daytona Beach could use a hand. “The VA had no optician when I started and I had experience. The ophthalmologist hired me immediately. I was the first volunteer in the system,” he tells the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “I do it because there was a need.”
Since then, Swett has racked up more than 38,000 hours volunteering at the VA, where he repairs and adjusts eyeglasses for vets. “I’m here for the veterans,” he says. “I work for the veterans, not the VA.”
Although Swett’s main work is to help veterans with sight-related needs, he also serves as an inspiration and source of historical information to everyone he meets — including VA interns in their 20s and fellow veterans. Dr. Dianne Kowing, who leads the ophthalmology department at the VA, says, “He gives them an understanding of their role. He’s inspiring to them. And he has a wicked Maine sense of humor.”
Swett volunteers consistently, except for three months in the summer that he spends in Maine. When he returns each fall, his coworkers are always thankful to see him. “I am committed 100 percent in helping [fellow veterans],” he said. “I was brought up that way, to help each other out.”
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Tag: World War II Veterans
Remembering A World War II Vet Who Gave 3,000 Fellow Vets a Final Salute
World War II Veteran Kenny Smith believed in honoring his fellow vets — whether he knew them or not. In fact, his extraordinary commitment led him to assist with more than 3,000 funerals at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Eagle, Idaho between 2004 and 2014. Not only that, but he also wrote down the names of each veteran whose funeral he attended in a log book and kept photographs and other mementos of these vets.
At the age of 86, Smith died just three days after the last funeral he attended on April 4.
Smith, who was the head volunteer at the cemetery, lost both of his legs to frostbite after serving in the Pacific with the Navy during World War II. He bought an all-terrain-vehicle to help him get around the cemetery. He would greet families in his ATV, and then rise on his prosthetic legs to salute the flag during the funeral services. Cemetery director James Earp told Matt Standal of KTVB, “Kenny was here watching the construction of the cemetery unfold, and it was a point of pride for him to understand it. He felt very much a part of this, and we all agree that Kenny is a big part of this cemetery.”
Before each funeral he volunteered at, Smith also took time to visit the resting place of his wife, who died in 2003. His daughter Sandy McCary told Standal, “He felt like could speak with her there. [He’d] communicate back and forth, and try not to miss her so much that way.”
Before Smith died, Idaho’s governor C.L. “Butch” Otter had honored him for more than 6,500 hours of volunteer service at the cemetery. Smith will be laid to rest with a military flag line on April 21. Let’s hold a moment of silence for this honorable American.
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