YOUNGSTOWN — When he initially entered the military, it looked like Sgt. Sam Swogger III might be a cook, but a tragic situation changed the trajectory of how he served the nation.

“After I was drafted, my dad and my younger brother took me to the bus station to go to Fort Knox (Ky.). After about the first week, the Red Cross called and said, ‘Your dad died.’ That was the last time I saw him,” remembered Swogger, who served two years in the Army from 1967 to 1969.

The Austintown man spoke recently at the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic on Belmont Avenue on the North Side about his military service and civilian careers.

Swogger, a 1966 Chaney High School graduate, underwent basic training at Fort Knox, then was sent to Germany, where he became part of the 1st Battalion, 81st Artillery, 7th Army unit.

After a short stint in the mess hall, one of his superiors knew he didn’t want to be a cook, which largely was the result of sadness and depression he felt after having lost his father, Sam Swogger Jr. As a result, another opening became available, and he was assigned to guard duty while serving in Germany, first in Mainz then, after about five months, in Neu-Ulm.

Beforehand, Swogger had received specialized schooling and training in security techniques, which he used to guard a Pershing missile site that sat on a mobile tank. He also was assigned guard duty on a rotational basis at two firing sites, two ammunition dumps and a NATO site, he said.

“The school was a NATO-type school, because all different countries were there,” he said, adding that those at the training complex represented six or seven Allied countries.

At the NATO site, he and others guarded the gate, while German soldiers controlled the perimeter around the area, Swogger recalled. He also didn’t need much time to get used to the regimented work schedule.

“It was good duty because I worked one day and was off two,” he said.

Perhaps a sense of inevitability predated his decision to join the Army, in part because Swogger’s father was in the Army during World War II and spent about three or four years in the jungles of New Guinea, Swogger said.

After his discharge, Swogger found work at the former Youngstown Steel Door Co., where he spent about a year. Then in 1970, he began a 30-year career at General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown Assembly Complex, where he worked in the paint and body shops before teaching safety courses as part of GM’s emergency response teams, which included CPR and first aid.

Swogger, who retired from GM in 2000 and will soon serve as a United Auto Workers Local 1112 trustee, had little good to say about a tentative contract between the company and the UAW union that would mean a pay raise, lump-sum payments and $11,000 signing bonuses for senior employees, but an end for the Lordstown plant.

“Everybody out there did everything they could for GM. The steel mills (closing) was bad enough, but so many people depended on that plant,” he said.

After his two years in the Army, Swogger was commander for American Legion Post 301 in Austintown, and was first and second vice commander of American Legion District 9, which covers five Northeast Ohio counties. He also spent about three years as a mentor with the Youngstown Veterans Treatment Court. He’s now part of the National Veterans Advisory Council / UAW Region 2-B, which serves Ohio and Indiana.

His daughter, Michelle Berry, is an advanced medical supply assistant at the clinic, where she schedules patients for their appointments and consultations, answers calls and performs other administrative duties. She also wasn’t shy about expressing her gratitude for her father’s Army service.

“I appreciate his service in the military,” Berry said. “I appreciate everyone who’s gone in the military and serves our country. They deserve a lot more than they get, sometimes.”

Sam Swogger III

AGE: 71

RESIDENCE: Austintown

SERVICE BRANCH: Army from 1967 to 1969.

MILITARY HONORS: Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal, Presidential Unit Citation and Cold War Service ribbons.

OCCUPATIONS: Worked for Youngstown Steel Door Co., then for General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown Assembly Complex from 1970 to 2000. Now is a member of United Auto Workers Local 1112 and sits on the National Veterans Advisory Committee UAW Region 2-B.

FAMILY: Wife, Rebecca; three children; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.