Robert Swafford was born on 3 March 1909 in Milo, Bledsoe County, Tennessee, the son of Darius Swafford and Ova France.
He died on 28 November 1946. He was hit by a car while crossing the highway on foot in Bedford, Michigan.
Robert Swafford served on the U.S.S. Idaho and the U.S.S. Newberry. He is buried at Gentry Cemetery, Summer City, Bledsoe County, Tennessee.
The Battle Creek Enquirer, 29 November 1946
Robert Swafford, 39, of 72 Carlyle, still on terminal leave after six years of navy service, was instantly killed at 6:35 p.m. Thursday when he walked into the path of a car drive by Ivan S. Benjamin of Kalamazoo of West Michigan avenue at Stilson boulevard, in Level Park. His brother Everett Otis Swafford, 28, met the same death here on Christmas Eve, 1943. When he walked into the path of a car in Lafayette avenue. Sheriff’s officers who investigated last night’s accident said Mr. Swafford narrowly escaped being struck by an eastbound auto drive by C. Willard Jones of 139 South Ravine, just before he was hit by the Benjamin car, which was traveling westward. Mr. Swafford had been visiting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn M. Crabtree, 170 Coldwater, Level Park, and had left the house accompanied by Haskell Thurman, 21, of 72 Carlyle; Billy Williams, 22, of 7 Oxford and Louis Williams, 19, of Route 6. They were walking and as they neared the Vire grocery, 3117 West Michigan avenue, Mr. Swafford announced he would go across the road to the store and call a taxicab.
Witnesses said that as Mr. Swafford stepped onto the pavement he was narrowly missed by the Jones car. Mr. Jones applied his brakes and skidded several feet along the shoulder of the highway. Mr. Swafford then proceeded on across the highway and was hit head-on by the Benjamin car. Dr. Willard N. Putman, coroner, said he suffered a fractured skull, broken lower jaw and a broken right arm. Death was believed to have been instantaneous. The body was taken to the Royal funeral home and was to be sent this afternoon to Dayton, Tenn. Previous to his long service in the navy, Mr. Swafford had served three years in the army. Upon his separation from the service, he had joined his brothers, Corliss Swafford and family, at 72 Carlyle, and had worked only 14 days at the United Steel & Wire Co. plant. His parents, Daris and Ova France Swafford, live at Pikeville, Tenn. He was unmarried. In addition to the brother who lives here, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Marybelle Gentry and Mrs. Pearl Therma, both of Dayton, Tenn. The brother, Everett Swafford, who was killed here Dec. 24, 1943, had just left his work at the Carl Tructractor plant at 7 p.m. He was walking across Lafayette to accept a ride with a friend when he was hit by a car driven by Kenneth Barnard of Route 6. He came to Battle Creek in July, 1943, and left a wife and two children in Lupton City, Tenn.
- Rank: Shipfitter Second Class
- Date of birth: 3 March 1909
- Date of death: 28 November 1946
- County: Bledsoe
- Service Branch: Navy
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Bronze Star
- Burial/Memorial Location: Gentry Cemetery, Summer City, Bledsoe County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar VI, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Robert F. Swafford
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