The Hon. Orson Swindle
The Honorable Orson Swindle is an American Vietnam War veteran. Swindle served as a Naval Aviator for the U.S. Marines in Vietnam. In 1966, his plane was shot down, and Swindle was taken to the infamous Hanoi Hilton, enduring inhumane conditions and torture by North Vietnamese soldiers. He was released in 1973, and returned to military service. By his retirement from the Marines in 1979, Swindle was a decorated officer with two Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, and the Legion of Merit, among other honors. Swindle served as President Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce and later as Federal Trade Commissioner. In 2000, Swindle was awarded the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom.
