On April 4, 1944, the USS Gudgeon departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to begin its twelfth patrol of World War II. Just three days later, the submarine refueled at Johnson Island, located about 860 miles southwest of the island of Hawaii. That was the last time the ship and its 80 Navy men on board were ever heard from again.
The submarine, believed to have been bombed by Japanese pilots as it neared the surface of the Pacific, carried Paul Westley Swinson—the father of Joyce, now 84. She was only 4 at the time. Joyce’s mother received no remains, only silence. And as a late addition to the USS Gudgeon, Paul had never been on a submarine before and was not included on the initial casualty list. Nearly two decades passed before his name was added.
Grasping at memories
In the midst of the family’s grief, a lifetime of unanswered questions followed. As the youngest child of three, Joyce was the only sibling who did not have any clear memories of her father. Her mother didn’t mention him much, which left Joyce with an even deeper sense of loss as she grew older. She clung to the only tangible memories she had of her father: two faded black-and-white photographs.
“This has affected her psyche throughout her life,” said Joyce’s daughter, Donna. “She always felt like a piece of her was missing.”
The emptiness existed alongside her unwavering dedication to family and commitment to caring for others throughout her life. “Family first, people always,” was Joyce’s motto as she raised four children as a single mother, working in administrative roles at a Washington, D.C. hospital. She lost two grandchildren and cared for her son after a stroke, all while modeling values of education and service and volunteering to distribute meals to those in need.
Connecting through history
Still, nothing filled the hole in her heart for her father that she’d carried for decades. Joyce dreamed of connecting with her father’s memory by embarking on the long journey from Washington to Hawaii to walk the grounds of Pearl Harbor. But limited Social Security income prevented her from making the trip on her own.
“Anything I get to learn about my father has a big impact on me,” Joyce said. “It gives me something to pass down to the grandkids.”
Wish of a Lifetime was honored to provide Joyce the opportunity to both honor her father and find closure with a visit to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum and Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, alongside her daughter Donna. Joyce got to see her father’s name on the Submarine Memorial Wall after a lifetime of rarely hearing it. She had the chance to step aboard the USS Bowfin (a sister sub to her father’s) and watched a film about USS Gudgeon’s bombing. The weekend was topped off with a nighttime cruise for mother and daughter.
“It was just wonderful, just to see his name on different things,” Joyce shared. “I saw where my dad would have stood, because he was a steward. We saw the tables where they ate, the beds, the torpedoes, and the bathrooms. I feel closer to my dad after this trip. All these years I just had two pictures—It did a lot for me in my heart.”
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