Lambert J. Schwaller
World War II
Lam Schwaller was born in Templeton on May 26, 1922, to John and Katherine (Greteman) Schwaller. Lam attended school in Templeton and graduated from Sacred Heart High School with the class of 1939. He worked as a mason’s tender and worked in Kansas City for a time before the war.
After the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, Lam moved to Long Beach, CA and worked for Douglas Aircraft Company. He enlisted in the US Navy at Los Angeles, CA on November 5, 1942 and was assigned serial number 564 67 09. His previous experience permitted entry with a petty officer rating of RT3c (radio technician third class). On November 11, 1942, he began boot training at the Naval Training Station at San Diego, CA in Company 6K.
On January 15, 1943, Lam was ordered to the Fourth Naval Reserve Naval Armory in Chicago, IL to take a pre-radio course. He was part of Company B, Section 2. By February 24, 1943, he was sent to Texas A&M University in College Station, TX to take a course in Elementary Electricity and Radio Materials. He was a part of Company 23, Building 6 for this work. He graduated on May 22, 1943.
Lam’s next assignment was at the Naval Air Technical Training Center on Ward Island near Corpus Christi, TX. There he took courses in airborne electronics. At the completion of this course, both his rating and his rank changed from RT3c to ART2c (Aviation Radio Technician second class).
On November 16, 1943, Lam was ordered to the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, MD. As the war ramped up, it was determined that Naval Test activities needed to be centralized. Prior activities had taken place at Anacostia outside of Washington, DC and at the Norfolk, VA Navy Yard. Patuxent River was more remote yet relatively close to Washington. It would have still been in the construction phase when Lam was assigned there.
Lam was assigned to the Air Test Center that was charged with evaluating new aircraft and all equipment onboard the aircraft, including radios. Aside from a short stint in Bethesda, MD Naval Hospital in March, 1944, Lam was to spend the rest of the war at Patuxent River. He did a great deal of flying (not as a pilot) testing cutting-edge radio equipment as well as witnessing the future of naval air power. The first US jet aircraft flew at Patuxent River in 1944. The facility remains the primary Naval Test Center to this day.
By July, 1945, Lam had been promoted to ART1c (Aviation Radio Technician first class). Lam remained at Patuxent River as the war ended in August, 1945. He was discharged on March 9, 1946, at Bainbridge, MD. At this time, the Navy changed its rating system. Lam’s final rating became AETM1c (Aviation Electronics Technicians Mate first class).
Lam returned to Templeton and, by 1949, had opened Schwaller Radio & TV. On September 1, 1951, he married Elaine Bluml at Holy Family Church in Lidderdale, IA. He operated his business for the rest of his life. Lam died on February 21, 1998, while on vacation in San Antonio, TX at age 75. He was buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton.