In the beginning of the Curundu Protestant Church, military
chaplains served the congregation, and Chaplain Eric Emanuel
Swadell was the first, serving from 1947 to1949.

Swadell was born May 22, 1895, in Copenhagen, Denmark. When
he was a very young man he emigrated to Great Britain, became
a naturalized British citizen,and fought in World War I as a
member of the King’s Liverpool Regiment.

Known as a “sober, steady man”, Eric had a ship torpedoed and
sunk right out from under him, and he forever carried the
scars from a machine-gunning he experienced during this
Great “War”. He was at sea between 1915 and 1917,and was
discharged in September 1917. For his heroic services to the
British Government, he received The King’s Silver Badge,
which is equivalent to the US Purple Heart. He and one
other soldier were the only enlisted men of his regiment to
survive WWI.

After he was discharged from the British Army in 1917,
Swadell was given the option to emigrate to any country in
the British Empire. He chose New Zealand and attended a
Bible college in Auckland. As a result of his wartime
experiences, he had made a promise to God to serve Him . To
support himself during this schooling, he worked on a sheep
ranch.

Desiring to obtain more training, he decided to come to
America in the early 20’s where he enrolled at the Bible
Institute of Los Angeles in 1923. He met Laura Pim at BIOLA
in 1924, and they were married in 1925. Swadell later
enrolled in the Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,
Kentucky from which he graduated in 1928. At the age of 43,
in 1939, he became a naturalized US citizen.

After serving as a Baptist minister for many years, he gave
20 years of his life to serving as a chaplain in the U.S.
Army during and after World War II. When he was assigned to
the Curundu Protestant Church, services were held in the
Curundu Theater, and he was also the chaplain at Ft. Clayton
Hospital.
The construction of the church began at this time with
quonset huts donated by the Army.

In his U. S. military career Swadell served in the Pacific,
AngelIsland near San Francisco, the Panama Canal Zone, and
Germany,retiring with the the rank of Lt. Colonel.

During his retirement years in Vista, CA, he was assistant
pastor/minister of visitation at the Vista Community Church
for over 8 years. Other achievements during his later years
include chaplain of the Retired Officers’ Association of
North County, member of the Vista Rotary Club, and member of
Chagres Lodge AF & AM, Balboa, CZ. A Biblical scholar, he
spoke 9 languages. Swadell entered into eternal rest on April
19,1968,and is buried in Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside,
CA.

Laura May Pim Swadell was born in Vancouver, British Columbia
on December 19, 1893, and passed into the Lord’s presence on
February 6, 1977. She, too, is buried in Oceanside, CA.

The Swadells had four children: Carl, Eric, Robert, and Mary
Rose. Robert and Mary Rose accompanied their parents to the
Canal Zone and were high school students at the time.