Sharon T. (Mayo) Swartworth (1959-2003) - Killed in Action, Iraq

Sharon T. Swartworth was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1959 and grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island. She enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) in 1977 and completed Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, followed by the Multi-Channel Communications Equipment Operator Course at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Her first assignment was as a Personnel Administration Specialist at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After seven years of enlisted service, she attained the rank of Sergeant First Class (SFC), was selected to become a Warrant Officer, and was appointed as Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2), from the rank of SFC, by the Judge Advocate General in 1985. Following her appointment, she became a Legal Administrator in the Judge Advocate General's Corps.

As a Legal Administrator, she served in numerous distinguished assignments, including: Training, Advising, and Counseling (TAC) Officer, Warrant Officer Candidate School, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; IMA Legal Administrator, Special Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Legal Assistance Task Force during Operation Desert Storm, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Washington, DC; Legal Service Study Group, Office of the General Counsel, Washington, D.C.; Legal Administrator at the Presidio of San Francisco, California; Legal Administrator at the U.S. Army Litigation Center, Arlington, Virginia; Legal Administrator, U.S .Army Legal Services Agency; and Director of Operations for Legal Technology Office of the Judge Advocate General, Arlington, Virginia.

In June 1999, CW5 Swartworth was selected as the Regimental Warrant Officer of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. On July 21, 1999, she officially assumed the position, serving as the primary advisor to the Army's Judge Advocate General on all matters concerning Legal Administrators in the U.S. Army. Upon assuming this role, she became the sixth Chief Warrant Officer of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG CWOC) at the Headquarters, Department of the Army, and notably, the first female CW5 in the history of the JAG Corps.

CW5 Swartworth had a profound impact on the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and the Warrant Officer community. She advocated professional development and expanded training opportunities for JAG Corps Warrant Officers to increase technical proficiency.  She was instrumental in the redesign of the education requirements for Warrant Officer Basic Course and creating the Warrant Officer Advance Course. The redesign of the Courses for Legal Administrators included combining paralegals and attorneys in the same course. 

CW5 Swartworth was widely respected as a leader, soldier, mentor, and friend, leaving a lasting impression on those she encountered. In recognition of her impacts, the headquarters building at the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Career College at Fort Novosel was named “Swartworth Hall” in 2004. In 2011, a hall at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia, was also named in her honor.

On November 7, 2003, CW5 Swartworth was killed, along with five other Soldiers, when their UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in which she was a passenger was shot down near Tikrit, Iraq. She was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility. CW5 Swartworth was the first female casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.