By Elena Perri • Posted August 12, 2024

Shawn Swords has been telling stories through his documentaries for more than 25 years.

A member of St. Joseph Parish in Collingdale, his work focuses on Irish history and culture in the United States, including “The Cut: The Journey of the Men and Women of Duffy’s Cut” and “The History of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”

In recent years, Swords has worked on documentaries telling the stories of Catholic men who served or died during the Vietnam War.

His most recent project, “The Lads of Swampoodle,” explores the lives of a group of Irish and Italian Catholic friends who grew up in the Swampoodle section of North Philadelphia in the 1950s and 1960s and fought in the Vietnam War. The neighborhood is in the area of the former Shibe Park (Connie Mack Stadium if you were a Philadelphia A’s fan) at 21^st and Lehigh Streets.

In addition to the stories of the veterans, the documentary  details the history of Swampoodle, the Catholic churches that were built there in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the negative impact that de-industrialization had on the community.

The first military-themed documentary that Swords created was one that focused on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its effects on veterans after they served in combat. That film told the story of Jim Kirlin, a 1965 alumnus of Father Judge High School, who served a tour of duty in Vietnam and suffers from PTSD.

“The subject intrigued me because I had no idea what these veterans had gone through,” Swords said.

“From a storyteller’s point of view, it was a great story because there were so many layers to it, where they grew up, how their character was formed, and how they were all children of World War II veterans.”

Swords noted that Vietnam veterans with PTSD struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues, and they also had to cope with the negative treatment they received after they returned home.

“World War II veterans came back to parades, and Vietnam veterans were ostracized,” he said.

After the PTSD documentary was released, Kirlin, who grew up in St. Matthew Parish in Northeast Philadelphia, helped Swords produce a documentary about the 27 Father Judge graduates who were killed in action during the Vietnam War. That film, “Remember the 27 Crusaders,” which Swords directed and co-produced, was released in 2019. John Ricciutti also helped produce the documentary.

Father Judge, which has the largest number of Vietnam fatalities of any existing non-public school in the country, has a memorial dedicated to the 27 Crusaders near the main entrance of the school.

Kirlin, who served as a Marine rifleman during the war, now helps Swords produce other military documentaries through American Veterans Media, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization.

“It’s important to me to make sure people know about all these men who served during the war and what they went through,” Kirlin said. “It’s part of history that people need to understand and know. Those stories have to be kept alive.”

He noted the documentaries highlight the large number of men who came from working-class neighborhoods in Philadelphia and served and died during the Vietnam War.

“The war was fought with the blue collar and the working class,” Kirlin added. “They’re the ones who paid the price in that war.”

Swords, director of operations for American Veterans Media, said DVDs of the documentaries are available for a donation of $25.

He added that more documentaries are in the planning stages, including one about Gold Star families.

Screenings of “The Lads of Swampoodle” have been held in the Philadelphia area and in New Jersey.

To schedule a screening or a presentation about the documentaries or the Vietnam War, contact Jim Kirlin at james@americanveteransmedia.org or Sean Swords at sean@americanveteransmedia.org.

For information about the documentaries, visit www.americanveteransmedia.org.