Ralph Sweezey felt that relief had arrived when the Meredith took him off his damaged ship.

Ralph Beecher Sweezey, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd E. Sweezey, was born on July 31, 1921, in San Jose, California. The family later moved to Soquel, California, where Ralph's father managed the Sesnon properties. Young Sweezey attended Mission Hill Junior High School and enrolled in Santa Cruz High School in 1936. He was graduated from high school with the class of June 17, 1939.

Ralph Sweezey joined the US Navy in July 1941 and was sent to the US Naval Training Center in San Diego for boot camp. After completing his training, he was assigned duty at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Vireo. While serving on board that minesweeping destroyer, he saw action at Pearl Harbor where the ship was credited with shooting down an enemy plane.

Following the battle of Midway, the USS Vireo was grounded while attempting to rescue the USS Yorktown. It was later salvaged and returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs. After reconstruction was completed, Ralph Sweezey and his ship set sail to assist in the Guadalcanal campaign.

On 15 October [1942], while Vireo was in a convoy taking vital supplies to the embattled Marines on Guadalcanal, approaching Japanese forces were detected. The rest of the convoy hastily left the area and the destroyer Meredith removed the old tug's crew and prepared to sink her to prevent capture by the enemy. However, Japanese planes arrived before this could be done and quickly sank the destroyer, leaving Vireo abandoned but undamaged. Though most of her crew had been lost with Meredith, the tug was salvaged and served actively for the rest of the Pacific War.

It is believed that Seaman First Class Ralph Beecher Sweezey died while aboard the USS Meredith on October 15, 1942; however, his body was never recovered. He was officially declared dead on October 16, 1943, and appears on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery. His awards include the Purple Heart.

(ABMC; SCHSC, Pg. 19, DANFS, USS Vireo AM-52; USS Meredith; SCSn February 11, 1943 1:6)