I understand that i need to forfeit my US license at some point, and will be given a Swiss license. Do I get my US license back when I leave? Also, are US driving records shared with Swiss license bureau? I have a bit of a lead foot

No you don't get the US licence back when you leave. Make sure you don't let the US licence expire back in the old country or you'll have the hassle of getting another.
I don't think any transgressions made in the US will be checked upon in Switzerland...I coud be wrong though

As the hobit pointed out, you won't get your license back. Also, driving records will not be checked; however, make sure that you have a valid license (not expired), otherwise the sons of &%ç&es kind folks at the Swiss dmv will let you drive around with a photocopy of your license and then send you a registered letter with a 234Chf administrative fee, telling you that they are unable to transfer the license as it's expired and that you are not allowed to drive anymore until you procure a valid license.

A free advice from someone who suffers suffered from the same "right foot weighs about 65lbs disease"..this place makes Ohio look like a friggin' Nascar event...and you'll have to ease up on the gas, as there are tons of speed cameras and you'll be getting loads of memorable kodak moments of your daily commute to work.

I asked if I could keep my US license as I often go back and they let me. So I now have both.

I also kept my US license, it's just stamped with "not valid in CH". I recently tossed it out though, as it's since expired.

They never took my license away! All I had to do was pay a fee to get a Swiss one, so I have both.

I got one of those "Not Valid in Switzerland" stickers too.

When I went back to Canada (where club entries are very strict for IDs, and the Canadian Drivers License is the main form of ID), the bouncer was shocked, he was like, "what the hell did you do in Switzerland"!!!???

They will take your US license temporarily and return it with the
stick "Not valid in Switzerland".

This does not invalidate your license in the US.

Whatever you do, please switch over to a Swiss licence before the 1 year in Switzerland (as noted on the date of entry on your B permit) is up.

Or you could wind up like me, with no license for any country.

See, we didn't have a car our first year here, and the Strassenverkhersamt in Zurich just told me to use my US one for renting cars. We got a car after 18 months of living here. By this time I was in Lausanne and the Service des automobiles made me REDO THE ENTIRE THING. Because I had been in Switzerland more than a year, I couldn't do just the "course de controle" driving test.

I've failed the Swiss road test three times after spending mucho dinero taking the written (passed on first try tho) and the driving lessons. My US license is expired and Mississippi won't let me renew because I don't have an electric bill in my name there. If I try again I have to go to the shrink to make sure I am mentally fit to drive.

TL; DR: Change over your license now before your US one expires.

Wow, that's awful and sucks. Could you convince some person in Mississippi to take over their electricity for a few months to renew your license? It would probably be easier and less expensive.

And the part of dropping by the shrink for a chat is true. The Swiss figure if you can't pass after three tries that there must be something wrong with you and they don't want you on the roads before being "checked out".

This is a good example of what can happen if you do not change over you license within the one year grace period. Major money, time and hassle. DO IT.