Saluting a Veteran,'When All Hell Broke Loose'

Aug. 5, 1969

Matt Switanowski was in the lead, knowing Viet Cong (VC) or North Vietnamese Army (NVA) were nearby. A K-9 team had gone in front, and the dogs soon started getting anxious. The handlers told him, “Be careful. They’re very close.”

Switanowski and his platoon were part of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, a group known as the Manchus. He was the point man on the lead platoon on an offensive, having been flown in on helicopters into the Boi Loi Woods in Vietnam. 

“It was a main area where the North Vietnamese dig in and hide,” Switanowski said. “Every time we went in, we always made contact. Always.”

He had gone about 20 feet and began spotting holes in the ground where the VC or NVA would hide out.

“Across a little opening, we could see a bunker where they had dug in,” Switanowski said.

The platoon leader, Sgt. Jim Donnelly of St. Louis, and the radio operator were behind Switanowski, who turned and told the sergeant he was moving in for a closer look and to cover him.

Switanowski recalled taking about three steps toward the bunker.

Second platoon Sgt. Jerry “Chester” Powles, who was behind Donnelly, remembers that exact moment, too: “That’s when all hell broke loose.”

Late 1968

Before leaving for Vietnam, Donnelly surprised his high school sweetheart, Sue Markus, by showing up in St. Louis, having come home on leave.

“Jim and I were together for five or six years. One thing he said was he couldn’t believe I would even consider dating him because he didn’t have a car,” said Sue, who lives near Florissant. “Having a car didn’t make any difference to me. He was my first love.”

Donnelly took her to Northland Shopping Center in Jennings, and the couple passed by a Zales jewelry store, a moment he had planned. Sue was still a senior in high school.

“He just said, ‘OK, let’s pick out an engagement ring,’” Sue said.

They were going to be married Aug. 8, 1970, right after his enlistment was up. Markus cried when he left on his way to Vietnam.

“I just did what every other woman did. I wrote letters, read letters, waited and prayed,” Sue said.

Check back on Monday at noon for the second article of this .