Raymond Szweda: A Chicago-Tough Marine

By Carla Khan, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Raymond (Ray) Szweda grew up on the Chicago North side.  He thought he was just like all the other kids on the block until he was about 8-years-old when his parents told him that he had been adopted when he was only 11 months.  He shrugged off the teasing by some classmates, loved his parents as much as ever and life went on as usual.  His father was a WWII Veteran and it was presumed that because of some of the combats he had been in, Ray’s parents had been unable to have any children until they surprised him on Christmas 1961 when he was 16 years old, that he was going to have a sibling and the following year his little sister, Patricia, was born.  By then, Ray had finished high school and was looking for a job.  Because he had won a competition in lithography and clearly was talented, the printers union gave him a job.  Unfortunately, not much later in December 1965, Ray got another Christmas surprise when he received his draft notice for the US Marine Corps.  With the war in Vietnam going on, Ray was scared but, at the same time, he also wanted to honor his country.

Within a few days, he was on his way to Camp Pendleton in CA for Basic Training.  Because of the war, the duration of the training had been reduced from 12 to 8 weeks but doing double duty obstacle courses and other physical training exercises were not a problem for Ray.  He graduated and was allowed to go home for 30 days much to the delight of his now 4-year-old little sister who hated to see him leave again.  Because his dad had noticed that Ray was not too sure about hand-to-hand combat, he surprised him during this visit with a dagger to carry in his boot.  That dagger stayed with him throughout his military service days.

After his home visit, he had to complete 4 weeks of specialty training or ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) learning how to be a Marine Infantry Rifle Man and become proficient in the use of rifles, bazookas, and rocket launchers.  Once that was completed, Ray was quickly on his way to Da Nang in Vietnam via Alaska and Okinawa.  No time was wasted in Da Nang, Ray was assigned to Charlie Company, First Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Infantry Division and put on a truck with destination Chu Lai from where he was helicoptered along with a load of replacement ammunition to his base in the jungle. Ray and the ammo were offloaded and the helicopter left with a couple of injured Marines. 

His new home was a tent on a hill in a heavily guarded camp surrounded by canons and bunkers.  Although most of the Marines were friendly towards the “newbie”, one of them apparently thought he was an easy target. After they had just returned from 5 days in the jungle, chow time was called and they customarily immediately filed in.  Ray, however, first cleaned his ammo.  When he came back after the meal, he noticed that someone had swapped his clean magazines for dirty ones. Ray’s immediate reaction was, “Hey, you try me? I’m from Chicago” and set out to find who had done it.  A fight broke out which was easily won by Ray, he got his clean ammunition back and no one ever tried to take advantage of this newbie again.

So far, there had not been any enemy contact but suddenly, one day when they were on patrol and a sniper shot and killed a big Marine.  That’s when Ray realized they could never let their guard down because the enemy was watching all the time.

In spite of the stressful situation, there were funny moments too such as the time when Ray fell down a well and his buddies had to pull him out.  Or the time when Ray was standing guard against possible ambush and heard heavy steps approaching. Despite his warnings the heavy steps kept coming down the trail. Ray decided to shoot and killed …..  a water buffalo!  The noise woke everyone up and for a long time afterwards Ray was reminded of who the real enemy was.  He still hopes that the owner of the water buffalo was compensated. At another time, while they were on patrol they came through a village where a wedding was in progress and the Marines were invited to the party.

Most of the time, though, the Marines were under stress.  There was the time when they patrolled a rice paddy and Ray’s friend was shot through the head.  The medics had already given up but Ray stayed with him and stopped the bleeding till the helicopter came.  Later he heard that his friend had survived but he never found out about his condition.

After Ray had served for 9 months ‘in country”, he still hadn’t been on R&R because he really wanted to visit Australia and that took a little longer to work out.  Unfortunately, he never got to go on R&R because, on May 10, 1967, when they were chasing Viet Cong soldiers during the Battle of Hill 110, things went very wrong for Ray.  The enemy had gone around the hill and the Marines decided to go over the top.  Ray, not knowing that the enemy was already right below him, descended backwards down a steep slope when he was shot several times.  The bullets caused severe intestinal damage and also caused serious damage to his leg.  Other Marines were hit as well.  They had to wait to get helicoptered out of the combat zone and could be taken to a MASH unit.  From there, Ray was taken to the hospital ship USS Sanctuary where they saved his life.  He spent time in a hospital in the Philippines, was transferred to Washington D.C., and after several surgeries transported to the Great Lakes military hospital where he turned 21!

In the meantime, his parents — who had been prepared for the worst when the Marines came to the door — were happy that not only he had survived the ordeal but that he now was close to Chicago.  Because his little sister, now 5-years-old, was not allowed in his hospital room, Ray was not going to pass up seeing her and against regulations, left the hospital for a few minutes in order to be able to give her a big hug.  

He stayed in the hospital for many more months and despite many serious surgeries, made the best of his time.  He became a voracious reader, a fierce chess player, and bought himself a brand-new Pontiac that he secretly managed to park on the base.  

Finally, on May 20, 1968 he was discharged and moved back to his parents’ home.  He attended a job fair, was hired as a truck dispatcher, but then had to return to the hospital for more surgery and another 4 months stay.  When he was discharged this time, he decided to take advantage of the GI Bill and attend Triton College to earn a 2-year degree in photography.  He did so well that he was selected to represent his college in New York City during a 5-day United Nations Conference for students where he represented Jordan.

College degree completed, Ray became a commercial photographer and during weekends did weddings on the side.  Although he loved photography, war related medical problems hampered his career.  He decided to become a custodian instead.  He is retired now and looks back with satisfaction on the choices he made in life.  His mother died at a fairly early age and when his father was no longer able to live alone, Ray took care of him for 12 ½ years.  Ray has 4 nephews and nieces ages ranging between the ages of 16-43 and enjoys them often at family functions.

Looking back over so many years, Ray concluded that he has had a good life and that one takes life as it comes and makes the best of it.

Ray, thank you for your Service and enjoy your well-deserved Honor Flight!