Memories of a Marine in a 1959 peacekeeping mission in Viet Nam
My husband Stony served in Viet Nam, beginning in 1959 right after he graduated from Napa High School, he joined the United States Marine Corp. Stony remembers a time in the nation’s history that many Americans might not know existed. This was when he served on an “advisory” peace-keeping mission there before fighting escalated. As usual, he honors every American Veteran that ever served this nation in war and thanks them for their service!
Stony explained: “After Vietnam gained independence from France in 1956, the country was divided. The Diem regime established a democratic, republic form of government in South Vietnam, while North Vietnam aligned with China and adopted a communist government. Seeking control of the entire country, the communists threatened the South, and Diem organized a military modeled on that of the United States to defend his country against the North. After World War II, the United States helped form the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), whose main purpose was to protect its members from external aggression and labeled the North as the aggressors.
“The United States recognized South Vietnam as a legitimate free nation. The U.S. Marine Corps had been bringing South Vietnamese Marine officers to Camp Pendleton, Calif., for training, but later, the decision was made that it would be more effective to train them in Vietnam and this was my job. (At that time, Winston “Stony” Tennant was stationed with the 9th Marine Regiment in Okinawa: Did he know where else he was going?)
“We had been trained in guerrilla and counterguerrilla tactics in the Philippines. I had also been sent to instructors’ school, so I was assigned TAD (temporary additional duty) in Da Nang to train officers in-country. My primary job involved patrolling the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was not actually a single trail. All the areas many trails combined to create the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
“In northern South Vietnam, mountain ranges run north to south, with narrow valleys between them. Each valley contained trails leading from the north to the deltas in the southern part of South Vietnam. North Vietnam used these routes to send supplies and materials to its forces operating in the southern deltas. South Vietnamese Marines patrolled the valleys in the northern mountains to try to cut off those supply lines. The Montagnard people who lived in these mountains would alert the South Vietnamese military to the presence of North Vietnamese patrols, and the South Vietnamese would then send out their own patrols to intercept supplies coming from the North. So, our job was to assist in the effort to locate any North Viennese supply trains coming from the North and prevent those supplies from reaching the South. The United States’ Marines in the country at that time were not combat troops. We were strictly told not to fire our weapons and if we did, it was only in self-defense!”
Stony served there six and a half months: “We had no combat troops in Vietnam then. There were Army personnel down South and the Marines in the mountainous northern section of Vietnam. We went on patrol to set up an ambush to get ahead of the North Vietnamese supply lines. They knew we were setting up an ambush for them and it was a cat and mouse game. They would send out false information to try to suck us into their ambushes, so we had had to expect that all the time and be very wary in our movements, so we did not fall into their ambushes, which unfortunately did happen. A couple of us were wounded but the guys I was with came home. We were proud to have defended freedom in the world and were extremely disappointed over the outcome of that war.”
