Gunnery Sergeant (Retired) Tien Nguyen

North Hills, CA

My mother, brother and I emigrated in 1967 from Vietnam. My mother was a Vietnamese language teacher for the DOD. First she taught USN SEALs in Coronado, CA then the DOD opened up a Vietnamese section at the DLI in Monterey, CA. That is where I met my first Marines, Lt. S. Hunt and LCpl Lablanc. Both were students of my mother, but they also took care of my brother and I. They introduced us to what it was to be an American, as well as what it was to be a Marine: to take care of those who can not take care of themselves, to protect those who can't protect themselves. So in 1980 I enlisted into the USMCR, but found it to be lacking in what I wanted, so that following year I opted to go onto active duty. I stayed there for 21yrs. First assigned to: 23rdMar HQ Co., Comm Plt 1/9 H&S Co., Comm Plt 1stFSSG, HQ Bn, Comm Co, Radio Plt 1/3 H&S Co., Comm Plt 1/10 HQ Btry, Comm Plt MCCES, "B" Co, Radio Sec 3/7 H&S Co., Comm Plt I&I 2/23 H&S Co., Comm Plt. When I arrived at my first duty station I was 17 and completely lost. It was the eve of my first Marine Corps birthday and I did not have a clue. I found out that drill that I was the youngest in the unit and I was to receive that first piece of cake - for a snot-nosed 17yr old that was such a huge thing. I'll never forget that day. 21 years later as my career was winding down I chose the very same occasion to retire, I left my beloved Corps just as I came to her, on the Marine Corps birthday. I retired just as 911 unfolded knowing that the Corps was in good hands. It was rumored that I was the first Vietnamese to reach the rank of GySgt and the first to retire, I can't prove that but it did not matter to me, so long as I was a Marine. I also knew that the Marines I left behind would someday soon be in harms way but I also knew that what they gained from me I gained from them. A feeling of satisfaction that we will always be more than brothers, more than friends... We are United States Marines...