Left: Symmes in the Ca Mau on board PCF 56,
during the summer of 1969. Note the nonregulation metallic blue helmet.

WEYMOUTH D. SYMMES was raised in Lewistown and Billings, Montana.  In 1966 he enlisted in the United States Navy.  During his service he spent two years aboard the USS Ticonderoga and one year on Swift boats in Vietnam.

Honorably discharged in 1970 he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism, Two Navy Unit Commendations, The Republic of Vietnam meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross) and other awards.

He married Terry (Persson) in 1970.  He received a bachelor’s degree in 1973 and a master’s degree in 1975 in Political Science from the University of Montana.  After a career in commercial banking he retired from First Security Bank 1999. 

He was the treasurer for the Montana State Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial; was one of the founders and first treasurer of the Swift Boat Sailors Association (the fraternal organization for Swift Boat sailors); was one of the founders and the national treasurer for Swift Boat Veterans & POWs for Truth; and was on the board and the treasurer of the Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Foundation.

Weymouth is the author of two books, War on the Rivers A Swift Boat Sailor’s Chronicle of the Battle for the Mekong Delta and This is Latch The Story of Rear Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann.

He and his wife split their time between their home in Missoula, Montana, and traveling in the Southwest in the winter.