Do Cao Tri

In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Đỗ, but is often simplified to Do in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person should properly be referred to by the given name Trí.

Đỗ Cao Trí
Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri photo 1.jpg
Allegiance	Vietnamese National Army, Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Years of service	1947–1971
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Airborne Brigade (1954–1955) I Corps (1963) II Corps (1963–1964) III Corps (1968–1971)
Battles/wars	Ambassador to South Korea (1967–1968)

Lieutenant General Đỗ Cao Trí (20 November 1929 – 23 February 1971) was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) known for his fighting prowess and flamboyant style. Tri started out in the French Army before transferring to the Vietnamese National Army and the ARVN. Under President Ngo Dinh Diem, Tri was the commander of I Corps where he was noted for harsh crackdowns on mass Buddhist demonstrations against Diem's pro-Catholic discrimination. Despite this, Tri participated in the November 1963 coup that ousted and killed Diem. Later, during an era of military rule, Tri was exiled by Nguyen Cao Ky, the most powerful member of the junta, but when Ky was eclipsed by Nguyen Van Thieu, Tri was called back to command III Corps, displacing a Thieu loyalist. During this period, Tri was the subject of corruption allegations due to his flamboyant manner. Tri led III Corps during the Cambodian Campaign of 1970, earning the laudatory sobriquet as "the Patton of the Parrot's Beak".^[1] In 1971, Tri was ordered north to take command of I Corps in Operation Lam Son 719, an incursion into Laos, which had gone astray due to the incompetent leadership of Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Lam. However, he was killed in a helicopter accident before being able to take control.

Early years

Tri was born in Binh Tuoc, Bien Hoa Province, French Indochina, just northeast of Saigon.^[2] His father was a wealthy landowner and his grandfather served as Nguyen Dynasty mandarin during the French colonial era.^[1]

Tri earned his Baccalaureate Part II from Petrus Ky High School in Saigon. After entering the French colonial forces in 1947, he graduated from Do Huu Vi Officer Class and the following year was sent to Auvour, France to attend the infantry school.^[2] In 1953, while an officer in the Vietnamese National Army, he graduated from General Staff and Command Class in Hanoi.^[2]

Tri's first command was as a young airborne officer, and until his death he survived three attempts on his life, leading him to his conviction that he enjoyed "immunity from death on the battlefield".^[1]

As a young lieutenant colonel, he was made the commander of the Airborne Brigade in 1954 and was based in Saigon.^[1] Towards the end of the May 1955 Battle for Saigon, in which Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem asserted his rule over the State of Vietnam by vanquishing the Binh Xuyen organised crime syndicate, some of Diem's supporters tried to move against some generals of questionable loyalty. When he heard that three top generals were being detained in the palace by one of the factions backing Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, Tri telephoned and threatened them: "Free the generals in one half-hour or I will destroy the palace and everything inside it."^[1] One of the rescued generals was Nguyen Van Vy.^[1]

In 1958 he attended the United States Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. During the same year he graduated from Air-Ground Operations School at Fort Kisler, in Washington.^[2]

Buddhist crisis

See also: Buddhist crisis, Hue chemical attacks, and Xa Loi Pagoda raids

During the Buddhist crisis of 1963, Tri gained a deal of attention for his vigorous crackdowns on Buddhist protests against the Diem regime in the central region of Vietnam.^[3]

In Huế, demonstrations were banned and Tri's forces were ordered to arrest those who engaged in civil disobedience.^[4][5] At 1 pm on June 3, some 1,500 protestors attempted to march towards Tu Dam Pagoda in Huế for a rally,^[4] having gathered at Ben Ngu bridge near the Perfume River.^[5] A confrontation ensued when the protestors attempted to cross the bridge. Six waves of ARVN tear gas and attack dogs failed to disperse the crowd.^[4][5][6] At 6:30 pm, the military personnel at the scene dispersed the crowd by emptying vials of brownish-red liquid on the heads of praying protestors, resulting in 67 Buddhists being hospitalised for chemical injuries.^[6][7] The symptoms consisted of severe blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. The crowd responded angrily to what they suspected was the use of poison gas, and the incident became a public relations disaster.^[4][7]

By midnight, tensions were high as a curfew and martial law were enacted.^[7] Rumours circulated that three people had died, and Newsweek reported that police had lobbed blister gas into the crowd.^[4][7] The incident raised concerns by the among the Americans that poison gas was used,^[7] and the US thus threatened to publicly condemn and distance itself from Saigon.^[7] An investigation cleared the troops of using blister or poison gas.^[4]

The main raids in Saigon were accompanied by attacks across the country.^[8] Under Tri, the violence was worse in Hue than in the capital. The approach of Tri's forces was met by the beating of Buddhist drums and cymbals to alert the populace. The townsfolk left their homes in the middle of the night in an attempt to defend the city's pagodas. At Tu Dam Pagoda,^[9] which was the base of leading Buddhist activist leader Thich Tri Quang,^[10] monks attempted to burn the coffin of a colleague who had self-immolated. ARVN soldiers, firing M1 rifles, overran the pagoda and confiscated the coffin. They demolished a statue of Gautama Buddha and looted and vandalized the pagoda,^[9][11] before detonating explosives and leveling much of the pagoda. Many Buddhists were shot or clubbed to death.^[8]

The most determined resistance occurred outside the Dieu De Pagoda in Hue. As troops attempted to erect a barricade across the bridge leading to the pagoda, the crowd fought the heavily armed military personnel with rocks, sticks and their bare fists, throwing back the tear gas grenades that were aimed at them. After a five-hour battle, the military finally took the bridge at dawn by driving armored cars through the angry crowd. The defense of the bridge and Dieu De had left an estimated 30 dead and 200 wounded.^[8][9] Ten truckloads of bridge defenders were taken to jail and an estimated 500 people were arrested in the city. Seventeen of the 47 professors at Hue University, who had resigned earlier in the week in protest against the firing of the rector Cao Van Luan,^[12] a Catholic priest and opponent of Diem's brother Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc were also arrested.^[9]

Despite his vigorous application of Diem's military policies against the Buddhists in central Vietnam, where in the words of Ellen Hammer, Tri "ruled...with an iron hand", he was still involved in plotting against the regime even before the attacks on the pagodas.^[13]

Coup against Diem

Main articles: 1963 South Vietnamese coup and Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

When Tri was informed that coup was imminent, he left Hue on October 29 for Da Nang so that he would be away from Ngo Dinh Can, who ruled central Vietnam from Hue for his family.^[14] The coup took place on November 1, and Tri helped to prevent any loyalist actions by causing diversions. He scheduled a meeting with the province chief and other pro-Diem officials during the time that the coup was to take place. As a result the Diem loyalists were stuck in a meeting room and were unable to mobilise the Republican Youth and other Ngo family paramilitary and activist groups.^[15]

After the coup, angry crowds surrounded the Ngo family home where Can and his elderly mother lived. It was agreed that they would be given safe exile by the junta. Tri told his former master Can that he would be safe and that he would be taken out to Saigon where it would be safer. Tri would only promise safe passage in an American plane to the capital, where embassy officials would meet Can,^[16][17] who wanted asylum in Japan.^[16] However, it was a trick and the Americans handed Can over to the junta, and he was executed in 1964.^[16][18]

Following the arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963, there was much pressure on the new regime to remove Diem supporters from power. Prime Minister Nguyen Ngoc Tho's approach to removing Diem supporters from positions of influence drew criticism. Some felt that he was not vigorous enough in removing pro-Diem elements from authority, whereas others felt that the magnitude of the turnover was excessive and vengeful.^[19] One high profile and heavily criticised non-removal was that of Tri, who gained prominence for his anti-Buddhist crackdown in the central region around Hue. Tri was simply transferred to the II Corps in the central highlands directly south of the I Corps region.^[19]

Conflict with Nguyen Cao Ky

See also: Tet Offensive

Tri lived lavishly and flamboyantly, leading to persistent suspicions of corruption. In 1965, he tried to kill himself during a government investigation. One of the main forces behind the inquiry was Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky, then head of the air force and the leading figure in the ruling military junta.^[20] The pair became bitter rivals, and Ky sent Tri into exile.^[20] In 1967, General Nguyen Van Thieu became president, with Ky as his deputy. Thieu sent Tri to South Korea as ambassador.^[2]

The power struggle between Thieu and Ky played into Tri's hands. At the time of the communists' Tet Offensive, Thieu was out of the capital, celebrating the lunar new year in the Mekong Delta. Ky, who was still in Saigon, stepped into the spotlight, organising the military forces against the communists, who were repelled.^[21] Ky's overshadowing of his superior during South Vietnam's deepest crisis further strained relations between the two men.^[21] The Americans pressured Thieu to give Ky more responsibility, but Thieu, known for his extreme fear of threats to his power, did the opposite.^[21]

In the wake of the offensive, however, Thieu's regime became more energetic,^[22] declaring martial law,^[23] widening conscription,^[23] and organising token anti-corruption campaigns were carried out.^[24] Thieu used the communist threat to increase his personal power,^[25] arresting, exiling or relieving senior officers who supported Ky.^[26][27]

Return to command

Thieu recalled Tri back to South Vietnam to take a command role. Tri was made commander of III Corps, which surrounded the capital Saigon and was crucial in blocking or orchestrating coups. Tri replaced Lieutenant Le Nguyen Khang, a prominent Ky supporter. Thieu gave orders directly to his supporters in senior positions, bypassing the high military command. According to Creighton Abrams, the head of US forces in Vietnam at the time, "Tri has dinner with the President once or twice a week. He gets operational approval, that sort of thing, and [the chief of Joint General Staff Cao Van] Vien's not in on that".^[28] Although Tri and Ky often crossed paths at official functions thereafter, they never shook hands.^[20]

Still, Tri's colourful lifestyle and ever-growing wealth continued to raise eyebrows in Saigon. Two senators dubbed him "flagrantly corrupt", and Tri was accused of being involved in a money-smuggling ring at the same time of his successful campaign in Cambodia in 1970.^[1] At the time, he lived in a spacious villa equipped with a swimming pool in Bien Hoa.^[1] Tri was known for his flamboyant style. He usually wore a camouflage jungle suit, a black three-starred cap to indicate his rank, a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 handgun, and was always seen with a swagger stick, quipping "I use it to spank the Viet Cong".^[1]

Tri was considered by both his contemporaries and by historians as one of the most aggressive and able combat commanders produced by the Republic of Vietnam. As a lieutenant general, he performed brilliantly as commander of the III Corps during the Cambodian Campaign of 1970, earning an unusual laudatory sobriquet from the U.S. news media as "the Patton of the Parrot's Beak".^[1] Tri had been ordered north to take command of beleaguered I Corps forces after Operation Lam Son 719, a 1971 incursion into Laos, had gone astray due to the incompetent leadership of Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Lam. However, he was killed in a helicopter accident while still in Cambodia.^[20]

Tri was buried at Bien Hoa Military Cemetery.^[20]

Decorations and awards

• National Order of Vietnam, 1st class
• Vietnam Army Distinguished Service Order, 1st class
• Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (17 citations)
• Training Service Honor Medal, 1st class
• Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, 1st class
• Psywar Medal
• Police Medal
• Administrative Service Medal, 1st class
• Légion d'honneur, France
• ULJI National Order, Republic of Korea
• White Elephant Medal, 2nd class Thailand
• Van Huy Medal, 1st class, Republic of China

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "The Patton of the Parrot's Beak". Time. 1970-06-08. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909314,00.html. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Do Cao Tri". Who's Who In Vietnam. Saigon: Vietnam Press. 1972. 
3. ^ Hammer, p. 135.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Jones, pp. 263–264.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Hammer, p. 136.
6. ^ ^{a b} Jacobs, p. 145.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Jones, pp. 261–262.
8. ^ ^{a b c} Jacobs, pp. 152–153.
9. ^ ^{a b c d} "The Crackdown". Time. 1963-08-31. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
10. ^ Dommen, pp. 508–511.
11. ^ Halberstam, p. 143.
12. ^ Hammer, p. 168.
13. ^ Hammer, p. 166.
14. ^ Hammer, p. 285.
15. ^ Hammer, pp. 285–286.
16. ^ ^{a b c} Hammer, pp. 305–306.
17. ^ Jones, p. 433.
18. ^ Jones, p. 434.
19. ^ ^{a b} Shaplen, p. 221.
20. ^ ^{a b c d e} "The Death of a Fighting General". Time. 1971-03-08. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904774,00.html. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
21. ^ ^{a b c} Stowe, Judy (2001-10-02). "Nguyen Van Thieu". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nguyen-van-thieu-729460.html. Retrieved 2009-10-11. 
22. ^ Dougan and Weiss, pp. 118–119.
23. ^ ^{a b} Dougan and Weiss, p. 119.
24. ^ Dougan and Weiss, p. 120.
25. ^ Dougan and Weiss, pp. 124–125.
26. ^ Hoang, p. 142.
27. ^ Dougan and Weiss, p. 126.
28. ^ Sorley, pp. 180–181.

References

• Dommen, Arthur J. (2001). The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253338549. 
• Dougan, Clark; Weiss, Stephen, et al. (1983). Nineteen Sixty-Eight. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Publishing Company. ISBN 0939526069. 
• Halberstam, David; Singal, Daniel J. (2008). The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-6007-4. 
• Hammer, Ellen J. (1987). A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963. New York City, New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24210-4. 
• Hoang Ngoc Lung (1978). The General Offensives of 1968–69. McLean, Virginia: General Research Corporation. 
• Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4447-8. 
• Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: how the assassinations of Diem and JFK prolonged the Vietnam War. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505286-2. 
• Shaplen, Robert (1966). The lost revolution: Vietnam 1945–1965. London: Andre Deutsch. 
• Sorley, Lewis (1999). A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam. New York City, New York: Harvest Books. ISBN 0156013096. 

External links

• The Death of a Fighting General
• Two Fighting Generals Generals Do Cao Tri and Nguyen Viet Thanh
• Do Cao Tri/Nguyen Viet Thanh
• The Patton of the Parrot's Beak
• A presentation about Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri
• Declassified CIA Documents on Vietnam War
• CAMBODIA - The New York Review of Books
• Chapter 10 - FRIGHTENED MEN IN SCARY PLACES, LOGIC GOES CRAZY AND SANITY ERASES

Persondata
Name	Do Cao Tri
Alternative names
Short description	South Vietnamese commander
Date of birth	1929-11-20
Place of birth
Date of death	1971-02-23
Place of death