Nguyen Hop Doan

Nguyen Hop Doan
Nguyen Hop Doan wearing the rank of Colonel

Nguyễn Hợp Đòan (1928–2002) was to be the last Mayor of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam and Province Chief of Gia Dinh Province, before the fall of Saigon that led to the reunification of Vietnam under the Communist party in 1975.

Family

Born in Hai Duong Province in 1928 to Nguyen Thuc Vinh, a former Governor of Bac Can Province in French Indochina and what was then northern Vietnam. The senior Nguyen nearly captured Ho Chi Minh early in Ho's career. For his efforts, Ho's comrades tortured and killed Nguyen's mother. Fiercely anticommunist, the family fled South at the partitioning of the country following the Geneva Accords of 1954.

Military career

Nguyen attended the 4th class of the Vietnamese National Military Academy in Da Lat, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC) and the U.S. Army War College (USAWC).

He served as Commanding Officer of 705th Battalion, Commanding Officer of 42nd Brigade, Commanding Officer of 14th Division and Chief of Staff of 9th Division. He also served as Chief of Staff of Vietnam's Rangers and Special Forces and participated in the Phoenix program. The program was designed to identify and "neutralize"—capture; induce to surrender; kill; or otherwise disrupt—the noncombatant infrastructure of Viet Cong (VCI) cadres who were engaged both in recruiting and training insurgents within South Vietnamese villages, as well as providing support to the North Vietnamese war effort.

Nguyen was Province Chief of Kon Tum from 1965-1970. He excelled as a Military officer in his dual role as the Sector Chief of Tuyen Duc Military District and as Mayor of the provincial capital city of Da Lat from 1970-1975.

Decorations and Badges

Nguyen received numerous Medals, Honors and Citations including National Order of Vietnam, 4th Class (Bao Quoc Huan Chuong), ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) Joint Forces Order (Luc Quan Huan Chuong), Service Medal (Tham Muu Boi Tinh), Campaign Medal (Chien Dich Boi Tinh) and the United States Silver Star award.