Nguyen Hop Doan

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Nguyen Hop Doan (1928-2002) was to be the last Mayor of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam and Governor of Gia Dinh Province, before the reunification of Vietnam under the Communist party in 1975.

Born in Hai Duong Province in 1928 to Nguyen Thuc Vinh, a former Governor of Bac Can Province in North 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. Nguyen attended the 4th class of the elite Vietnamese National Military Academy in Dalat, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC) and the U.S. Army War College (USAWC). He was the youngest Major in the South Vietnamese Army at age 24.

Colonel Nguyen Hop Doan.

For his patriotic and outstanding service to Vietnam, 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), U.S. Silver Star, and many other ARVN and US Medals and Citations.

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 highly successful 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 Governor of Kontum Province from 1965-1970, where the communist Tet offensive of 1968 was soundly defeated. He excelled as a Military Officer and as a Public Servant, in his dual role as the Governor of the Military District of Tuyen Duc, and as Mayor of the provincial capital city of Dalat from 1970-1975. He was resolutely honest, and was penniless when his family emigrated to the United States on the day of surrender. During his tenure, Dalat was a safe heaven. He built on its charm and beauty, and kept it a favorite honeymoon destination. Dalat was also a center of learning, with many boarding schools, universities, military academies and seminaries. South Vietnam's sole nuclear reactor and associated scientists and personnel were based in Dalat.

At the closing of the war, Nguyen stood and fought while the neighboring Military District Chiefs ran without a fight, creating chaos as refugees poured into Saigon from the First and Second Corps. Along the way, the refugee columns (now known as the "convoy of tears") took heavy casualties as communist forces (North Vietnamese 340th Division) rained down artillery and killing thousands. Nguyen ordered his own withdrawal only after realizing that his city and district were isolated. Nguyen led an orderly withdrawal (always a difficult military maneuver), stayed with his troops and saved many lives. To his constituency from the Central Highlands of Vietnam (Dalat and Tuyen Duc), he is fondly remembered as an able Military Officer and a Patriot.

He had hopes of returning home, of eventual overthrow of the murderous junta. After spending more than twenty five years in America, Nguyen still held on to his South Vietnamese citizenship. Sadly, he passed away before seeing a truly united and democratic Vietnam.