Ngô Quang Trưởng
“The average South Vietnamese soldier, who grew up in war, was not only audacious and devoted to the cause for which he had been fighting but he always took pride in his career and his heart was filled with love for his family, his comrades-in-arms and his people”
The man who would eventually be known as the best general in the South Vietnamese Army was born in December of 1929 in the Kien Hoa Province of French Indochina, located in the Mekong Delta. The son of a wealthy family, Ngo Quang Truong attended and graduated from a French school at My Tho in 1948, a year before the French withdrawal from Indochina. Truong would enroll in the Thu Duc Military Academy soon after, graduating in 1954 with a commission as a Lieutenant in the Vietnamese National Army, entering into the paratroops.
Within a year of entering service he would see his first action, as the Vietnamese National Army attacked the forces of the Binh Xuyen Syndicate in Saigon. The criminal network exercised near complete control of the capitol, and the perceived inability of the South Vietnamese leadership to control them was becoming an embarrassment, leading to Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem to move to destroy them. Truong was wounded in this weeklong battle, but distinguished himself enough to warrant promotion to 1st Lieutenant.
The State of Vietnam would, by the end of the year, be reformed by Diem into the Republic of Vietnam following his ousting of Emperor Bao Dai, and the Vietnamese National Army in turn reorganized into the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Truong remained in service following this transition, taking command of a battalion of paratroopers. By 1964 he was a major, and distinguished himself yet again by leading his men in an attack on a Viet Cong base at Hat Dich near Saigon, an action that saw him decorated for bravery at the successful end of the action.
He would eventually rise to command the ARVN Airborne Division by 1966, and that year he transferred to take command of the ARVN 1st Division, based in the old Imperial city of Hue. His appointment was not initially a happy one, however, as with the RVN in the midst of civil unrest due to the Diem government’s persecution of the nation’s Buddhist population, which continued after Diem’s assassination and replacement with a military junta.
A Buddhist himself, Truong had some trepidation when called to take command of the 1st Division, which had begun to mutiny in favor of the Buddhists in the city, he did so, with the support of his airborne units. The 1st Division was reigned in within days, and Truong placed in permanent command by the impressed junta leaders in Saigon.
Truong (left) presents a 1st Division plaque to General Wallace Greene, Commandant of the US Marine Corps
It would be here, commanding the 1st Division in Hue, that Truong would see his first major test in 1968, as the city was attacked and captured by the NVA during the Tet Offensive. On the evening of January 31 the NVA took control of almost the entire city of Hue, leaving Truong besieged in his headquarters at Mang Ca in the Hue Citadel. Over the course of the next month Truong would command ARVN Airborne troops again as well as RVN Marines as they slowly expanded their territory inside the Citadel, as US Marines fought their own blood battle on the south side of the Perfume River before joining the ARVN forces to clear the citadel. Over the course of the Battle for Hue, Truong solidified his reputation as one of the best commanders in the ARVN, both in the eyes of his own people as well as his allies.
Further information on the Battle of Hue can be found in the Day-by-Day History of that engagement.
ARVN soldiers under Truong’s command prepare to raise the flag of the Republic of Vietnam over the Hue Citadel at the end of the battle
US National Archives
The victory in the Battle of Hue won Truong a second star for his shoulder, and as a Major General he took command of the ARVN IV Corps in 1970. This represented a homecoming for him, returning to his native region of Vietnam to command the forces engaged with the Viet Cong there. This appointment came on the personal recommendation of American General Creighton Abrams, the commander of MACV (Military Assistance Command - Vietnam), who was impressed with Truong’s performance. A promotion to Lieutenant General followed in 1971.
Under his command IV Corps began to effectively block the infiltration of NVA forces via the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Cambodia, as well as revitalizing the paramilitary Regional Front and Popular Front (“Ruff-Puffs”) in the region. The corresponding feeling of security led to a downturn of local VC activity, and the Mekong Delta became one of the best secured in South Vietnam under Truong’s command.
General Truong inspects weapons of troops during his tenure as IV Corps Commander
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In the spring of 1972 the NVA launched a major offensive into South Vietnam, slamming into the I Corps zone along the DMZ and capturing the city of Quang Tri. In response, President Thieu moved quickly to dismiss the commanding general there and installed Truong. Once again defending Hue from the communists, Truong stabilized the situation, and followed up the a counteroffensive in early May. After this was successful he pressed his advantage, launching Operation Lam Son 72 with the goal of liberating Quang Tri and driving the NVA back to the DMZ. Fighting in Quang Tri would last 81 days, with Truong’s ARVN forces taking the city after inflicting appalling casualties on the NVA.
Truong inspects captured communist equipment in Hue in 1972
Truong remained in command of I Corps as 1975 began, and he thus found himself bearing the brunt of the massive NVA offensive that spring. Despite the effective defense by Truong’s I Corps, NVA forces penetrated further south, capturing Ban Me Thuot in late March, threatening to cut South Vietnam in two and cut I Corps off from Saigon. Conflicting orders from the capitol served to further confused the situation, and as Truong attempted to make a tactical withdrawal from Hue he found himself under heavy attack at Da Nang further south, and eventually Hue fell to the advancing communists. The attempted withdrawal of the 1st Division, now commanded by Brigadier General Nguyen Van Diem, resulted in complete collapse of the division. Left without effective leadership from Saigon, Truong took it upon himself to order a naval evacuation of Da Nang as the city fell into anarchy as thousands of refugees and deserting ARVN soldiers swarmed into it ahead of the NVA. Truong himself was forced to swim out to sea and be picked up by a boat as the NVA artillery and rioting civilians caused evacuation efforts to collapse, with less than 20,000 of the over two million at Da Nang being successfully evacuated.
The chaotic situation and the collapse of the 1st Division, with which he still nursed affection, took a serious toll on Truong, and he suffered a nervous collapse after returning to Saigon. His stay there would not be long, however, as less than a month later the RVN collapsed completely. With the aid of an American officer he had known earlier in the war, Truong was secured a space in the evacuation of Saigon in late April of 1975, arriving on the USS Bunker Hill with former Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky on 29 April.
Truong arrives aboard the USS Midway, walking behind former Prime Minister Ky after the Fall of the Republic of Vietnam
Truong’s family was also evacuated, but was split up in the chaos and sent to various refugee centers in the US before finally being consolidated once again. Moving to Virginia, the family settled in Falls Church, where Truong worked as a computer analyst until his retirement, becoming a US citizen in 1983. He also contributed several military histories to the US Army Center for Military History, including the one that is quoted at the beginning of this writing.
Ngo Quang Truong died in Falls Church on 22 January, 2007 after a battle with cancer. Despite the fall of the RVN, he is remembered to this day as one of the most outstanding military men in the service of that government. His nature as an honest, caring commander compounds his reputation as an effective strategist, with even General William Westmoreland quoting in his memoirs that Truong was one of the select few ARVN officers considered worthy of commanding American forces.
