Lieutenant General Lê Nguyên Khang (11June 193112November 1996) was a Marine Commander of the South Vietnamese

Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps The Republic of Vietnam Marine Division (RVNMD, vi, Sư Đoàn Thủy Quân Lục Chiến QLC was part of the armed forces of South Vietnam. It was established by Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 when he was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, which b ...

. Commander of III Corps 9 June 1966. He was awarded the Silver Star for valor June 27 - 29, 1967 by the President of the United States, and was described by General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., CMC USMC, "as one of the finest field commanders in Asia."

Early life

Khang was born in

Sơn Tây ''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, ...

, Hanoi, Vietnam on 11 June 1931.

Military career

In 1965 Khang served as commander of the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

which together with the Airborne formed the South Vietnamese general reserve and had a significant political role to play in Saigon. Khang was allied with Air Vice Marshal

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South V ...

, while General

Dư Quốc Đống Lieutenant General Dư Quốc Đống (1932 – 22 April 2008) was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Career In 1965 Đống served as commander of the Airborne which together with the Marines formed the South Vietnamese ...

commanding the Airborne was an ally of Kỳ's rival General

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF), becam ...

. The general reserve troops represented the real muscle of the Saigon-based Directory members and also constituted a balance of power between the rival officer cliques. In 1972 Thiệu finally moved both Đống and Khang out of their Divisions, transferring Đống to command the Capital Military District and Khang to a nebulous "special assistant" post under General

Cao Văn Viên Cao Văn Viên (December 21, 1921 – January 22, 2008) was one of only two South Vietnamese four-star army generals in the history of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He rose to the position of Chairman of the So ...

on the Joint General Staff. Of the two, Americans considered Khang the better commander, but his past alliance with Kỳ proved a major liability.

Assignments

*Commander of the Marine Corps, *VNN Commander, *Commander of the Capital Military Zone, *Saigon-Gia Dinh Military Governor, * III Corps and III Tactical Zone Commander (1968)"U.S. Aide's Speech Is A Boon to Thieu." ''New York Times.'' April 15, 1968. *Representative of the Government in the Eastern Regions, *Deputy Chief of the Joint General Staff in Operations.

Death

According to

sources, Lê died in

Orange County, Virginia Orange County is a county located in the Central Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 36,254. Its county seat is Orange. Orange County includes Montpelier, the estate of James Madison, the ...

, USA on 12November 1996. However, according to noted Vietnam War historian,

Spencer C. Tucker Spencer C. Tucker is a Fulbright scholar, retired university professor, and author of works on military history. He taught history at Texas Christian University for 30 years and held the John Biggs Chair of Military History at the Virginia Milit ...

, the place of death was Hope, California.

References

External links

A Eulogy For General Lê Nguyen Khang
1931 births 1996 deaths People from Hanoi Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals South Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War {{vietnam-war-stub