Nguyễn Văn Cử
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Nguyễn Văn Cử (born c. 1934,
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
) was a lieutenant in the South Vietnamese air force, best known for being one of two mutinous pilots involved in the 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing on 27 February 1962, which aimed to assassinate
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
's President
Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
and his immediate family, who were his political advisers.


Biography

Cử was the second son of Nguyễn Văn Lực, a leader of
Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (; chữ Hán: ; ), abbreviated VNQDĐ or Việt Quốc, was a nationalist and democratic socialist political party that sought independence from French colonial rule in Vietnam during the early 20th century. ...
(VNQDD), a nationalist party which opposed the regime of Diệm. Cử was trained in the United States as a pilot, and had not been promoted for six years, which he felt was due to his father’s opposition to Diệm, who had him briefly jailed for "antigovernment activities." Cử felt that Diệm was not focused enough on fighting the Vietcong, but was preoccupied with maintaining power. He criticised the Americans for their support for Diệm, which he felt had stifled the war effort, saying "I felt that the Americans had slammed the door on those of us who really wanted the fight against the Communists." They had planned for Cử, and
Phạm Phú Quốc Phạm Phú Quốc (1935–1965) was a French-trained South Vietnamese fighter pilot and lieutenant in the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, best known for being one of two mutinous pilots involved in the 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bo ...
, who he had recruited from his squadron, to attack the
Independence Palace The Independence Palace ( vi, Dinh Độc Lập), also publicly known as the Reunification Convention Hall ( vi, Hội trường Thống Nhất), is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), Vietnam. It was designed by architec ...
(''Dinh Độc Lập'') on 27 February. Cử had persuaded Quốc by claiming that all the armed services and the United States were aware of the plot, showing him a ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' article critical of Diệm.


Attack

Quốc and Cử were scheduled to fly on an early morning mission into the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...
to attack the
Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
, but turned around to attack the palace. The French colonial-era palace was in flames as their two fighter aircraft,
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
model AD-6s, supplied by the United States, dropped bombs and
napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...
. Several rockets as well as machine gun fire were fired at the compound. The assault ended within an hour, but the pilots did not empty their full load, which would have been sufficient to level the palace. On a cloudy day, they flew at low altitudes of around , completing cycles before ascending above the clouds. Diệm and his family escaped unhurt, with three servants killed and thirty injured. Quốc's plane was damaged by fire; he ejected over the
Saigon River The Saigon River ( vi, Sông Sài Gòn) is a river located in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia, flows south and south-southeast for about and empties into the Soài Rạp, which in its turn empties into th ...
and landed in
Nhà Bè Nhà Bè is a township () of Nhà Bè District, Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info ...
. Cử managed to reach
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
safely, believing his attack had been successful. As a result, he gave reporters a press conference, telling them of the military's hate for Diệm and his regime. Initially arrested by the police, Cử remained in exile in Cambodia where he worked as a language teacher. After Diệm's assassination in November 1963, Cử returned from exile and resumed his service in the Air Force. In June 1975, after the Communists' victory in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, Cử was arrested and sent to a re-education camp for ten years until his release in 1985. He immigrated to the United States in 1991.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Van Cu South Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War South Vietnam Air Force personnel 1930s births Living people Vietnamese emigrants to the United States