Bùi Dzinh (1929 – January 2, 2024) was a Vietnamese military commander.

Early life

Bùi Dzinh was born in the village of Xuân Hoá in the Lệ Thủy district of Vietnam's

Quảng Bình Province Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...

. He was educated at the

Vietnamese National Military Academy The National Military Academy or Dalat Military Academy was the main military school of the State of Vietnam and South Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam. History French Indochina and State of Vietnam The Dalat School of the Eurasian Servicemen's Chil ...

Đà Lạt Da Lat, or Dalat (; ), is the capital of Lâm Đồng Province and the largest city of the Central Highlands region in Vietnam. The city is located above sea level on the Langbiang Plateau. Da Lat is one of the most popular tourist destinat ...

, graduating as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

in 1951. He was then assigned to 21 Battalion. After attending a staff officer training course at the

École Militaire École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

in Paris, he served in the First Military Zone P.3 under Colonel Lê Văn Nghiêm.

Vietnam War service

By the outbreak of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

in 1955, he was commander of the

Quảng Ngãi Quảng Ngãi () is a city in central Vietnam. It serves as the capital city of Quảng Ngãi Province. Quảng Ngãi City borders Tư Nghĩa District to the South and West, Sơn Tịnh District to the Northwest and Bình Sơn District to the ...

subregion of Quảng Nam Province. He continued to serve in the

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

, and was assigned as commander of various divisions in areas ranging from

Buôn Ma Thuột Buôn Ma Thuột or sometimes Buôn Mê Thuột or Ban Mê Thuột (, ), is the capital city of Đắk Lắk Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Its population was 434,256 in 2023. The city is the largest in the Central Highlands and k ...

in the Central Highlands to

Biên Hòa Biên Hòa (Northern accent: , Southern accent: ) is the capital city of Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam, and is part of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area. Situated northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), Biên Hòa is connect ...

, outside of

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

Dismissal from service

In 1963, following the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm. ...

, Bùi Dzinh was dismissed from service. Despite this, he continued to collaborate with his former superiors,

Lâm Văn Phát Lâm Văn Phát (1920 – 30 October 1998) was a Major general in the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). He is best known for leading two '' coup'' attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February ...

and

Phạm Ngọc Thảo Phạm Ngọc Thảo ( IPA: , ), also known as Albert Thảo (14 February 1922 – 17 July 1965), was a communist sleeper agent of the Việt Minh (and, later, of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN)) who infiltrated the Army of the Republic of ...

in the organisation of several coup attempts against the then military leader

Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Khánh (}; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military dictator and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head o ...

on 19 February 1965. For his involvement, Bui Dzinh was pursued and arrested in May 1965 near Saigon. He was found guilty on two counts, membership in the attempted coup and the use of illegal force, and was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

in the

Chí Hòa Prison Chí Hòa Prison ( or ') is a functioning Vietnamese prison located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The prison is an octagonal building on a 7-hectare sitecaptured Saigon in 1975 and won the Vietnam War, where he was placed in a labour camp along with most other South Vietnamese government and military officials, serving from 1976 to 1980. He was released, but Journey by sea border to refugee camps in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on 1981.

Death

Bui died in France on January 2, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bui, Dzinh 1929 births 2024 deaths People from Quảng Bình province Vietnamese exiles Recipients of the National Order of Vietnam