Trinh Minh The
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Trình Minh Thế (1922 - May 3, 1955) was a Vietnamese nationalist and military leader during the end of the First Indochina War and the beginning of the Vietnam War.
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[edit] Biography
Thế was born in Tây Ninh Province and raised in the Cao Đài religion. He has been trained in military officer school by the Japanese Kempeitai when Japan began using Cao Đài paramilitary troops. By 1945 he was an officer in the Cao Đài militia.
In June 1951, Thế broke from the Cao Đài hierarchy and took about two thousand troops with him to form his own militia, the Lien Minh, devoted to combating both the French and the Viet Minh. Thế's father and one of his brothers formed their own military group in the Lien Minh and were later killed by Viet Minh in combat.
Thế's forces were implicated in a series of terrorist bombings in Saigon from 1951 to 1953—which were blamed on Communists at the time—and may also have been responsible for the assassination of the French General Chanson in 1951.
In 1954, United States military advisor Edward Lansdale, charged with propping up the regime of Ngô Đình Diệm, negotiated with Thế to use his militia to back up Diem and the ARVN. On February 13, 1955, Thế's troops were officially integrated into the South Vietnamese army, where he assumed the rank of general. He led the Lien Minh on a triumphal march into Saigon.
Through Lansdale, the U.S. continued to fund Thế and other Caodaist groups. However, as the South Vietnamese government faltered, many of the militia leaders declared their open opposition to Diệm and began an attempted coup. Thế's loyalties at this point were unclear, and it was also unclear whether the U.S. intended to support Diệm against the rebels; some said that Thế might be a realistic replacement for Diệm. However, when the Lien Minh entered Saigon again it appeared to be in response to Lansdale's last-minute call for them to protect Diệm.
On May 3, 1955, while driving in an open vehicle, Thế was shot in the back of the head by a sniper. The murder was unsolved, with some blaming the French (who had vowed to kill Thế for years) and others blaming the South Vietnamese government.
According to Trinh Minh Son's version, son of Thế, he says that his father was killed, from a pistol with its canon put on his head, by two bullets instead of one bullet as stated by official media. Son says it was possible that Thế was assassinated by the South Vietnamese government to prevent him from a possible eventual opposition to the government.
