Nguyen Chanh Thi
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Nguyễn Chánh Thi (23 February 1923 - 26 June 2007) was a General in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam of South Vietnam.
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[edit] Early life
Thi was born on 23 February 1923 in Huế, and he joined the French Army when he was 17. [1] He fought against Viet Minh nationalists seeking independence from France during the First Indochina War and became a general in the army of the Republic of Vietnam in 1960.
[edit] Buddhist uprising 1966
Thi's dismissal by Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky led to the Buddhist Uprising of 1966 in South Vietnam because he was strongly supported by a Buddhist organisation, the "Struggle Movement". Thi was deported to the United States and lived in a small apartment on Connecticut Avenue on Washington's Dupont Circle. [2] Outspoken and still supported by many Buddhists, Thi tried to return to his homeland in February 1972, but South Vietnamese troops surrounded his plane on the tarmac and prevented him from stepping onto Vietnamese soil. He never disembarked, and the plane eventually took off, returning to the United States.
