Lê Quang Tung

Colonel Lê Quang Tung was the commander of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces under the command of Ngô Đình Nhu. He led a force of 1,840 men, which operated under the direction of Nhu rather than the army command. He used his forces mainly in Saigon to repress opponents of the Diêm regime. His most notable attacks occurred during the Buddhist crisis of 1963. He was assassinated during the November 1963 coup.

About Lê Quang Tung in brief

Colonel Lê Quang Tung was the commander of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces under the command of Ngô Đình Nhu. Tung’s military background was in security and counterespionage. His best-known attack was the raid on Xá Lợi pagoda on 21 August 1963, in which hundreds died or disappeared. Along with Diệm and Nhu, he was assassinated during the November 1963 coup. The Central Intelligence Agency regarded Tung as the third most powerful man in South Vietnam behind Diôn ĉỉm and Nhu, ranking him as South Vietnam’s most powerful military officer. He led a force of 1,840 men, which operated under the direction of Nhu rather than the army command. He used his forces mainly in Saigon to repress opponents of the Diêm regime. His most notable attacks occurred during the Buddhist crisis of 1963. During this period, the Buddhist majority engaged in mass protests against the pro-Catholic policies of thediễn regime. He knew the generals were plotting to exploit martial law to overthrow him but outmanoeuvred them by sending his special forces into the pagodas. Following the pagoda raids, the U.S. terminated funding to Tung’s men because they were used as a political tool rather than against the communists.

The attacks were replicated across the nation and a further 1,400 monks and nuns were arrested after Nhu had tricked a group of generals into agreeing to declare martial law. As a result, Vietnam’s majority initially thought the regular army had attacked the monks, damaging its credibility among the potential leaders of the country. He had been trained by the CIA in the United States. He was born on June 13, 1919 in central Vietnam, which was then the protectorate of Annam in French Indochina. The former servant of the Ngô family was devoutly Roman Catholic, short and bespectacled. Tung had first served the French as a security officer in Central Vietnam. He then worked for Diên  Diôn as a lieutenant in the military security service in Central Vietnam. In 1960 he was promoted straight to the rank of colonel and placed in charge of the special forces. He did not conduct operations against the communist Viềt C�’ng insurgents, but used his force mainly in Saigon to repress opposition to the Di၉m regime.

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