ARVN Generals, Graduates of USACGSC

Following are the names of ARVN Generals who are graduates of US Army Command and General Staff College.

NumberYearNameRankArm
0164-1 Đào Duy Ân MajorArtillery
0264-2 Trương Quang Ân MajorAirborne
0368-69Trương BảyColonel Infantry
0459-1Huỳnh Văn Cao LTC Infantry
0564-2 Võ Văn Cảnh MajorInfantry
0666-1 Trần Văn Cẩm LTCArmor
0766-1 Nguyẽn ChẫnLTC Engr
0861-62Phạm Xuân Chiểu Brig GenInfantry
0957-2Nguyễn Văn ChuânLTCInfantry
1067-1 Nguyễn Văn Chức LTCEngineer
1157-2Nguyễn Hữu CóColonelInfantry
1266-1 Trần Bá DiLTCInfantry
1360-2 Võ Dinh MajorAir Force
1463-1 Ngô Dzu LTCInfantry
1556-57Bùi Đình Đạm Major Infantry
1657-2Tôn Thất ĐínhColonelInfantry
1758-59Phạm Văn ĐổngColonelInfantry
1858-1Dương Văn ĐứcBrig GenInfantry
1963-2 Đỗ Kế Giai MajorAirborne
2058-59Nguyễn Hữu Hạnh LTC Infantry
2163-2 Nguyễn Văn HiếuMajor Infantry
2259-60Nguyễn Duy Hinh MajorArmor
2358-2Thái Quang HoàngMaj Gen Infantry
2455-56Trần Văn HổMajor Infantry
2558-59Cao Hảo Hớn LTC Infantry
2666-1 Lý Bá Hỷ LTC Infantry
2758-1Nguyễn KhánhColonel Infantry
2860-1 Trần Thiện KhiêmColonelInfantry
2972-1Trần Quang KhôiColonelArmor
3058-2Nguyễn Văn Kiểm LTC Infantry
3159-1Lê Văn Kim Brig Gen Artillery
3259-2Huỳnh Văn Lạc Major Infantry
3358-1Lữ Mộng Lan LTC Infantry
3457-2Dương Ngọc Lắm LTC Armor
3559-2Nguyễn Ngọc LễMaj GenInfantry
3657-58Đặng Thanh Liêm LTC Infantry
3755-56Vĩnh Lộc Major Armor
3860-61Nguyễn Văn MạnhLTCInfantry
3958-2Dương Văn MinhMaj Gen Infantry
4058-2Trần Văn MinhMaj Gen Infantry
4161-1 Nguyễn Vĩnh Nghi MajorInfantry
4257-2Bùi Hữu Nhơn LTC Artillery
4363-1 Phạm Hữu Nhơn MajorArtillery
4464-65Trần Tử OaiBrig Gen Infantry
4558-59Lâm Văn Phát LTC Infantry
4662-1 Trần Thanh Phong LTCInfantry
4757-58Đặng Văn Quang LTC Infantry
4869-70Chương Dzềnh QuâyColonelInfantry
4962-1 Phạm Ngọc Sang LTC Air Force
5059-2Nguyễn Thanh Sằng Major Infantry
5165-1 Phan Đình Soạn LTCArtillery
5259-2Trần Ngọc TámBrig Gen Infantry
5360-1 Hồ Văn TốBrig GenInfantry
5465-1 Lê Văn Thân MajorArtillery
5558-59Nguyễn Đức Thắng LTC Artillery
5664-1 Lâm Quang Thi LTCArtillery
5762-1 Nguyễn Văn Thiệ̣n LTCArmor
5863-2 Nguyễn Xuân ThịnhLTCArtillery
5964-1 Lâm Quang Thơ Major Armor
6062-2 Phạm Quốc Thuần MajorInfantry
6159-60PhanĐìnhThứ LamSơnColonel Airborne
6261-1 Nguyễn Xuân TrangColonel Artillery
6355-56Nguyễn Bảo Trị Major Infantry
6459-2Đỗ Cao TríColonelAirborne
6565-1 Lê Ngọc Triển LTCInfantry
6656-57Cao Văn Viên Major Infantry
6759-1Linh Quang Viên LTC Infantry
6872-1Lê Nguyên VỹColonelInfantry
6959-1Mai Hữu Xuân Brig Gen Infantry
7057-58Tôn Thất XứngColonel Infantry

General Vinh Loc remarked in his book entitled Thư Gửi người Bạn Mỹ (Letters to US Advisors), 1998, page71: " The terrain and the location of our country, in terms of search and destroy the enemy operation, do not provide the opportunity to deploy simultaneously three Regiments together with support units. Looking back from the day the Division was created to the Highlands' debacle, no Military Tactical Region had launched an operation that used a whole division, that is, all 3 Infantry Regiments, with Artillery, Engineer and Armored Cavalry Battalions, etc. Even if one would like to, one did not have enough space which would allow the deployment of a whole Division, not to mention that very few commanders underwent proper training in Large Unit command".

General Vinh Loc undoubtedly referred to the following corps and division commanders at the period when Saigon collapsed in 1975 (the bold characters indicate the very few commanders underwent proper training in Large Unit command; one can count 9 out of 25):

- Lieutenant General Ngo Quang Truong, I Corps; Lieutenant General Lam Quang Thi, Deputy I Corps; Brigadier General Nguyen Van Diem, 1st Division; Brigadier General Tran Van Nhut, 2nd Division; Major General Nguyen Duy Hinh, 3rd Division;

- Major General Pham Van Phu, II Corps; Brigadier General Tran Van Cam, Deputy II Corps; Brigadier General Phan Dinh Niem, 22nd Division; Brigadier General Le Trung Tuong, 23rd Division;

- Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Toan, III Corps; Major General Nguyen Van Hieu, Deputy III Corps; Brigadier General Le Nguyen Vy, 5th Division; Brigadier General Le Minh Dao, 18th Division; Brigadier General Ly Tong Ba, 25th Division; Brigadier General Tran Quang Khoi, 3rd Armor Brigade;

- Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Minh, Saigon-Gia Dinh Special Military Zone; Brigadier General Ly Ba Hy , Deputy Saigon-Gia Dinh Special Military Zone;

- Major General Nguyen Khoa Nam, IV Corps; Brigadier General Le Van Hung, Deputy IV Corps; Brigadier General Tran Van Hai, 7th Division; Brigadier General Huynh Van Lac, 9th Division; Brigadier General Mach Van Truong, 21st Division;

- Brigadier General Le Quang Luong, Airborne Division;

- Brigadier General Bui The Lan, Marine Corps Division;

- Major General Do Ke Giai, Ranger Division.

Furthermore, it is worthwhile noting that Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu, Commander in Chief of the Vietnamese Armed Forces, did not graduate the USACGSC. For this reason, it is not surprising that General Thieu was able to order the withdrawal of II Corps and I Corps against all odds without taking into consideration any military principles, to the point of utmost ignorance and stupidity, causing the collapse of the entire South Vietnam in a blinking of an eye. (In his curriculum vitae published in Who's Who In Vietnam - Vietnam Press, Saigon 1967, General Thieu lied about having graduated the USACGSC in 1958!)

This list of USACGSC graduates also shows that when assigning generals to key positions, President Thieu did not use as criteria ability and high level military training, and only focused on those he knew would not turn against him and would obey him subserviently.


Nguyen Van Tin
12 January 2009

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