Among the Famous and the Forgotten

Over the years, the tragedy of Viet Nam has thrust onstage a variety of characters who strutted and fretted their hour and then virtually disappeared from sight. Among them: Bao Dai, the last Emperor of Viet Nam, forced to abdicate after World War II, resurrected by the French in 1947 as puppet Emperor of Viet Nam, went into exile in 1954 to a more lotophagous life on the French Riviera. Now 59, his majesty lives in France's Midi, still enjoys a playboy's existence and occasionally issues political pronouncements that are widely ignored.

Mme. Ngo Dinh Nhu, the beautiful doll-like sister-in-law of President Ngo Dinh Diem, once ruled Saigon social life like a pirate queen. She censored movies, organized women's militia units and fiercely denounced all opposition. When a Buddhist monk set himself on fire to protest Diem's repression, Mme. Nhu ridiculed the immolation as a "barbecue." Touring abroad when her husband and Diem were slain in 1963, Mme. Nhu took up residence in a commodious, ocher-colored Roman villa purchased with funds the family had accumulated during the years of power. Now 48, she still lives there with her three children in almost complete seclusion, under the supervision of Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, 75, Diem's oldest brother. She was last heard from in a statement saying the Pentagon papers' details on U.S. involvement in Diem's overthrow showed "That I, Mme. Nhu. spoke the truth." Her most recent price for an interview: $1,000, with photo $1,500.

Thich Tri Quang, a militant Buddhist monk, spearheaded his church's noisy protest movement against a succession of Saigon governments. Intense and ardent, an excellent organizer, Tri Quang inspired the beginning of the Buddhist demonstrations against Diem in 1963, followed through in 1965 and 1966 against Premier Ky and President Thieu. As the latter solidified his power, Tri Quang drifted back to his pagoda in Saigon. Now he is studying Buddhist scriptures, toying with a stamp collection and perhaps thinking out ways to deal with a new government.

Fighting soldiers from the sky, Fearless men who jump and die, Men who mean just what they say. The brave men of the green beret.

Special Forces Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler made a quarter-of-a-million dollars within three months by writing that paean, The Ballad of the Green Berets, one of the big song hits of the gung-ho days of 1966. Sadler himself stayed on with the Green Berets for 18 months, then took a discharge and set out to scale the heights of folk music. He never quite made it. "I went broke three times," Sadler laments. "I just didn't have the knack of keeping money." Today he is vice president of an auto-battery firm.

Special Forces Captain Roger H.C. Donlon, a tall, sandy-haired soldier who led a heroic defense against Viet Cong attackers in 1963, was the first Congressional Medal of Honor winner in Viet Nam. Donlon himself was wounded four times in the firefight, but he refused medical aid until his men were treated. Donlon, 38, today is a major serving in Thailand.

General Nguyen Khanh, who toppled the junta that had toppled President Diem, ran South Viet Nam in 1964-65 through a series of revolving-door coups and countercoups (one of which sidelined Khanh himself for a time). Amid wide civic unrest and a serious deterioration in South Viet Nam's military effectiveness, Khanh responded to his problems by repeated calls for a "march north" (Bac tien)--which served to torpedo a promising peace initiative that was then under way. Finally ousted in 1965 by General Nguyen Van Thieu, Khanh, 44, now cheerfully operates a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris called La Table du Mandarin.

General Paul D. Harkins, the U.S. commander in Saigon from 1962 to 1964, who labored mightily to build up South Viet Nam's military and economic reserves, used to tell doubting reporters: "I am an optimist, and I am not going to allow my staff to be pessimistic." General Harkins retired after his Viet Nam assignment, and now, at 68, he lives in Dallas, where he serves as a director of the Independent American Life Insurance Co. Says he: "Looking back on all these years--all of the blood and agony--I have to wonder what we accomplished."

One of the single most horrifying photos of the war was that of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, then director of the national police, emptying his pistol into the head of a bound prisoner during the 1968 Tet offensive (see page 20). Three months later, in a Saigon street battle, Loan was seriously wounded in the right leg and thigh. A year later, he was treated in Washington's Walter Reed Hospital for complications from the wound. He is now back in Saigon in a minor defense post, with the leg atrophied and useless.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.