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16: death of the republic— for a better way? (1963) little did I think as I rode to the airport the morning of November 1, 1963, that I would fly into the midst of a bloody coup. Something unexpected occurred at the airport. While I waiting to board the plane for Saigon, I met Colonel Do Cao Tri, an old friend from Dalat and now commanding officer of the First Division stationed in Hué. It surprised me to see him there because he had nothing to do with my geographic area. I wore civilian clothes (as always during my time in Danang), but I saluted him and we shook hands. Then he asked where I was going. “I’m flying to Saigon,” I replied. “For what?” he asked rather sharply. “I’m going for one of my routine meetings with the president,” I replied. “I make the trip almost every week to brief him on the situation here in Danang.” The colonel nodded briefly and we parted with perfunctory good-byes. Why is he questioning me like this? I wondered. I was not under his jurisdiction and what I did was none of his business. But hints of the coup made me wary. Was that behind the colonel’s interest in my activities? I puzzled over his appearance in Danang, and his questioning me, during the two-hour flight to Saigon. Later, I realized that he was trying to learn if I might have gotten wind of the coup. My close relationship with President Diem was well known, and it would have been logical for the coup’s plotters to suspect I was going to Saigon to warn, or support, the president. Rumors of coups had circulated for months now, in the military, government offices, the media, and among the public. I heard that the foreign press even joked about “the coup of the month” in their Saigon gathering places. So it was not easy to take seriously the threat of one right now. When I got out of the airplane at the Saigon airport, usually a bustling beehive of activity, it was almost deserted. There were no people on hand to greet the incoming passengers, no porters asking if we wanted help with our luggage. It felt strange, ominous even, and the atmosphere got worse as I left the airport. I heard gunfire from the direction of the General Staff headquarters, about one-half mile away. I found a taxi driver, but he was afraid of getting caught in the middle of a firefight . His abandoned cab stood nearby. “This is nonsense,” I told him. “If the fighting continues it will surely spread to this area so near the airport—and then you will be in serious danger. So why don’t you drive me to my home? We can take a secure 200 vietnam labyrinth route, avoiding the General Staff area where the fighting seems concentrated, then you can go on to a safer place than this.” He hesitated, but finally agreed, and so I gave him directions to the home of my good friend, Lieutenant Colonel Chuong, about three miles from the airport. Along the way we saw crowds of people scurrying for safe places to hide from the gunfire in the distance. The house was empty save for Colonel Chuong’s house servant, who recognized me and invited me to enter. I turned on the radio immediately and learned that there was indeed a coup under way. It was then two o’clock in the afternoon, and the eighteen or twenty hours that followed were among the most horrific and frightening of my life. I feared not so much for myself, though as a confidant and supporter of the president I might be in some danger, but for President Diem’s safety as well as for the stability and direction of our country should he be deposed. The radio station appeared to be controlled by the generals leading the coup. It broadcast martial music almost incessantly, interrupted at intervals by reports that the entire military establishment had mounted a coup against the regime of President Diem. Appeals for people to remain calm followed these announcements. It was obvious, of course, that all military forces had not joined the coup. Otherwise, why would there be fierce fighting, as indicated by the continuing sound of gunfire and explosions? I turned down the volume on the radio slightly and telephoned General Tran Thien Khiem, second-highest-ranking officer on...

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