For Victor Hugo, the nineteenth century could be remembered by only its
first two years, which established peace in Europe and France's supremacy
on the continent. For Gen. Lam Quang Thi, the twentieth century had only
twenty-five years: from 1950 to 1975, during which the Republic of
Vietnam and its army grew up and collapsed with the fall of Saigon. This is
the story of those twenty-five years.

    General Thi fought in the Indochina War as a battery commander on the
side of the French. When Viet Minh aggression began after the Geneva
Accords, he served in the nascent Vietnamese National Army, and his
career covers this army's entire lifespan. He was deputy commander of the
7th Infantry Division, and in 1965 he assumed command of the 9th Infantry
Division. In 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he became one of the youngest
generals in the Vietnamese Army. He participated in the Tet Offensive
before being removed from the front lines for political reasons. When
North Vietnam launched the 1972 Great Offensive, he was brought back to
the field and eventually promoted to commander of an Army Corps Task
Force along the Demilitarized Zone. With the fall of Saigon, he left
Vietnam and emigrated to the United States.

    Like his tactics during battle, General Thi pulls no punches in his
denunciation of the various regimes of the Republic and complacency and
arrogance toward Vietnam in the policies of both France and the United
States. Without lapsing into bitterness, this is finally a tribute to the soldiers
who fell on behalf of a good cause.


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LAM QUANG THI was born in the South Vietnamese province of Bac
Lieu. He was awarded the Vietnamese National Order, 3rd Degree; the
Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with seventeen combat citations; the U.S.
Legion of Merit; and the Korean Order of Chung Mu. He currently lives in
Milpitas, California.