Dang Sy
Encyclopedia
Major Matthew Sy Dang, was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
. He acquired a degree of infamy for ordering his soldiers to open fire on a crowd of Buddhists demonstrating against a ban on the Buddhist flag
, leading to the Huế Vesak shootings
in which nine people died. This sparked the Buddhist crisis
and downfall of the Catholic President of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem
. .
, Sy Dang came from a long line of devout Roman Catholics, including Michael Dinh-Hy Ho
, one of the "Vietnamese Martyrs
". He attended a Lasallian school
, graduated from National Military Academy of Da Lat as first Lieutenant
. His father was a captain for the local national guard unit. At age 14, Sy Dang ventured as an interpreter for the local French
garrison.
He tried the prospect of being a Christian Brother
, like his mother's brother, but found out he was not suited for a pious, teaching life. He decided to follow a military career. Lieutenant Sy Dang married at the age of 21. His wife, Cam De Nguyen, came from a long line of devout Buddhists. Her paternal grandmother was a daughter of Minh Mạng
. Her maternal side was another line of successful mandarins
. She converted to Roman Catholicism. They had 10 children.
at Fort Benning
, Sy Dang quickly progressed to the rank of major
, assigned to the First Infantry Division
and was named as deputy Governor and Security Chief, in charge of Thừa Thiên and Huế city. While in this position, he was embroiled in the midst of political unrests such as the Huế Vesak shootings
. He ordered his men to open fire on the demonstrators, and nine died in the ensuing chaos. .
fell. Some sources, including journalists Arthur Dommen and Ellen Hammer
, have speculated that an American serviceman and a handful CIA operatives orchestrated the entire affair.
Marguerite Higgins
and an independent United Nations
investigative team reported on May 8, 1963 at 8:00 p.m. that a large crowd, under the leadership of Thich Tri Quang
, besieged Huế radio station demanding religious rights. The station director refused their demands and barricaded himself. He called on the local fire station and government security forces for help. The firemen were unable to disperse the crowd with fire hose. Major Dang's security forces arrived, with armored vehicles, to negotiate with the venerable and the station director. An agreement was reached and the venerable was working to disperse the crowd. A series of explosions blasted exterior of the radio station while Major Dang and Thich Tri Quang
was inside, causing a massive stampede
. In defense against possible Viet Cong attack in darkness, Dang signaled his men, with three shots to the air, to use MK3A2
concussion grenades to subdue the crowd and secure the area. After the crowd dispersed, there were 8 people dead and 1 person dying.
While the First Republic government
dismissed charges of misconducts in 1963, the Military Junta
tried and pressed a death sentence for Major Dang in 1964. Throughout the trial, the prosecution lined many charges against Dang, which included shooting into unarmed crowd, having armored vehicles ran over protesters, and using dangerous, high explosives for crowd control. Dang, primarily on his own, maintained his and his men's innocence in the cause of deaths.
Fifty men were released. When the military tribunal pronounced sentence, thousands lined the streets in protest, prompting many international observers to speculate an internal civil war was about to erupt. Facing internal unrest and U.S. government disapproval, the Nguyen Khanh
Military Tribunal communed Major Dang's death sentence to life at Con Son Pennitary
with payment to the victims families.
civilian government repealed the life sentence and restored his rank. Dang chose to resign to civilian life and worked at Bank of America
in Saigon. From 1969 until the Fall of Saigon
, he was the chairman of the executive board for an import-export company, South Asia Facilities. After April 1975, Dang was imprisoned again for his military career with the former regime. In March 1980, Dang was released and escaped to Indonesia
by boat
. He was reunited with his family in December of the same year. Subsequently, he worked with Baltimore County Department of Social Services and USA Catholic Charities
to help his fellow refugees until his retirement.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
. He acquired a degree of infamy for ordering his soldiers to open fire on a crowd of Buddhists demonstrating against a ban on the Buddhist flag
Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century to symbolise and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.-History:...
, leading to the Huế Vesak shootings
Hue Vesak shootings
The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963, in the city of Huế in South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm...
in which nine people died. This sparked the Buddhist crisis
Buddhist crisis
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....
and downfall of the Catholic President of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
. .
Early life
Born in the province of Thừa Thiên, HuếHue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, Sy Dang came from a long line of devout Roman Catholics, including Michael Dinh-Hy Ho
Michael Dinh-Hy Ho
Michael Dinh-Hy Ho was a native of Vietnam . He was born to Christian parents, and was by profession a wealthy silk trader. Youngest of the five remaining twelve children, he was married to a Christian from another family and had two sons and three daughters...
, one of the "Vietnamese Martyrs
Vietnamese Martyrs
The Vietnamese Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin, Martyrs of Annam , Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions , or Martyrs of Indochina, are saints on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints canonized by Pope John Paul II...
". He attended a Lasallian school
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome...
, graduated from National Military Academy of Da Lat as first Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. His father was a captain for the local national guard unit. At age 14, Sy Dang ventured as an interpreter for the local French
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
garrison.
He tried the prospect of being a Christian Brother
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome...
, like his mother's brother, but found out he was not suited for a pious, teaching life. He decided to follow a military career. Lieutenant Sy Dang married at the age of 21. His wife, Cam De Nguyen, came from a long line of devout Buddhists. Her paternal grandmother was a daughter of Minh Mạng
Minh Mang
Minh Mạng was the second emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 14 February 1820 until 20 January 1841. He was a younger son of Emperor Gia Long, whose eldest son, Crown Prince Canh, had died in 1801...
. Her maternal side was another line of successful mandarins
Mandarin (bureaucrat)
A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.-History and use of the term:...
. She converted to Roman Catholicism. They had 10 children.
Military career
After his graduation from Vietnamese National Military Academy of Da Lat and attended U.S. Infantry Center & SchoolUnited States Army Training and Doctrine Command
Established 1 July 1973, the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command is an army command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces, the development of operational doctrine, and the development and procurement of...
at Fort Benning
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
, Sy Dang quickly progressed to the rank of major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, assigned to the First Infantry Division
1st Division (South Vietnam)
The 1st Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam —the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam....
and was named as deputy Governor and Security Chief, in charge of Thừa Thiên and Huế city. While in this position, he was embroiled in the midst of political unrests such as the Huế Vesak shootings
Hue Vesak shootings
The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963, in the city of Huế in South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm...
. He ordered his men to open fire on the demonstrators, and nine died in the ensuing chaos. .
The trial of Dang Sy
As Deputy Governor in charge of Huế's security, Major Sy Dang was held responsible for the deaths of nine Buddhists. Many accounts, which included official CIA reports and U.S. State Department Weekly reports, indicated that Major Dang took direct actions that caused these deaths. There are other minority accounts, which suggested Major Dang was at the right time and place for a set-up by third party with interests in seeing the Diem RegimeNgo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
fell. Some sources, including journalists Arthur Dommen and Ellen Hammer
Ellen Hammer
Ellen Joy Hammer was an American historian who specialized in 20th-century Vietnamese history. She is best known for writing the two history texts The Struggle for Indochina and A Death in November...
, have speculated that an American serviceman and a handful CIA operatives orchestrated the entire affair.
Marguerite Higgins
Marguerite Higgins
Marguerite Higgins Hall was an American reporter and war correspondent. Higgins covered World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam, and in the process advanced the cause of equal access for female war correspondents.Higgins was born in Hong Kong while her father, Lawrence Higgins, was...
and an independent United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
investigative team reported on May 8, 1963 at 8:00 p.m. that a large crowd, under the leadership of Thich Tri Quang
Thich Tri Quang
Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....
, besieged Huế radio station demanding religious rights. The station director refused their demands and barricaded himself. He called on the local fire station and government security forces for help. The firemen were unable to disperse the crowd with fire hose. Major Dang's security forces arrived, with armored vehicles, to negotiate with the venerable and the station director. An agreement was reached and the venerable was working to disperse the crowd. A series of explosions blasted exterior of the radio station while Major Dang and Thich Tri Quang
Thich Tri Quang
Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....
was inside, causing a massive stampede
Stampede
A stampede is an act of mass impulse among herd animals or a crowd of people in which the herd collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose....
. In defense against possible Viet Cong attack in darkness, Dang signaled his men, with three shots to the air, to use MK3A2
MK3A2
The MK3 offensive hand grenade is a concussion grenade designed to produce casualties during close combat while minimizing danger to friendly personnel. The grenade is also used for concussion effects in enclosed areas, for blasting, or for demolition tasks...
concussion grenades to subdue the crowd and secure the area. After the crowd dispersed, there were 8 people dead and 1 person dying.
While the First Republic government
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
dismissed charges of misconducts in 1963, the Military Junta
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
tried and pressed a death sentence for Major Dang in 1964. Throughout the trial, the prosecution lined many charges against Dang, which included shooting into unarmed crowd, having armored vehicles ran over protesters, and using dangerous, high explosives for crowd control. Dang, primarily on his own, maintained his and his men's innocence in the cause of deaths.
Fifty men were released. When the military tribunal pronounced sentence, thousands lined the streets in protest, prompting many international observers to speculate an internal civil war was about to erupt. Facing internal unrest and U.S. government disapproval, the Nguyen Khanh
Nguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...
Military Tribunal communed Major Dang's death sentence to life at Con Son Pennitary
Con Son Island
Côn Sơn Island is the largest island of the Côn Đảo archipelago, off the coast of southern Vietnam. The island is also known after its Malay name as Pulo Condore , while its French variant Poulo Condor was well-known during the times of French Indochina.-Early modern era:In 1702, the British...
with payment to the victims families.
Post-military career
In 1967, the Nguyễn Văn ThiệuNguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
civilian government repealed the life sentence and restored his rank. Dang chose to resign to civilian life and worked at Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
in Saigon. From 1969 until the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
, he was the chairman of the executive board for an import-export company, South Asia Facilities. After April 1975, Dang was imprisoned again for his military career with the former regime. In March 1980, Dang was released and escaped to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
by boat
Boat people
Boat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
. He was reunited with his family in December of the same year. Subsequently, he worked with Baltimore County Department of Social Services and USA Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities is a network of charities whose aim is "to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same." It is one of the largest charities in the United States...
to help his fellow refugees until his retirement.
U.S. news headlines 1963-66
- Letters to The Times; Diem Regime Assailed Religious Favoritism, Intolerance and Persecution Charged. New York Times - August 2, 1963
- Start Trial For Murder. Gettysburg Times - June 2, 1964
- Vietnamese Major Enters Innocent Plea. Eugene Register-Guard - June 2, 1964
- Saigon Trying Officer As Slayer of Buddhists. New York Times - June 3, 1964
- Major Asked to Blame Bishop. Chicago Tribune - June 3, 1964
- Viet Officer Gets Life For Killing Buddhists. Hartford Courant - June 7, 1964
- Religious-political Furor In Viet Nam Sparks Noisy March. Gadsden Times - June 8, 1964
- VIETNAM OFFICER DRAWS LIFE TERM; Convicted of Killing Eight. New York Times - June 7, 1964
- Protest Against Military Rule, 100,000 marched. Keesing's World News - Decrmber 1, 1964
- State Woman Fights for Major's Freedom. Owosso Argus-Press - March 1966
External links
- Lodge in Vietnam: A Patriot Abroad by Anne E. Blair; Yale University PressYale University PressYale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
(1995) - "The Impossible Prayer", The Baltimore Sun (1987)