Nguyễn Văn Lực was a Vietnamese Lieutenant Commander and leader of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang

Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng , also known as the Việt Quốc and the Vietnamese Kuomintang, is the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought independence from French colonial rule in Vietnam during the early 20th century...

 (VNQDD), which opposed the 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...

 regime. At one point in 1960, Diem had jailed Luc for one month for engaging in "anti-government activities". Luc's son was Second Lieutenant Nguyễn Văn Cử

Nguyen Van Cu

Nguyễn Văn Cử was a lieutenant in the Vietnam Air Force, best known for being one of two mutinous pilots involved in the 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing on 27 February 1962, which aimed to assassinate South Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm and his immediate family, who were his...

, a dissident Vietnam Air Force

Vietnam Air Force

The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...

 pilot who along with First Lieutenant Phạm Phú Quốc

Pham Phu Quoc

Phạm Phú Quốc was a French-trained South Vietnamese flying ace and lieutenant in the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, best known for being one of two mutinous pilots involved in the 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing on February 27, 1962, which aimed to assassinate President Ngo Dinh...

 coordinated the 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing

1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing

The 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing in Saigon was an aerial attack on February 27, 1962, by two dissident Vietnam Air Force pilots, Second Lieutenant Nguyễn Văn Cử and First Lieutenant Phạm Phú Quốc...

 in Saigon on February 27, 1962. Luc had a reputation for brutality and was once reported to have killed a small child in cold blood by a river during a training exercise.