Le Minh Dao (1933-) was a South Vietnamese ARVN Brigadier-General during the Vietnam War, best known for his defiant last stand at the Battle of Xuan Loc in 1975.
Biography[]
Le Minh Dao was born in Saigon, French Indochina in 1933, and he served in the Vietnamese National Army during the First Indochina War before becoming an officer in South Vietnam's ARVN. In 1975, he was given command of the ARVN 18th Division at Xuan Loc, facing the NVA's 1975 Spring Offensive. His division was nicknamed "The Super Men", and he told American journalists that the 18th would stand fast against any communist assault and would fight and die in battle. He was the only ARVN general to stand and fight to defend Saigon before the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, and he refused to abandon his country or commit suicide, as he was a Catholic. He spent 17 years in a re-education camp before settling in the United States in 1993 and becoming a restaurant manager.