NGUYEN CAO KY

Nguyen Cao Ky is dead.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the former South Vietnamese premier died at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he was being treated for a respiratory problem.  He was 80 years old.

I met the former general once, though it was not in Vietnam, in spite of my "foreign correspondent style" leisure suit shown in this photo.

That's his wife du jour in the center.  He was married three times.  Anyway, it was in northern California where a refugee camp had been set up for hundreds of Vietnamese fleeing the communist victory in the war and takeover of the entire country.

Over the years, I've had numerous people view this picture and say "I didn't know you were in Vietnam."  I had to then explain the photo.

Nguyen Cao Ky was running a liquor store in Southern California shortly after these photos were taken.  He spent the rest of his life living in California and Vietnam.