Duong Van Minh - Life in Exile

Life in Exile

Minh was allowed to emigrate to France in 1983 and settled near Paris, and it was again assumed that the communists had permitted him to leave on the basis that he remain aloof from politics and history. In the late 1980s, there was speculation he would be allowed to return to Vietnam to live out his last years, but this did not happen. In the last few years of his life, he lived in Pasadena, California with his daughter, Mai Duong. He later needed a wheelchair for mobility. In exile, Minh kept his silence, did not talk about the events in Vietnam and did not produce a memoir. As well, Minh's death wasn't mourned by many among overseas Vietnamese, who are still angry at him for ordering South Vietnamese soldiers to put their weapons down.