Post-war Life
Cao Văn Viên left Vietnam for the United States on April 28, 1975. He arrived in America on April 29, 1975, aboard a C-141 Starlifter aircraft which landed at El Toro Marine Air Station. He was met by Marine Brigadier General R.W. Taylor and taken to an undisclosed location before being reunited with his family. The Viên family had strong ties to the U.S. already: In 1973, Gen. Viên's oldest son was a doctoral student at American University and his second-oldest son was attending high school in Washington, D.C.
The Viên family settled briefly in New Jersey, where his wife Tran Thi Tao ran a dry cleaning business. The Viên family then moved to Falls Church, Virginia, His wife started an export-import business. For a time, Gen. Viên was paid $1,500 by the U.S. Army to write monographs about the conduct of the Vietnam War. His most comprehensive analysis was The Final Collapse, in which he argued that cutbacks in military assistance and a lack of U.S. air power led to the defeat of the South Vietnamese government. After finishing his work for the U.S. Army, Gen. Viên considered teaching French literature, but he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and was unable to work. Viên was a lifelong adherent of Buddhism; fluent in English, French, and Laotian; never smoked or drank; and loved birds. He became an American citizen in 1982. He kept bees and allowed them to sting him to dull the pain of his arthritis, but this unorthodox remedy was only temporarily effective.
Gen. Viên's wife died in 1991. His daughter, Lan Cao, became a professor of law at the College of William and Mary. His son Cao Anh Tuan died in 1996, and his son Cao Anh Dzung disappeared and has never been found. Cao Văn Viên lived his last years at Sleepy Hollow Manor, an assisted living facility in Annandale, Virginia. He died there of cardiac arrest on January 22, 2008. He was survived by his daughter and five grandchildren.
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