Early Years
He was born Plaek Khittasangkha in Nonthaburi Province to Keed Khittasangkha and his wife. Keed was of Chinese-Thai heritage; his father was a Cantonese-speaking Chinese immigrant. His parents owned a durian orchard. He received his given name - Plaek, meaning "strange" in Thai - because of his unusual appearance as a child. Plaek Khittasangkha studied at Buddhist temple schools, then was appointed to Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. He graduated in 1914 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the artillery. Following World War I, he was sent to study artillery tactics in France. In 1928, as he rose in rank, he received the honorary title of Luang from King Prajadhipok and became Luang Phibunsongkhram. He would later adopt Phibunsongkhram as his surname.
Read more about this topic: Plaek Phibunsongkhram
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“All of Western tradition, from the late bloom of the British Empire right through the early doom of Vietnam, dictates that you do something spectacular and irreversible whenever you find yourself in or whenever you impose yourself upon a wholly unfamiliar situation belonging to somebody else. Frequently it’s your soul or your honor or your manhood, or democracy itself, at stake.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)
“Southerners, whose ancestors a hundred years ago knew the horrors of a homeland devastated by war, are particularly determined that war shall never come to us again. All Americans understand the basic lessons of history: that we need to be resolute and able to protect ourselves, to prevent threats and domination by others.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)