Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat (Thai: สฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์, alternatively spelled Dhanarajata), (June 16, 1908 – December 8, 1963) was a Thai career soldier who staged a coup in 1957, thereafter serving as Thailand's Prime Minister until his death in 1963. He was born in Bangkok, but grew up in his mother's home town in Lao-speaking northeastern Thailand and considered himself a northeasterner. His father, Major Luang Ruangdetanan (birth name Thongdi Thanarat), was a career army officer best known for his translations into Thai of Cambodian literature. During his years as prime minister Sarit was a patron of the Lao strongman General Phoumi Nosavan against the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in the neighboring Kingdom of Laos.
Read more about Sarit Thanarat: Military Career, Sarit's Coups, Sarit's Tenure, The Monarchy, Sarit's Demise and Aftermath, Posthumous Revelations, Royal Decorations