Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi; fought corruption in S. Vietnam

WASHINGTON -- Nguyen Chanh Thi, 84, a South Vietnamese general whose dismissal in 1966 almost set off a civil war within the Vietnam War, died June 23 at the Hospice of Lancaster County in Lancaster, Pa., where he lived. He had heart ailments.

General Thi, who oversaw the five northernmost provinces that made up the I Corps region of South Vietnam, had a reputation as an aggressive field commander and savvy political player who had a hand in the multiple coups and counter-coups of the mid-1960s.

President Nguyen Cao Ky, fearing him as a rival, mustered the support of most of the other South Vietnamese generals and fired General Thi on March 10, 1966. Ky said that General Thi was leaving the country for medical treatment of his nasal passages.

"The only sinus condition I have is from the stink of corruption," General Thi reportedly responded.

Within days, the streets of South Vietnamese cities, from Hue down the coast to Saigon, were filled with protesters and rioters. General Thi, one of the few Buddhists in a Catholic-dominated military elite, was a powerful figure. Many people distrusted Ky because of government corruption and his unfulfilled promise to resign and allow a civilian government to be elected.

Deported to the United States, he lived in a small Washington apartment for many years.