Bùi Dzinh is a former Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

ese military commander. He was born in the village of Xuan Hoa

Xuân Hoá

Xuân Hoá is a commune and village in Minh Hóa District, Quang Binh Province, in Vietnam....

 in the Lệ Thủy district of Vietnam's Quảng Bình Province

Quang Binh Province

Quảng Bình , formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Le Trung Hung of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam....

. He was educated at the Vietnamese National Military Academy in Đà Lạt, graduating as valedictorian

Valedictorian

Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

 in 1951. He was then assigned to 21 Battalion. After attending a staff officer training course at the École Militaire

École Militaire

The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he served in the First Military Zone P.3 under Colonel Lê Văn Nghiêm

Le Van Nghiem

Major General Lê Văn Nghiêm was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.As a colonel, he was the first commander of the 1st Division, which was based in the northernmost regions of South Vietnam near the border, from May 1 1955 until December 15, when he was replaced Colonel Nguyen Khanh,...

.

By the outbreak of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 in 1955, he was commander of the Quảng Ngãi subregion of Quảng Nam Province

Quang Nam Province

Quảng Nam is a province on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bordered by Thua Thien-Huế province to the north, the nation of Laos to the west, Kon Tum Province to the southwest, Quảng Ngãi Province to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east, and the city of Da Nang to the...

. He continued to serve in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam

Army of the Republic of Vietnam

The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...

, and was assigned as commander of various divisions in areas ranging from Buôn Ma Thuột

Buon Ma Thuot

Buôn Ma Thuột or sometimes Buon Ma Thuat or Ban Mê Thuột, is the capital city of Dak Lak Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Its population is approximately 300,000...

 in the Central Highlands

Tây Nguyên

Tây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....

 to Biên Hòa

Bien Hoa

Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...

, outside of Saigon.
In 1963, following the military coup

1963 South Vietnamese coup

In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...

 by Duong Van Minh

Duong Van Minh

Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...

, Bui Dzinh was dismissed from service. Despite this, he continued to collaborate with his former superiors, Lam Van Phat

Lam Van Phat

Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...

 and Pham Ngoc Thao

Pham Ngoc Thao

Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...

 in the organisation of several coup attempts against the then military leader Nguyen Khanh

Nguyen Khanh

Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...

 on 19 February 1965. For his involvement, Bui Dzinh was pursued and arrested on May 1965 near Saigon. He was found guilty on two counts, membership in the attempted coup and the use of illegal force, and was sentenced to life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

 in the Chí Hòa

Chi Hoa

Chí Hòa Prison is a functioning Vietnamese prison located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The prison is an octagonal building on a 7-hectare site consisting of detention rooms, jail cells, prison walls, watchtowers, facilities and prisoner's farmlands. The prison is one of 12 national prisons in...

 prison. He remained there until his release on 1 July 1967 by order of the President's Committee.

After North Vietnam captured Saigon

Fall of Saigon

The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...

 in 1975 and won the Vietnam War, where he was placed in a labour camp along with most other South Vietnamese government and military officials, serving from 1976 to 1980. He was released, but Journey by sea border to refugee camps in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

on 1981.