Kong Le

Kong Le
Le in 1960
Born	6 March 1934 Laos
Died	17 January 2014(2014-01-17) (aged 79) Paris, France
Allegiance	Kingdom of Laos
Service/branch	Royal Lao Army
Years of service	1951–17 October 1966
Rank	Captain (later self-proclaimed Major General)
Commands held	2ème bataillon de parachutistes (Parachute Battalion 2); Forces Armées Neutralistes (Neutralist Armed Forces)
Battles/wars	Battle of Vientiane Battle of Lak Sao Operation Triangle

Captain (later Major General) Kong Le (Lao: ກອງແລ; 6 March 1934^[1] – 17 January 2014^[2]) was a paratrooper in the Royal Lao Army. He led the premier unit of the Royal Lao Army, 2ème bataillon de parachutistes (Parachute Battalion 2), which campaigned relentlessly during 1959 and 1960. The idealistic young American-trained Lao Theung officer became known worldwide when on 10 August 1960 he and his mutinous paratroopers overthrew the Royal Lao Government in a coup d'état. He declared he aimed at an end to government corruption; to the shock of American officials, he declared U.S. policies were responsible for the ongoing fraud.

Once ousted by the U.S.-backed 14 December 1960 countercoup by General Phoumi Nosavan, Kong Le and his paras retreated to the strategic Plain of Jars, gathering recruits to the neutralist cause along the way. Once established on the Plain as the Forces Armées Neutralistes (Neutral Armed Forces), this third side in the Laotian Civil War would begin to splinter as neutralists began to favor either the Communist or Royalist forces. In April 1963, the Patriotic Neutralists broke off to ally themselves with the communist Pathet Lao, while Kong Le engineered a rapprochement with the Royalists for FAN.

Over the next couple of years, FAN's battle performance in support of the Royalists was poor; especially striking was their inability to overcome a Vietnamese communist stronghold overlooking the FAN main base at Muang Soui's all-weather airfield. As Kong Le's subordinates became increasingly dissatisfied, and FAN units began to mutiny, he was forced to leave Laos on 17 October 1966.

He would remain in exile in Indonesia, Hong Kong, the United States, and France. He died in the latter on 17 January 2014.