Name Nguyen Hoa Died 1989 | Role Priest | |
Parents Nguyen Phuong Ngon, Linh Thi Chi | ||
LM Nguyễn Lạc Hóa và biệt khu Hải Yến Bình Hưng ở Cà Mau xưa
Father Augustine Nguyen Lac Hoa (c. 1908 – c. 1989), a refugee Chinese Catholic priest in South Vietnam, led a militia called the Sea Swallows that carved out an anticommunist enclave in the Viet Cong's Ca Mau Peninsula stronghold. The "fighting priest" and his "village that refused to die" attracted admiring media stories, and in 1964 he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Public Service category.
In January 1961, Edward Lansdale visited Father Hoa and Binh Hung. Back in Washington, he was surprised to find that President John F. Kennedy had taken a personal interest in his report on Hoa, and wanted it published in the Saturday Evening Post. It was attributed to "an American officer." The town of Newburyport, Massachusetts adopted Binh Hung as a sister community, and the Post followed up with another story on Father Hoa. Other correspondents who took up the story of the Sea Swallows included Dickey Chapelle and Stan Atkinson, who remembered Father Hoa decades later as the "most unforgettable character" he met in his travels.
Father Hoa's success inspired others to join his Sea Swallows, including a company of "Nung tribesmen." Declassified documents would reveal that the Nung fighters were actually a contingent of Nationalist soldiers from the Republic of China.
As the political situation in Saigon deteriorated, Father Hoa saw the battle turning and little chance of winning. Discouraged, he left Binh Hung, and retired to a parish in Taipei.