South Vietnam Leader Nguyen Cao Ky Dies

(Kuala Lumper, Malaysia) Former vice president and prime minister of the country of South Vietnam, Nguyen Cao Ky, died yesterday at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. He was 81.

Reportedly, Ky was in the hospital for treatment of a respiratory complication.

Ky served as prime minister and air force commander of US-backed South Vietnamese regime from 1965 to 1967 and then as vice president under Nguyen Van Thieu until 1971.

When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Ky fled by piloting a helicopter to a US Navy ship. He and his family eventually settled in the United States.

Those of us who were around back in the 1960s and 70s remember Ky very well. He was prominent in news reports of the Vietnam War.