Lu Mong Lan

Lữ Mộng Lan (28 September 1927 – 28 May 2021) was a Lieutenant general of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

Early life and education Lan was born in Quảng Trị, French Indochina on 28 September 1927. In 1944, he earned a Diplome D'Etudes Primaires Superieures Indochinoise (DEPSI), from Lycee Khai Dinh, located in Huế.

Military career Lan served as Company commander, 1951 in the Vietnamese National Army then as Deputy Battalion commander, 1952; Regimental Chief of Staff, 1954; Division Chief of Staff, 1955. In the ARVN in 1957, Lan graduated from Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Joint General Staff from 1958. He was then appointed commander of the 25th Division in 1962. He was appointed commander of the 23rd Division in 1964. He was appointed commander of the 10th Division in 1965.

By the end of 1965 the US advisers to the 10th Division regarded Lan as "moody and vacillatory" and "a marginal commander who would have to be worked with." They gave Lan high marks for his "perceptiveness and dexterity in civil affairs and troop morale" but saw his interest in local politics as too distracting. Although they found his three regimental commanders "capable and willing people," they felt that it was too early to judge if the Division was going to jell into a fighting unit. COMUSMACV General William Westmoreland predicted that combined operations with the US 1st Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade would inspire the Division to higher standards.

From September 1966 Lan served as the deputy chief of staff for training and director of the Central Training Command.

Awards and decorations National honours

Foreign honours