Unconvinced, Neil began reaching out to Vietnamese military officers, young colonels, to identify the units involved. Eventually, Neil reached Mordecai, who confirmed what the Vietnamese colonels had told Neil: Units from I Corps led by Gen. Nguyen Khanh were staging a coup to overthrow the military junta led by Big Minh. In later years, after The Times had hired Neil, we collaborated on many more stories on the internal wars over Vietnam policy in the Johnson administration. Neil was great to work with because he savored both the camaraderie and the mission. As a reporter, Neil was unflinchingly honest, restless, daring, skeptical, troubled, relentless, probing.

Source: International New York Times January 09, 2021 01:30 UTC