General Lon Nol

Marshal Lon Nol achieved notoriety as the leader of the coup which overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk on 18 March 1970. He ended the monarchy in Cambodia and in October 1970 established the short-lived Khmer Republic, which was superseded when the Khmer Rouge seized power in April 1975. Lon Nol was born on 13 November 1913 in Prey Veng Province. He was educated at the Lycée Sisowath from which he joined the French colonial administration, rising rapidly

to become a provincial governor at the age of 32. At the end of the Pacific War, Lon Nol became chief of the Cambodian police and then ransferred to military command, displaying loyalty to Norodom Sihanouk, who was then king. Lon Nol was appointed governor of the important border province of Battambang in1954 and then chief of staff of the army in 1955. By the end of the decade, he had become both commander-in-chief and minister of defense. He was prime minister 1966-7. In September 1969 he returned to the office of prime minister as prince Sihanouk's political grip on Cambodia began to weaken.After the removal of Prince Sihanouk, Lon Nol, who was a practicing mystic, showed himself to be an incompetent military leader in the face of a Vietnamese-led insurgent challenge. In February 1971 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered, yet still held on to power with US backing, His rule was both repressive ad corrupt, contributing to the ultimate victory of the Khmer Rouge. He was persuaded to go into exile on 1 April 1975 but only in return for US$1 million being deposited in his name in a United States bank. He settled in Hawaii until 1979 when he removed to California, where he died on 17 November 1985.