Robert McNamara's Saigon monuments

By Mark Bowyer / Last updated 09 Mar 2012

Introduction

Robert McNamara had an enormous impact on Vietnam's history. When Nguyen Van Troi attempted to assassinate the US Defense Secretary in 1963, he was promptly executed and went on to become a hero to Vietnam's communists. We look at the monuments dedicated to McNamara's would be assassin.

©Photo: Museum collection

One of Saigon's major roads, the main airport road is named after Nguyen Van Troi, the teenager that attempted to assassinate Robert McNamara in 1963.
This is the Nguyen Van Troi bridge on the main airport road. It was here that the failed assassination attempt on Robert McNamara took place.
The Nguyen Van Troi monument not far from the bridge.
Not far away, another monument to McNamara's would be assassin, the Nguyen Van Troi market.
Nguyen Van Troi is assassinated aged 17 in 1964. Troi would only be in his sixties now if still alive.Â He's another in a long line of casualties of RobertÂ McNamara's misguided Vietnam project.