HOI CHI MINH , Born 19 May 1890 in the village of Kim Lien in Annam, in central Vietnam. His father is a public servant attached to the imperial court. After completing his education he works for a short time as a teacher before travelling to Saigon, where he takes a course in navigation
AKA 'Uncle Ho'. Birth name Nguyen Sinh Cung, also called Nguyen Tat Thanh, Nguyen Ai Quoc, and Ly Thuy. Ho Chi Minh translates to 'He Who Enlightens.Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Vietnamese resistance to Japanese rule during the war. He had been associated with the Chinese Communist party in canton and had set up in China the Communist dominated Viet Minh, which was to fight for Vietnamese independence. However Chiang Kai-shek had him interned in jail from 1942-43 and it was only on the insistence of the Office of Strategic Service that he was released to fight in Vietnam. He turned to the US in Kunming to help his movement and received arms and supplies from the Americans.Instead of pursuing an out and out offensive against the Japanese, the Viet Minh remained in the highlands of Tonkin building a network of support waiting for the Japanese defeat. In 1945, his forces were strong enough to march into Hanoi and set up the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. His purpose was to Liberate Vietnam from French colonial rule and unification of North and South Vietnam
