The Red Napoleon (What a cool Nickname) Vo Nguyen Giap Dies at 102

One of America's great enemies from the 60s and 70s died of old age today.

The so-called "red Napoleon" stood out as the leader of a ragtag army of guerrillas who wore sandals made of car tires and lugged their artillery piece by piece over mountains to encircle and crush the French army at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The unlikely victory, which is still studied at military schools, led not only to Vietnam's independence but hastened the collapse of colonialism across Indochina and beyond.

Giap went on to defeat the U.S.-backed South Vietnam government in April 1975, reuniting a country that had been split into communist and noncommunist states. He regularly accepted heavy combat losses to achieve his goals.

A lasting legacy of his is in 1995 he was instrumental in repairing ties with the US and now Vietnam is a close trading partner and is a bulwark against Red China. What a difference 30+ years make.