HANOI, VIETNAM – Former Vietnamese general and perennial Democratic presidential candidate Vo Nguyen Giap died this morning at his home in Hanoi. He was 102.
In Washington, flags were ordered to fly at half-mast for the soldier Henry Kissinger once credited as "the man who single-handedly got the U.S. out of the Vietnam War."
Several leading Congressional representatives, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), held a moment of silence on Capitol Hill for the fallen soldier. Giap was technically a constituent of hers, having been made an honorary citizen of San Francisco in 1968. Pelosi has already sponsored a resolution to have Giap's name added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has sponsored his own resolution, unofficially backed by Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, thanking Giap for the "years of hospitality" and offering to repay the favor by having Giap's body flown by helicopter from the rooftop of the American embassy in Vietnam and dumped in the South China Sea.
