Kiem Do

Đỗ Kiếm
Born	1933 (age 83–84) Hanoi, French Indochina
Allegiance	Republic of Vietnam
Service/branch	Republic of Vietnam Navy
Years of service	1955-1975
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Đỗ Kiếm, writing as Kiem Do (Hanoi, 1933) is a former officer of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, who was serving as Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) when Saigon fell in 1975. He secretly organised the evacuation of over 30,000 refugees aboard 32 naval ships.

Kiem was born in Hanoi, and by the age of 13 was a scout for the Viet Minh, fighting for Vietnam's independence from French colonial rule. Following the end of the First Indochina War, Kiem was sent to France to be trained at the École Navale in Brest.

Kiem was the commander of the submarine chaser Van Don (HQ-06) during the 1963 coup. He later served as the Commandant of the Vietnamese Midshipman’s School, Chief of Staff of the Mobile Riverine Force, District Commander of the IV Naval Zone, and Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations).

With the help of Richard L. Armitage, Kiem secretly organised the evacuation of the Republic of Vietnam Navy fleet of 32 ships accompanied by several cargo ships and fishing boats with over 30,000 naval personnel and their families aboard. This fleet left Saigon on 30 April 1975, and the next day rendezvoused with USS Kirk off Côn Sơn Island to be escorted to the Philippines.

After settling in the United States after receiving political asylum, Kiem taught high school math and science, studied in the MBA program at the University of New Orleans, and worked as a cost engineer for the Louisiana utility company Entergy for more than twenty years.

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