19 Facts About Dien Del

General Dien Del was a prominent Cambodian military officer and later, politician.

Dien Del directed combat operations in Cambodia, first as a general in the Army of the Khmer Republic and then as a leader of Khmer People's National Liberation Front guerrilla forces fighting against the Vietnamese occupation.

Dien Del spent the last fifteen years of his career as advisor to the Cambodian government.

Dien Del was born to an ethnic Khmer Krom family in 1932 at Soc Trang.

Dien Del attended the prestigious Lycee Sisowath in Phnom Penh from 1946 to 1952, then entered military service in the French colonial Cambodian Army.

Dien Del came to Phnom Penh in 1957 and was a member of the Royal Khmer Armed Forces Headquarters G-1 Office.

Dien Del returned to Cambodia in 1961 and assumed the post of Deputy Chief of Headquarters G-1.

Dien Del's unit was involved in the disastrous Operation Chenla II, an attempt to clear National Route 6 in Kampong Thom Province in 1971.

Dien Del returned to Cambodia in January 1972 and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in command of the 2nd Division.

Dien Del told her that beheading was practiced by both sides.

Dien Del was held there in a refugee camp until May 1975, when he went to Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and children.

On 1 February 1979, Dien Del flew to Thailand to form the Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces.

On 9 October 1979 this group became the Khmer People's National Liberation Front under Son Sann, and General Dien Del was appointed Chief of the General Staff.

In January 1981 General Dien established an officer training program at Ban Sangae Refugee Camp.

Dien Del said that General Sak would remain as Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Military Command, which was launched in January 1986 reportedly as a concession to the dissident group.

General Dien Del presided over the demobilization of the KPNLF's armed forces in February 1992, after which he returned to Cambodia.

In 2000 Dien Del became chairman of the National Assembly's Interior, National Defence, Investigation, and Suppression Commission.

Dien Del died in a hospital in Phnom Penh on February 13,2013.

Dien Del's body was cremated at the Tuek Thla Pagoda in Tuek Thla, Phnom Penh.