Col. Lapthe Flora promoted to Brigadier General in U.S. Army

Modified date:


Cotton Puryear/Virginia National Guard


The “American dream” is alive and well, and Col.Lapthe Flora, a Saigon native, is proof of that. Col. Flora became the first Vietnamese boat person promoted to Brigadier General in the United States Army at the National D-Day Memorial on Monday. He is also the second General in the U.S. Army of Vietnamese descent.









Col. Lapthe Flora is the first Vietnamese boat person to be promoted to Brigadier General.


He most recently served as the commander of the Virginia National Guard’s Bowling Green-based 91st Troop Command and will serve as the Assistant Adjutant General for Strategic Initiatives.


Following the Communist capture of Saigon in 1975, Flora and his brothers fled the city to avoid being drafted in to the North Vietnamese military. He spent more than three years in the jungle, then fled by boat to Indonesia where he spent a year living in three separate refugee camps. When he arrived in the U.S., he quickly learned English and finished his high school education in only three years. After high school Flora attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington where he earned a bachelor’s degree and commission in the U. S. Army Reserve in 1987.


He later transferred to the Virginia Army National Guard where he served in every staff position within 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, including commander of the battalion.


Flora’s adopted father was an officer in the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division who landed on Normandy 72 years ago, and part of the reason he chose to have his promotion in Bedford was to honor his father’s military service.


In his civilian capacity, Flora is the Senior Applications Engineer with Night Vision business of Harris Corporation in Roanoke, and holds six patent awards related to the AN/PVS-14 and AN/AVS-9 night vision goggles.


To read more, click here:


http://vaguard.dodlive.mil/2016/06/01/8875/#sthash.FrfTmhj8.dpuf

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