St Francis Xavier Church

This guide to St Francis Xavier Church in Ho Chi Minh City's Cholon district follows one morning, November 2, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu arrived here after a night spent fleeing a coup against them. You'll hear how the brothers, having slipped out of the palace through tunnels, knelt at the altar of this church, built decades earlier for the neighborhood's Chinese Catholic community. It follows the armored vehicle and soldiers that pulled up outside, and the general who led them in with a promise. A small plaque inside marks exactly where the two men were standing.