[Restorer]

A lot of South Vietnamese were Catholic.

[R. Scott]

A lot of South Vietnamese were Catholic.

There were a large number of Catholics there at the time, but I don’t recall Christmas being much of a big celebration like here. It was (it appeared to me) a religious holy day, not a secular holiday. The big shindig was Tet - their New Year, Christmas and birthday all rolled into one.

[meema]

bump to read more comments later.
Unfortunately, it's true about a lot of SV were Catholics, and they would be the ones who would be trusted to be in their Service.

Other than that, it's a great coup, good post.