Text transcribed from caption: C-30948 'FIGHTING PRIEST' IN VIETNAM RELIEVED OF COMMAND SAIGON, So. Vietnam -- Father Augustin Nguyen Loc Hoa, a Chinese priest who has headed a corps of volunteers fighting Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam since 1959, has been relieved of his command. A major of the South Vietnamese army has been named to replace him as leader of about 1,200 men who have carved out a safe haven in the Hai Yen sector of the Communist-dominated Camau peninsula of South Vietnam. The 56-year-old priest, shown here working at an outpost of the Binh Hung village, has been a symbol of freedom to Catholics in Vietnam and elsewhere. He is a former Lt. Col. in the Chinese Nationalist Army and fled Communist China in 1951 with several hundred followers. He went first to North Vietnam, then Cambodia and finally to South Vietnam where Chinese and Vietnamese took up arms to help him fight Vietcong guerrillas. No official government explanation for the replacement has so far come from Saigon. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (W-4D-64-NAB)
