I don't know how the assassination of Diem originated but I did use most of the parts off the M-113 armored vehicle which was supposed to the place he was killed. (Probably just another BS myth). In May 1965 my armor unit arrived in South Vietnam but it took a while for normal supply of replacement parts to begin. We scrounged usable items off damaged S. Vietnamese equipment at Bien Hoa. This particular vehicle had very little wrong with it but the Vietnamese wanted nothing to do with it. Probably should have confiscated it (military term = steal for official use), repaired and used it along with my others.