Nguyễn Văn Minh was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Vietnam War. Minh entered military service during the First Indochina War in 1950 as an airborne officer serving in the French colonial forces. In November 1960, he supported a group of officers that staged an unsuccessful coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem. Minh was then dispatched to An Giang Province, in the Mekong Delta, and served as provincial chief until Diem's death in 1963.