Ho Chi Minh and Colonel Sanders - the same person?

Vietnam doesn't have very many heros to put on their currency. Pretty much the only one is Ho Chi Minh. His face adorns all the bills. All of them. When I first started looking at his picture, I got two funny feelings. The first funny feeling was that I had been thinking all along that he was this fat guy - I was thinking of Mao Tse Tung.

Ok, honest mistake.

The second funny feeling, I didn't figure it out for a while.

Then one day it struck me - he looks exactly like Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. All sorts of conspiracy theories went through my head. Were they the same person? Twins separated at birth? It WAS suspicious that there were no KFC outlets in town here - there were in all the other countries I went to. Maybe it was just that the government was sensitive about the resemblence.

Here, for your convenience, is a comparison chart. Judge for yourself.
Colonel SandersHo Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh = Colonel Sanders? colonel Ho Chi Minh = Colonel Sanders? ho
leaderColonel SandersHo Chi Minh
Born18901890
Reputed BirthdaySept 9May 19
Where it
all started
Corbin, KYKimlien, VN
Worked as a cook1896-onward1912-onward
Lived in the USA1890-onward1915-1920
quoteIt's Finger Lickin' Good Không có gì quí hòn doc lâp tù do.
english translation"Nothing is better than Licking and Chicken" "Nothing is better than Liberty and Happiness"
Life Story According to the company's
website itself


...if that link is broken...my local copy

According to this high
school kid in Connecticut


...if that link is broken...my local copy


this Story (home) Allan in Southeast Asia (home) Allan's website (home) Next->