 He was known for his flamboyant style, wearing a camouflage jungle suit, a black three-starred cap to indicate his rank, carrying a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 handgun, and was always seen with a swagger stick, quipping ""I use it to spank the Viet Cong"".As a lieutenant general, he performed brilliantly as commander of III Corps during the 1970 Cambodian Campaign, earning a laudatory sobriquet from the United States news media as ""the Patton of the Parrot's Beak"".In late February 1971 Trí was ordered north to take command of beleaguered I Corps forces after Operation Lam Son 719, a 1971 incursion into Laos, had gone astray due to the incompetent leadership of Lieutenant General Hoàng Xuân Lãm.