Gerd von Rundstedt was alive during the Vietnam War.
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt ( 12 December 1875 -- 24 February 1953 ) was a Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II . He commanded Army Group A during the Battle of France , and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1940 . The Vietnam War ( Chiến tranh Việt Nam ) , also known as the Second Indochina War , and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America ( Kháng chiến chống Mỹ ) or simply the American War , was a war that occurred in Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 .