An Truong

An Truong died peacefully early on Friday 16 October 2026, surrounded by family and friends, according to an announcement from the City of Haltom City. He was 78 and still serving as mayor. No cause of death was made public.

City Manager Rex Phelps called him a dedicated public servant who always put his community first. Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare described him as a trailblazer whose service left a lasting mark, and State Senator Taylor Rehmet called him a true public servant committed to progress and integrity. Flags at all city facilities were lowered to half staff in his honour. The city asked residents to respect the family's privacy and said funeral arrangements would be announced when available.

An Minh Truong was born in South Vietnam in 1948, one of 12 children, and grew up while France still ruled Indochina and then through the Vietnam War. He recalled studying by street light as a child. In 1968 he joined the Vietnamese Air Force and learned English so that he could train in the United States. According to a 2025 Texas House resolution honouring him, he graduated in the top ten of his class at the academy at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and completed advanced fighter pilot training at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Returning to Vietnam around 1970, he served as a first lieutenant and fighter pilot with the 530th Squadron, flying combat missions over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia alongside American forces. His aircraft was shot down twice, and he came under enemy fire on more than 30 percent of his missions. He completed his final mission on 29 April 1975, the day before the fall of Saigon, and became a refugee at U-Tapao Air Force Base in Thailand.

From Thailand Truong was moved to Guam, where he was reunited with his wife and children, and the family entered the United States through Camp Pendleton in California. They first lived in Pennsylvania, where he worked as a grocery store janitor, before moving to Haltom City in Tarrant County in 1980.

He joined the Fort Worth Police Department in 1987, working in narcotics, and believed he was the first Vietnamese American officer on the force. He then spent a long career as an investigator, often undercover, with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, including its Gang and Homicide Prosecution Unit; the city described his service there as 37 years. Alongside his police work he led community outreach programmes for more than two decades, serving as director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Youth Association and teaching more than 200 Asian American children about the dangers of drugs and gang violence. While working full time he earned a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a doctorate in business administration with a focus on criminal justice. He also hosted a Vietnamese language radio programme in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Truong joined the Haltom City Economic Development Corporation in 2011 and was elected to the city council in 2013, serving two terms as mayor pro tem. Term limited on the council, he ran for mayor in May 2019 and won a three way race with almost 60 percent of the vote, becoming the first Vietnamese American mayor in Tarrant County. His swearing in ceremony was conducted in English, Spanish and Vietnamese to reflect the city's diversity. He was reelected in 2021, 2023 and 2025.

As mayor he oversaw higher pay scales for city employees, infrastructure improvements and a wave of commercial and residential development, including a mixed use project anchored by H Mart's seventh Texas store at Northeast Loop 820 and Beach Street, a 412 home subdivision and new hotel and recreation projects. During his tenure the city opened a new city hall, law enforcement centre, fire substation and senior centre, and in 2025 a renovated North Park with a stocked fishing pond, trails and an amphitheatre. In 2025 the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution commending him for his service.

Truong was married and had children, who escaped Vietnam with him in 1975 and were reunited with him in Guam before the family resettled in the United States. He lived in Haltom City from 1980. A Buddhist, he helped build the original Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in east Fort Worth nearly three decades before his death and remained a member for more than twenty years. He helped found the Vietnamese-American Association of North Texas and was a regular voice on Vietnamese language radio in the area.

He spoke candidly about the racism, slights and slurs he had faced throughout his life in the United States, including as mayor. After the Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021 he urged tolerance and calm, telling WFAA that hatred was learned rather than innate and that everybody had the right to live.

Truong's life traced an arc from combat pilot to refugee, janitor, police officer, investigator and finally mayor. His election in 2019 made him the first Vietnamese American mayor in Tarrant County, and possibly in Texas, at a time when Asian Americans were the fastest growing population in North Texas. His years in office coincided with the most significant period of development in Haltom City's recent history, and he used his position to speak for tolerance and for the immigrant communities who saw in him a reflection of their own journeys.