Senior General Saw Maung (1928-1997) was the leader of the tatmadaw, the Burmese armed forces, which took power in a military coup on September 18, 1988. The new military regime renamed Burma as Myanmar, its name in the Burmese language.

Saw Maung was born in 1928 in Mandalay, the seat of Burmese culture. He was educated at the Mandalay Central Boys (now National) High School, where he completed Standard 8. He also studied electrical engineering between 1942 and 1948.

In 1949, shortly after independence, he joined the Burmese army as an enlisted man, and soon thereafter was promoted to sergeant. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1952. From 1962, when the Burmese army under General Ne Win instituted a coup against the civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu, he was assigned to the 29th Regiment, where he remained until 1963. He also chaired the District Security Committee during that period. He joined the Burma Socialist Programme Party...