Lee lives on a farm in Fresno. "As a young man, he had fought against the Japanese during World War II, and with the French against the North Vietnamese in the 1950s. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [citation needed], On 18 September 2009, the federal government dropped all charges against Vang Pao, announcing in a release that the federal government was permitted to consider "the probable sentence or other consequences if the person is convicted. Soldier in the Secret War recalls experience 45 years after resettling Vang Pao, Hmong Leader And General Who Led Secret War In Laos - NPR His picture hangs in thousands of homes. ", "Hatch is suing Hmong foundation; Attorney general wants to close the Vang Pao Foundation, which he says has ignored Minnesota charities laws. When the CIA needed an ally, they found a charismatic, passionate young man not afraid to die. The Lao and Hmong refugees were allowed to resettle in the United States, France, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. Would they be like my grandmother? He was the chief of a secret army financed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Gen. Vang Pao, the controversial but revered Hmong leader who was a key ally to the United States during the Vietnam War, died Thursday in Clovis, Calif. He became a sergeant in the French colonial army, and, in 1954, an officer in the army of the newly independent Laos. or call us at 1-617-450-2300. [21][22] (Smith, a foreign policy, human rights and legislative affairs specialist, serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis. If he didnt leave, he expected to be sent to a labor camp where he would have been worked to death. Several of Vang's high-level U.S. supporters criticized the California court that issued the arrest warrants. Affecting or concerning all or most people, places, or things; widespread. He was a leader in the Hmong American Community in the United States and lived in Clovis, California. But the United States government did not officially recognize the Hmongs contribution until 1997, when the Clinton administration authorized a plaque at Arlington National Cemetery saying that the valor of General Vang Paos troops would never be forgotten. He was 52 when he arrived and struggled to find a stable job that let him provide for his family. Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento, said she had no immediate comment. Among the hardest hit by this Secret War were the Hmong of northern Laos. General Vang Pao quickly organized 7,000 guerrillas, then steadily increased the force to 39,000, leading them in many successful battles, often against daunting odds. [54][55], At special sessions of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, Smith and the Center for Public Policy Analysis joined by Members of Congress, including U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, and others, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately drop the case, and the charges, against General Vang and the other Hmong defendants, especially in light of the Lao government's and Lao Peoples Army's (LPA) ongoing military attacks and egregious human rights violations directed against many of the Laotian and Hmong people, which included attacks on unarmed civilians and political and religious dissidents, atrocities, rape, torture and the use of mass starvation. He said he feared staying in Laos after fighting alongside the United States. Vang Pao, the Laotian general who marshalled a CIA mercenary army to fight a "secret war" against communist insurgents in the remote mountains of Laos in the 1960s, has . More than 10,000 Hmong mourned the leader on the first day of the funeral. Tou Long Yang, left, and General Vang Pao of the Royal Lao Army, right, at the Plain of Jars in 1971. U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, U.S. Congress, Center For Public Policy Analysis, Doctors Without Borders, Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) (1 May 2008), Agence France Press (AFP) & Asia One News, (13 May 2011), Agence France Press (AFP) (9 January 2011) "California funeral planned for Hmong general", Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aroports, 2007 Laotian coup d'tat conspiracy allegation, History of the Hmong in Fresno, California, "Vang Pao, Laotian General Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81", "Revered Hmong leader Vang Pao stands tall in two worlds", "The life of General Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader", "May Song Vang, widow of Gen. Vang Pao, dies at 62", "Hmong community, military leader Vang Pao dies at 81", "Hmong community reacts with alarm to charges against Vang Pao", http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18164641.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-62628182.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69595349.html, "3,500 Laotians Head for U.S. after 20 Years in Thailand", http://www.nysun.com/editorials/vang-pao-escapes/86878, http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1102/S00609/vietnam-laos-nationalist-fighter-honored-by-lao-hmong.htm, "Suspect in alleged Laos plot had friends, influence on Capitol Hill", Vietnam vet to get US honors after burial snub, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133816289.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-89481454.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-95001293.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-116193843.html, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-91813746.html, "Amnesty Urges Laos to Treat Hmong Humanely", "U.S. Secretary of State says he will talk to U.N. chief about Hmong in Laos", http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-110671550.html, "ST. PAUL; VANG PAO FOUNDATION; Chamber says money was for trade missions", THE COVERT WARS OF VANG PAO; Ex-guerrilla's gamble for peace backfires; With his empire unraveling, Gen. Vang Pao met with the enemy, a tactic that to his people felt like a total betrayal. Vang Paos fellow friends, including Hmong, Mienh, Lao, Vietnamese, and Americans individuals who knew Vang Pao protested the arrest and rallied throughout California, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. As an American teenager, whenever I asked grown-ups about the Vietnam War, few wanted to discuss it. Vang was a hero of the Hmong community, and thousands gathered for his six-day long funeral. He had been in hospital for about 10 days before his death late on Thursday. Vng Pao ( RPA: Vaj Pov, ch Lo: ; Ch Hmng Vit: Vangx Paor, 1929 - 2011 [1]) l ngi H'mong u tin c phong hm tng Qun i Hong gia Lo. A photo from Neng Cha's youth. [52], On 12 July 2007, the California federal court ordered the release of the Hmong leader on a US$1.5 million bond secured by property owned by members of his family. Tens of thousands died, both in the fight and in the escape. This excerpt is from Twin Cities PBS's documentaryMinnesota Remembers Vietnam: America's Secret War.Learn more at the bottom of the page. Five years later, Vang Pao's name was removed from a new school in Madison after opponents said it should not bear the name of a man with such a blood-stained history. Former U.S. soldiers surround a portrait of Gen. Vang Pao. Asked by the news agency Agence France-Presse to comment on his death, the Communist government of Laos said, He was an ordinary person, so we do not have any reaction., Gen. Vang Pao, Laotian Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/world/asia/08vangpao.html. Anyone can read what you share. VP cried witnessing this humiliating moment. This got me wondering about the surviving sisters of Gen. Vang Pao Lee, Xai, Ying and Der. [7] After World War II, French Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aroports (GCMA) authorities recruited Vang as a lieutenant during the First Indochina War to combat the Viet Minh (archive video on YouTube by Col. Jean Sassi). Their resilience today -- particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic -- has taken the form of advocacy for the vulnerable, Dinh said. "Gen. Vang Pao, an iconic figure in the Hmong community and a key U.S. ally during the Vietnam War, died Thursday afternoon in Clovis [Calif.] after spending days in the hospital with pneumonia. Hmong General Vang Pao, a courageous and powerful leader, worked in tandem with the CIA to conduct covert operations in Laos. Against All Odds: The Laotian Freedom Fighters Pao [67][68][69][70], Traditional Hmong funeral services for Vang were scheduled to be held for six days, starting 4 February 2011, at the Fresno Convention Center. HIS LIFE. The Pathet Lao leadership, hiding in caves, survived one of history's most brutal aerial bombardments, and by 1975 had taken full control and established a communist government. Following this appearance, on 6 April 2009, federal prosecutors denied all allegations of fabrications in the motion. [2] He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. The federal charges allege that members of the group inspected weapons, including AK-47s, smoke grenades, and Stinger missiles, with the intent of purchasing them and smuggling them into Thailand, where they allegedly would be shipped to anti-Laotian governmental resistance movement forces inside Laos. Read FULL Criminal Complaints Against General Vang Pao HERE. Behind the news are values that drive people and nations. you are agreeing to our, We underestimated China, US official says after reports of J-20 stealth fighter, Defense budget: to cut $100 billion, Army and Marines will shrink, Spain welcomes Chinese investment even with strings attached, One month free trial to the Monitor Daily. The term Meo Maquis was originally used by Free French and Allied intelligence officers to describe the Hmong resistance forces working against the Japanese forces occupying Indochina and China during World War II. In the mid-1990s, Vang Pao, aided by influential American diplomatic allies and vast numbers of Hmong-Americans, halted forced United Nations-sponsored repatriation back to Laos of thousands of Hmong refugees in Thailand. He was 81. We want to bridge divides to reach everyone. [60][61][62][63][64], Vang Pao reportedly had at least 25 children by several wives, and spoke English besides his native Lao, although in later years in interviews he did not seem to use the language as much anymore. Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese youth came from war-torn countries and had a tough time adjusting, said Sam Vong, curator of Asian Pacific American History at the Smithsonian Institute and former assistant professor of Asian American history at the University of Texas, Austin. On March 9, 2009, Vang Paos lawyers filed a motion seeking to dismiss the charges against him. Foreign dignitaries, U.S. military officials and elected representatives were among the thousands who came to mourn the general. Like many Southeast Asian refugees, it was difficult for Yang to create a new life in America. The CIA's 'Secret War' - The Diplomat Hmong general denied Arlington burial Prince Bouavong Kattygnarath (center) of the Lao royal family passes Vang's casket. He put the figure at 17,000 dead by 1968. General Vang Pao (The Hmong Legendary & Iconic Leader) 1970 Vint Lawrence, one of the earliest of the CIA agents to know Vang Pao, said the general seemed unconcerned about his safety in battleperhaps he believed that divine spirits controlled his fate. On June 4, 2007, following a lengthy federal investigation labeled Operation Tarnished Eagle, warrants were issued by U.S. federal courts ordering the arrest of Vang Pao and nine others for allegedly plotting to overthrow the communist government of Laos, an enemy the United States government trained Vang Pao to fight some thirty years ago, in violation of the federal Neutrality Acts.