Shower? The Hmong are a tribe in the fog-shrouded mountains separating Laos from southern China, and they were natural allies for the C.I.A. hide caption. He was the only ethnic Hmong to attain the rank of General officer in the Royal Lao Army, and he was loyal to the King of Laos while remaining a champion of the Hmong people. Some historians argue that he allowed his "secret army" to be used as cannon-fodder, played as pawns on a CIA geopolitical chessboard. Vang Pao, a revered former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. 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. 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. Now they Desperately Battle for their Own Survival", "Vang Pao Met with Senior State Department Official", "Hmong Hero Faces Trial in California (audio), "Against All Odds: The Laotian Freedom Fighters", "Hmong American Leadership and Unity in the Post-Vang Pao Era", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vang_Pao&oldid=1151957156, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Articles with dead external links from July 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. He needed to ensure his familys survival, but it was heartbreaking to leave everything he owned and knew behind, he said. On September 18, 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.. Many of them fought on in the belief that their beloved general would one day return from the US to "liberate the country". After immigrating to the United States once the communists seized power in Laos in 1975, Vang Pao was venerated as a leader and a father figure by the large Hmong refugee populations who resettled in California's Central Valley, Minneapolis and cities throughout Wisconsin. Congressional committees discussed the war in secret sessions at the time it was being fought, and the press uncovered significant details. Since the June 4 federal raid, Vang Paos arrest has been the subject of mounting criticism. He was 81. HIS LIFE. This CIA operative was a real-life 'Col. Kurtz' during the Vietnam War The one thing he was firm about, Ying says, was for them to dress down. As a teenager, he had been recruited to fight communism alongside the United States. Vang Pao, a charismatic Laotian general who commanded a secret army of his mountain people in a long, losing campaign against Communist insurgents, then achieved almost kinglike status as. Bibliographies - The 1st Hmong General: General Vang Pao The general formed several nonprofits to aid the refugee communities and set up a council to mediate disputes between the 18 Hmong clans, whose president he hand-picked for decades. Vang Pao, Hmong Leader And General Who Led Secret War In Laos - NPR All 12 have pleaded not guilty since their arrests in 2007. More than 10,000 Hmong mourned on the first day of the funeral. Vang, an ethnic Hmong, was born on 8 December 1929, in a Hmong village named Nonghet, located in Central Xiangkhuang Province, in the northeastern region of Laos, where his father, Neng Chu Vang, was a county leader . FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Vang Pao, a revered former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. Gen. Vang Pao, Laotian Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81 - New York Times A hospital spokesman said his family was at the hospital at the time of Vang's death. Vang Pao has been widely portrayed by his Hmong supporters and the US media as an American war hero and venerated leader of the Hmong people. If he didnt leave, he expected to be sent to a labor camp where he would have been worked to death. General Vang Pao (Vaj Pov) - hmonglessons.com [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). He is an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. Obituary: Vang Pao - BBC News When I turn on my recorder, she says this is her chance to become famous. His job was to protect the CIA at all costs. He began his military career as an officer in the French army in the early 1940s. Hmong General Dead at 81 Radio Free Asia Five years later, the Madison school board removed his name from a new elementary school named for him, after dissenters said it should not bear the name of a figure with such a violent history. Vang Pao obituary | Laos | The Guardian This website uses cookies to During the 1950s, Ho Chi Minh's Vietminh guerrillas, and Lao and Cambodian nationalists united in a struggle to defeat the French empire in Indochina. Hmong General Vang Pao, a courageous and powerful leader, worked in tandem with the CIA to conduct covert operations in Laos. From that day on, he devoted his life to freeing Hmong people from the chains of poverty. Vang and the other Hmong were initially denied bail by the California federal court, which cited each of them as a flight risk. Hmong Veterans | The Museum He said he has healed from his experiences and adapted to life in America, yet still misses his home country decades later. Vang Pao was a charismatic Laotian general who commanded a secret army of his mountain people. Former U.S. soldiers surround a portrait of Gen. Vang Pao. Regarded by Hmong immigrants as an exiled head of state, Vang Pao made frequent appearances at Hmong cultural and religious festivals and often was asked to mediate disputes or solve problems. In 2002, the city of Madison, Wis., dropped a plan to name a park in his honor after a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor cited published sources alleging that Vang Pao had ordered executions of his own followers, of enemy prisoners of war and of his political enemies. He was also known as General Vang Pao to the people in the Hmong community. A portrait of Vang sits amidst funeral wreaths at the Fresno Convention Center. Family members pray during the Buddhist ceremony for Vang. [1] He was admitted to the hospital on 26 December 2010, after attending Hmong New Year celebrations in Fresno. Hmong means Free Pb (Asian American History & Cultu). Print. Vang Pao and the other Hmong were also initially denied bail by the California federal court, which cited each of them as a flight risk. [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. Vang Pao: A Forgotten Warrior and Ally - Ronald E. Yates 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. subscription. [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. (modern), Vang Pao was a leader of the Hmong ethnic group in Laos. [12], While in exile, Vang assembled other Lao and Hmong leaders from around the world to create the United Lao National Liberation Front (ULNF), also known as the Lao National Liberation Movement or simply the Neo Hom, to bring attention to atrocities happening in Laos and to support the political and military resistance to the government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Reporting from Fresno . You dont have a Christian Science Monitor Vang Pao - TIME's People Who Mattered in 2011 - TIME The CIA arranged for flights to bring Vang Pao and his Hmong supporters to the US as refugees via airbases in Thailand. The defendants face possible life prison terms for violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act and various weapons charges. A report from the civil rights nonprofit Southeast Asia Resource Action Center noted that 45 years after the community established roots in the U.S., nearly 1.1 million Southeast Asian Americans are low-income, and about 460,000 live in poverty. hide caption. General Vang Pao was born in December 1929 in a village in northeast Laos, had six years of sporadic schooling and worked as an interpreter for French colonial forces fighting the Japanese in World War II. [10] He remained widely respected by his fellow Hmong and was an esteemed elder of the American Hmong people, many of whom experienced the war or the reprisals that followed. Smith was a long-time friend of Vang Pao and many Laotian and Hmong American community leaders. Former Central Intelligence Agency chief William Colby once called [Vang] 'the biggest hero of the Vietnam War'.". Tens of thousands of them followed him in his flight to Thailand after the Communist victory in 1975. When the C.I.A. If you have questions about your account, please VP, as he was known to the CIA, personally trained thousands of irregular soldiers. Since the 4 June 2007 federal raid, the arrests became the subject of mounting criticism. His picture hangs in thousands of homes. One technique was to marry women from different tribes, as multiple marriages were permitted in Laos. contact customer service The Christian Science Monitor has expired. The case, which drew outrage, was later dropped. My family lived in northeastern Laos, in Nong Het, right on the border with Vietnam. Even after his indictment, he appeared as the guest of honor at Hmong New Year celebrations in St. Paul and Fresno, where crowds of his supporters gathered to catch a glimpse of the highly decorated general as he arrived in a limousine. He is an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. On March 9, 2009, Vang Paos lawyers filed a motion seeking to dismiss the charges against him. Gen. Vang Pao's sisters (from left to right) include Der Vang, Xai Vang and Lee Vang. 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. [citation needed], Thousands of Vang's former ethnic Laotian and Hmong veterans, and their refugee families, in the United States also formed the non-profit veterans and advocacy organizations the Lao Veterans of America and the Lao Veterans of America Institute. 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. In truth, Grandma did believe she would have been a better commander than her brother. 1. Following Pao's meeting with communist generals and officials from Vietnam, Vang's so-called "New Doctrine" was widely opposed by many of his closest advisers, family, supporters, and former veterans, and many in the Lao and Hmong-American community. Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, said Vang did not express any embarrassment over this cheating. The United States wanted to interdict the supply route, rescue American pilots shot down over Laos and aid anti-Communist forces in a continuing civil war, but was hampered in doing so publicly because Laos was officially neutral, so the C.I.A. Vang Pao ( RPA: Vaj Pov [v p], Lao: ; 8 December 1929 - 6 January 2011) [1] was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. As a teenager in World War II, Vang Pao fought the Japanese, who were attempting to take over Laos. Vang Pao, who died this week in Clovis, California, was the leader of the CIA's so-called "Secret Army" in Laos-a force of some 100,000 Hmong (pronounced "Mung") guerrillas that between 1960 and 1975 kept four crack Vietnamese divisions tied down in the Laotian Highlands north of the Plain of Jars and off the backs . Prior to his arrest, Vang Pao was slated to have an elementary school in Madison, Wisconsin named after him, a proposal that met with opposition over Alfred W. McCoys allegations that Vang had been involved in war crimes and drug trafficking, with Gary Yia Lee and other scholars strongly disputing his claims. This message will appear once per week At the time, he held the highest rank ever achieved by a Hmong in the Royal Laotian Army, major general. continue to use the site without a Lianne Milton for NPR Not in her DNA. Smuggled narcotics became a routine cargo transported from Laos and delivered into the corrupt arms of a clique of South Vietnamese generals in Saigon. Tou Long Yang, right, at the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand in 1976. contribute to the communitys continued socioeconomic struggles 45 years later, nearly 1.1 million Southeast Asian Americans are low-income, More than 16,000 Southeast Asian Americans have received final orders of removal since 1998, continue to struggle nearly half a century later, publicly denounced the mass detentions and deportations of the community. She says the Hmong in the U.S. are now without leadership, that her brother was the uniting force behind 18 clans. Along the way, General Vang Pao, son of Hmong farmers, became a key, if controversial, American ally and the symbolic father of a persecuted people. Military officials salute the casket of Gen. Vang Pao during his funeral procession in Fresno, Calif., on Feb. 4. When the CIA needed an ally, they found a charismatic, passionate young man not afraid to die. He made adult diapers for $7 an hour, he said, while his wife worked from home stapling earrings for sale onto pieces of paper. Xiong was at the hospital with a growing crowd of mourners. ", "THE COVERT WAR OF VANG PAO; SECOND OF THREE PARTS; Reality gets in the way of loyalty; For years thousands of Hmong have given money to Gen. Vang Pao for what appears to be an implausible goal: Retaking Laos from the Communists", http://www.centreforpublicpolicyanalysis.org. [35][36], The Vang Pao Foundation was forced to close following investigation by authorities and a lawsuit by the attorney general of Minnesota. The defendants face possible life prison terms for violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act and various weapons charges. The government arrested the defendants before understanding all the evidence because they felt a threat was imminent, he said. [21][22] (Smith, a foreign policy, human rights and legislative affairs specialist, serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis. His lawyers claimed that the charges were fabricated and had no bearing in court. Tou Long Yang served in the Laotian Civil War and then migrated to America to make $7 an hour. general. General Vang Pao lived more recently in Southern California and Minnesota, where many of the 200,000 Hmong that followed him to the United States or were born here live. He led a guerrilla army into battle against communist troops along the Ho Chi Minh trail relieving U.S. forces of that burden and saving. Smith raised repeated public concerns that the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Department of States, would be putting themselves and the U.S. government on trial, for its betrayal and abandonment of the Hmong people during the conclusion of the Vietnam War and its aftermath when many Hmong were killed or imprisoned by the Lao communist government that prevailed in the conflict. Vang Pao, soldier, born 8 December 1929; died 6 January 2011, Laotian officer in command of a secret anti-communist army, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Further information on covert war in Laos: Kaufman, Marc, Knight-Ridder / Tribune News Service (8 April 1996) "Hmong refugees will now be allowed to enter the U.S.", Washington, Wayne, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) (17 April 1996) "Agencies say influx of Hmong will go smoothly", The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) "NEW WAVE OF LAOTIAN REFUGEES ON THE WAY HUNDREDS EXPECTED TO COME TO STATE" (18 April 1996), Barber, Ben, Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) (22 April 1996), Scoop Independent News, Auckland, New Zealand (17 February 2011) "Vietnam, Laos Nationalist Fighter Honored By Lao Hmong", Kennedy, Tony and McEnroe, Paul (5 July 2005)"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. It was a major human rights victory for the Hmong. Many Southeast Asian American refugees continue to struggle nearly half a century later, but have also made strides in various spheres. [56][57][58][59], Amnesty International and other human rights organizations and experts testified about their research efforts, along with Members of Congress, including U.S. 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 died aged 81. Some of them committed very minor crimes, but those stayed with them on their records. Vang Pao (Hmong: Vaj Pov; 8 December 1929 - 6 January 2011) was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. [citation needed], The Pathet Lao Marxist government Laos was engaged in serious human rights violations, including military attacks on civilians by the Lao People's Army in Laos in 2007 and prior, according to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Public Policy Analysis, the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Human Rights Council, headed by Dr. Vang Pobzeb, Members of the United States Congress and others. Vng Pao - Wikipedia ting Vit Hmong Americans were found to fare the worst compared to all racial groups across multiple measures of income. Meanwhile in neighbouring neutral Laos, Washington's strategists opted for a secret war against North Vietnam, without ground troops. Courtesy of Doualy "I touched his hand, I called his name on his ear, and he opened his eyes briefly," Xang Vang said. General Vang Pao offered a reward and ordered the assassination of Shong Lue Yang, who was killed in February 1971 by Nos Toom Yang in the village of Nam Chia. It also allowed for that broader definition to be applied retroactively. He said he spoke briefly with family members, who were planning a memorial service, but had no details on what caused Vang Pao's death. On June 18, 2007, the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education voted to drop Vangs name from the new school, in light of the federal charges against him and the previous allegations. ", Baenen, Jeff, Associated Press (AP), (28 May 2004)"Hmong Military Leader's Influence Waning", Estrada, Heron Marquez and Xiong, Chao, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, (2 May 2004) "Attacks on Hmong a puzzle; The roots of recent violence aimed at a general's affiliates are being probed. A committee unanimously voted against a request to bury Vang Pao at Arlington National Cemetery, Hmong Leadership | Chi You Di | Wu Ba Yue | Zhang Xiu Mei | Lo Blia Yao | Pa Chay Vu | Shong Lue Yang | Tou Geu Lyfoung | Touby Lyfoung, General Vang Pao | Lee Lue | Dr. Yang Dao | Senator Mee Moua | Dr. Vang PobZeb | Hmong Doctorates, Alleged plot to overthrow government of Laos. Dazzled by the whirl of US airpower bringing 24-hour food and military supplies to his men in the remote mountains near the Plain of Jars, Vang Pao came to believe in the Chao Fa legend of an independent Hmong state. Vang Pao: The general who wouldn't give up the battle "Laos Hmong Refugee Crisis", Center for Public Policy Analysis, Washington, D.C. Lao Veterans of America, Inc., Washington, D.C. "Welcome to the Jungle: Recruited by the CIA to be a Secret Army During the Vietnam War, the Hmong Rebels of Laos Fought Communism. Now, under these new policies of deportation, they will be deported.. She died four years ago, but people used to tell me that if she had been born a boy, she would have been the one tapped by the CIA to help them during the Vietnam War. In 2001, Vang Pao began to moderate this position, publicly advocating normalization of U.S.-Laotian relations in hope of alleviating the human rights abuses by the Laotian government against the indigenous Hmong people. Following this appearance, on 6 April 2009, federal prosecutors denied all allegations of fabrications in the motion. He began his early life as a farmer until Japanese forces invaded and occupied French Indochina in World War II. Her name is Ying, and she claims she's about 100. The government of Laos, along with the governments of Vietnam, the Peoples Republic of China, Cuba and North Korea are the worlds few remaining bastions of communism. During the 1960s/70s, he commanded the Secret Army, also known as the Hmong Army, a highly-effective Central Intelligence Agency-trained and supported force that fought against the Pathet Lao and People's Army of Vietnam. [65], Diana Aguilera of the Fresno Bee wrote that May Song Vang, who was Vang Pao's wife at the time of his death, "became the face of the Hmong community" after Vang Pao died. (NEWS)(SERIES: THE COVERT WARS OF VANG PAO)", Lovering, Daniel, Associated Press (AP) (13 January 2014)"Former enemies wage battle over U.S. trade with Laos", Kennedy, Tony and McEnroe, Paul, Minneapolis Star Tribune (5 July 2005)"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. The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization offering calm, thoughtful, award-winning coverage for independent thinkers. Yang said leaving Laos was probably the hardest decision he ever had to make. This covert war was also waged with the assistance of B-52 aerial bombardments and regular supply flights from Air America, a commercial airline fronting for the CIA, which flew in food and ammunition to mountain helipads cut out of the jungle. His death was confirmed by Michael Bailey, a spokesman for the Clovis Community Medical Center. Lianne Milton for NPR But he has been unable to return and has been blacklisted because of his association with the U.S. during the war. You see, the Vietnam War took place in my family's backyard. In the US, Vang Pao assembled anti-communist exiles under one banner the United Lao Liberation Front and sent funds and weapons to be ferried across the border from Thailand to the bands of hardcore Hmong determined to resist the new regime. Vang, an ethnic Hmong, was born on 8 December 1929,[3][4] in a Hmong village named Nonghet,[5] located in Central Xiangkhuang Province, in the northeastern region of Laos, where his father, Neng Chu Vang, was a county leader. A hospital spokesman said his family had been at the hospital at the time of his death. At that time, during the war, it's either they kill me or I kill them, he told NBC Asian America through his son, Toufu Yang. This was a woman of rare qualities, and piercing words. The youngest sister, Der, agrees. He had to divorce all but one of his five wives when he went to the United States in 1975, settling on a ranch in Montana. 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. Kingsley Yang ties on an armband during the funeral procession. It was a war that the US public was not allowed to see or know about. But youll find in each Monitor news story qualities that can lead to solutions and unite usqualities such as respect, resilience, hope, and fairness. New. [11] Though he was somewhat less influential among younger Hmong-Americans who have grown up primarily in the United States, he generally was considered an influential leader of U.S.-based Hmong, enjoying great loyalty for his position of leadership and respect for his military accomplishments. Chan. "You call yourself a journalist, fooling around like this it's crap!". This included the Lao Veterans of America, the Center for Public Policy Analysis and others. 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. He was charged under the U.S. Neutrality Act, a security clause that prohibits actions on domestic soil against foreign governments with whom Washington is at peace. [46], Prior to his arrest, Vang was scheduled to have an elementary school in Madison, Wisconsin named after him, a proposal that met with opposition over historian Alfred W. McCoy's allegations that Vang had been involved in war crimes and drug trafficking,[47] with Hmong scholars Gary Yia Lee[48] and Jane Hamilton-Merritt, as well as former Air America Association president Jack Knott, strongly disputing his claims. Tue 22 Feb 2011 17.17 EST. 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. Your session to The Christian In 2007, however, he was arrested and charged with other Hmong leaders in federal court with conspiracy in a plot to kill communist officials in his native country. Vang Pao's FBI file, requested by MuckRock user Robert Delaware, reveals that the Bureau had been monitoring the general for nearly 30 years, ever since it first investigated allegations of murder, extortion and kidnapping - all in the name of the Hmong people - in 1985. I never knew his story. Prince Bouavong Kattygnarath (center) of the Lao royal family passes Vang's casket. William Colby, the director of the CIA in the 1970s, called Vang Pao "the biggest hero of the Vietnam War.".
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