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| -Obits- |
| Death Of An Ally - Hmong leader Vang Pao |
| 2011-01-07 |
| Gen. Vang Pao, an iconic figure in the Hmong community and a key U.S. ally during the Vietnam War, died today in Clovis. Vang, 81, was admitted to Clovis Community Medical Center on Dec. 26 with pneumonia and longstanding heart problems. Born in December 1929 to farmers in a Laotian village, he became a teenage translator for French paratroopers fighting the Japanese in Laos during World War II. Vang was selected to train at a French officers' school in Vietnam and became a commissioned officer in the French army. Laotian leaders made Vang a general, even though the Hmong were a small ethnic minority in the country. In 1961, Vang was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to lead a secret army of Hmong soldiers against Laotian communists and their North Vietnamese counterparts using routes through Laos to supply their troops. When the war ended and U.S. forces pulled out of Vietnam, communists in Laos persecuted the Hmong. More than 300,000 Laotian refugees -- most of them Hmong -- began a treacherous journey to reach Thai refugee camps. Under CIA orders, Vang was flown from his mountaintop headquarters in May 1975. He lived in Montana before moving to Orange County -- which had a growing Southeast Asian population -- and took a leadership role in the resettlement of his people. In 1977, Vang established the Lao Family Community organization to provide social services nationwide. The nonprofit helps refugees learn English and basic life skills. In late 2009, Vang said he planned to return to Laos -- saying it was time for reconciliation so that thousands of Hmong trapped in the jungle and refugee camps could be liberated. But that trip was quickly canceled after the communist regime announced that Vang would be executed as a Vietnam War criminal if he returned to Laos. Vang reportedly had six wives in Laos, where polygamy was practiced by some Hmong. Family members have said that he has about 20 children. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #3 Hmong rock!!!! RIP Vang Pao |
| Posted by: 746 2011-01-07 11:55 |
| #2 and the montgnards, and the catholics, and ... |
| Posted by: bman 2011-01-07 11:02 |
| #1 Screwing-over the Hmong in the aftermath of the Vietnam war is one of the darkest stains on the US. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-07 09:46 |