Hmong and the Vietnam War

Hmong and the Vietnam War

The Hmong were recruited by the United States CIA in the Vietnam war to disrupt communist Ho Chih Minh supply routes through Laos, which provided as many as 39,000 fighters, the largest CIA operation until the anti-Soviet mujahedin in Afghanistan. After the United States abandoned South Vietnam, as many as 10,000 Hmong were slaughtered at the hands of communist Pathet Lao. About 100,000 were eventually resettled in the US after many fled to Thailand. Washington did not officially acknowledged the valor and contributions of the Hmong soldiers until 1997.


.Reference

• CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974 — Central Intelligence Agency
• Facebook Hmong CIA 
• Hmong CIA command center http://hmong-cia.bravesites.com/
• Time

.CIA official

• CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974 — Central Intelligence Agency

  www.cia.gov › … › Studies in Intelligence › studies › winter99-00

  The Hmong project was primarily the work of CIA paramilitary specialist James W. (Bill) Lair. A veteran of World War II, Lair had joined the CIA at the outbreak of ...

  
  

  
  .Pathet Lao
  
  

  • Pathet Lao - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathet_Lao

    The Pathet Lao was a communist nationalist group in Laos that was founded in 1950 and took control of the country in 1975. They were closely associated with North ...

  • Pathet Lao Uprising - GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security ...

    www.globalsecurity.org › Military › World › War › Past Wars

    Pathet Lao Uprising in Laos. The name "Pathet Lao" (Land of Laos) referred to the communist movement that occurred in Laos beginning in the 1950s and was the …

  • Laotian Civil War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos_Civil_War

    • Overview · 
    • Chronology of the ... · 
    • Evacuation of the Hmong · 
    • Aftermath

    The Laotian Civil War (1953–75) was fought between the Communist Pathet Lao(including many North Vietnamese of Lao ancestry) and the Royal Lao Government in …

  • Laos - The Pathet Lao - Country Studies

    countrystudies.us/laos/18.htm

    Laos Table of Contents. War had broken out in the meantime between the French and Ho Chi Minh's government at the end of 1946. Leaving Nouhak in charge of the ...

    
    

.Time


http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1950590,00.html

In the lead-up to the Vietnam War, North Vietnam carved a maze of transportation routes through the jungles of Laos, creating a crucial supply link later known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Laos was in the middle of a civil war between the Royal Lao government and the communist Pathet Lao. Seeking to disrupt the North's supply routes, the Americans enlisted the help of the Royal Lao government's highest-ranking Hmong leader, Vang Pao. He welcomed American guns, money and expertise, assembling thousands of Hmong fighters from the hills. Together, they would tackle a common enemy, the communists.

The partnership worked — to a point. Vang Pao's troops gained a reputation for being fierce jungle fighters who rescued downed U.S. aircrews, gathered military intelligence and fought the communists to a stalemate. The effort was for many years the CIA's largest covert operation, until the agency funded the mujahedin against the Soviets in Afghanistan. In 1969, Richard Helms, director of the CIA, told President Richard Nixon that Vang Pao had 39,000 troops engaged in active fighting. But casualties were so bad, he wrote, that Vang Pao's forces were using teenagers as young as 13 to fill their lines. This massive effort was hidden from the American public for years. It became known as the secret war, and the Hmong mercenaries as the secret army.

After Saigon fell, America abandoned the secret army, and in 1975, as many as 10,000 Hmong were slaughtered at the hands of the ascendant Pathet Lao, according to Roger Warner, an author who is researching a book on Vang Pao. Others fled to neighboring Thailand and the U.S., where about 100,000 were eventually resettled. It was not until 1997 that Washington officially acknowledged the valor of the Hmong soldiers. A small stone with a copper plaque was placed in their honor between the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame in Arlington National Cemetery.

Read more: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1950590,00.html#ixzz2i5II84xf