Lao, Hmong Leader Issues Statement Honoring Veterans of Vietnam War in Laos

WASHINGTON - May 20, 2019 - PRLog -- The following is the statement issued and delivered by Colonel Wangyee Vang, President Emeritus and Founder of the Lao Veterans of America (LVA), and Lao Veterans of America Institute (LVAI), headquartered in Fresno, California, at national ceremonies held in Washington, D.C. to honor Lao and Hmong-American veterans and their U.S. military and clandestine advisors. The veterans memorial ceremonies were held at Arlington National Cemetery, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the U.S. Congress on May 14-15:

Statement of Colonel Wangyee Vang, President Emeritus,
and Founder of the Lao Veterans of America

at

Lao Veterans of America Memorial Day Ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
at Arlington National Cemetery, the Vietnam War Memorial
and U.S. Congress on
May 14 - 15, 2019
--


Members of Congress, U.S. Officials, Members of the U.S. Military and Fellow Veterans, Honored Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

First, I want to welcome all of you and thank you for participating in these important ceremonies at the Vietnam War Memorial, the U.S. Congress, and Arlington National Cemetery, to honor and remember our veterans. I also want to thank and recognize Mr. Philip Smith, Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and Washington, D.C. Director, and National Liaison for the Lao Veterans of America, and Lao Veterans of America Institute, for his efforts here today and for his past crucial efforts and support for the Hmong and Lao communities throughout the United States.

Twenty-two years after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the United States Congress and official Washington finally recognized the contribution of the Hmong, Khmu, Lao, Mien, and other ethnic minorities in Laos for their important contributions to U.S. national security, and allowed the placement of this monument on Grant Avenue, Section 2, in Arlington National Cemetery on May 15, 1997, the Lao Veterans of America Monument, also known as the Laos Memorial.  That is why we are again gathered here today.

The United States' Secret War in Laos was from 1961 to 1975. The U.S Special Forces, and U.S. clandestine advisors, recruited Hmong and other ethnic minorities to train and served as Territorial Defense Forces (ADC), Groupment Mobile Units (GM), Special Guerrilla Units (SGU), and other ground and air units to fight against the Communist North Vietnamese Army in a war in which thousands of our men lost their lives.

The various missions of the Lao Hmong U.S. Secret Army were: First, to defend the Royal Kingdom of Laos where the North Vietnamese Army illegally used it as the spring board to attack many hundreds of thousands of young American troops in South Vietnam; Second, to harass and interdict the flow of the North Vietnamese troops and North Vietnamese Army and Soviet war supplies traveling south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Third, to rescue the American air crews who are shot down in Laos and on the border of Laos-Vietnam.

Today, we come here to the Lao Veterans of America's Memorial Monument (Laos Memorial), the Vietnam War Memorial and U.S. Congress, to honor the surviving veterans and their families, and to commemorate over 35,000 Hmong, Khmu, Lao, Mien, and other ethnic minorities who sacrificed their lives for our freedom along with their U.S. Special Forces, military and clandestine advisors.

Thank you.


For more information:
http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org