Some died in battle.At the funeral hall, I meet the other two surviving sisters, Xai and Der.Xai is full of energy and youth in her late 70s.
"You call yourself a journalist, fooling around like this — it's crap!
Oft-repeated tales of his bravery in the battlefield, coupled with the fact that he had several wives and was said to have fathered dozens of children, added to the lustre. Vang Pao was born in 1929 to farmers in a small village in Laos's Xieng Khouang province. From 1961 to 1973, from his remote headquarters in the mountains, Vang Pao led his irregular army against the Laotian and Vietnamese communists, disrupting supply lines, rescuing downed American pilots and helping to defend radar installations that guided US bombing runs over Vietnam. This was a woman of rare qualities, and piercing words.
Gen. Vang Pao's sisters (from left to right) include Der Vang, Xai Vang and Lee Vang.
He never set foot again in his native Laos. Vang Pao then announced his intention to return to Laos to seek reconciliation, but the trip was cancelled after the communist regime said he would be executed if he returned. When the CIA needed an ally, they found a charismatic, passionate young man not afraid to die.That man was my great-uncle, the late Gen. Vang Pao.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 the lives of countless American soldiers.
Former U.S. soldiers surround a portrait of Gen. Vang Pao. One time, during a visit back to Laos, I woke up especially early to capture the tranquility of that morning.The monsoon rains had just begun, the farm animals were waking, and Grandma, well, she did what she does best — speak her mind. 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 truth, Grandma did believe she would have been a better commander than her brother.She was afraid of no one. Gen. Vang Pao's sisters (from left to right) include Der Vang, Xai Vang and Lee Vang. Vang Pao's photograph continued to hang in the homes of many Hmong exiles long after he lost the fight against communism, his continued popularity resting on his promise one day to liberate his country from the communist regime that still rules in Vientiane.
As an adult, it was just as hard to talk about the war. Military officials salute the casket of Gen. Vang Pao during his funeral procession in Fresno, Calif., on Feb. 4.
He didn't want them to attract suitors or to get married. My family lived in northeastern Laos, in Nong Het, right on the border with Vietnam. He began his early life as a farmer until Japanese forces invaded and occupied French Indochina in World War II. Fue un líder en la comunidad Hmong estadounidense en Estados Unidos Primeros años. Prince Bouavong Kattygnarath (center) of the Lao royal family passes Vang's casket. For Vang Pao, it was unfinished business. Following this appearance, on 6 April 2009, federal prosecutors denied all allegations of fabrications in the motion. He says when he was 13, he saw a family from his village unable to pay their taxes. • Vang Pao, soldier, born 8 December 1929; died 6 January 2011 The charges were later dropped, and the whole case then collapsed. As a teenager, he became a translator for French paratroopers fighting the Japanese in Laos during the Second World War. Note: Original interview was conducted in Hmong. In old age he may have dreamed of a comeback. Tens of thousands of Hmong gathered at the CIA's mountain airbase at Long Tieng, the hub of the paramilitary operation, but there was no coherent evacuation plan and only enough aircraft to rescue officers and family members. Many Hmong had participated in numerous protests over several weeks in California and elsewhere, calling for Pao's release from the date of his incarceration until his release under bail nearly a month later.On 9 March 2009, Vang's 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. Army officer who knocked out two Tiger tanks in Germany (NEWS)(SERIES: THE COVERT WARS OF VANG PAO)" Her, Lucy, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota),(28 November 2003)"McCollum praises policy shift by Hmong general Vang Pao. But they were not well suited to life in the West. In her youth, she was so tough that she'd ride on horseback down deep valleys before dawn to barter alone with Chinese and Burmese merchants.This got me wondering about the surviving sisters of Gen. Vang Pao — Lee, Xai, Ying and Der. He was the only ethnic Hmong to attain the rank of General officer in the Vang emigrated to the United States after the communists seized power in Laos in 1975. Vang Pao's net worth is rumored in the Hmong community to be measured by between 17 and 32 digits, an absurd assessment that reflects the awe in which Vang Pao is held. NPR reporter Doualy Xaykaothao speaks with her great-aunts — Gen. Vang Pao's sisters — in Fresno, Calif. Like a traditional Hmong girl, she begins her story with the name of her parents, their occupation, farming and the name of their village. Vang Pao's son-in-law Kao Thao later pleaded guilty to embezzlement, but the charges against Vang Pao and his colleagues were dropped in 2009.
Thousands from the Hmong community line the streets as the general's body is transported on a horse-drawn carriage to Fresno's convention center for the funeral. As a proxy army, the Hmong saved thousands of American soldiers from fighting and dying in Laos, but as the Americans abandoned the region in 1975, the Hmong found little gratitude from their former allies.