- By Tammy, Thai Intel’s humanity journalist
What happens to friends and ally of the powerful CIA?
Sadly, they are often forgotten.
Just briefly, however, the following article from Star Tribune, says American Vietnam War ally, Hmong, many who have settled in America, want to be buried in soldiers cemeteries, when they pass away, but the USA Department of Veterans Affair, objects to the request because it could add costs, and crowd the soldiers cemeteries.
The Hmong, were mostly part of the CIA’s secret army in Lao. After the Vietnam War, many escaped SouthEast Asia, to settle in the USA.
A sizeable Hmong refugee settled in Thailand, but under a Thai Lao agreement, they were repatriated back to Lao. Many human rights units globally, voiced concern for these Hmong-as it was un-known how they will be treated by Lao.
During that repatriation of Hmong, the CIA remain silent, as it is currently doing on the Hmong attempt to gain access to be buried at soldiers cemeteries.
- The following is from Star Tribune:
Star Tribune|by Mark Brunswick
A Last Battle for Vietnam War’s ‘Secret’ Soldiers
March 01, 2012
ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a small building on Arcade Street about a dozen Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War — all trained, paid and armed to fight for the United States by the Central Intelligence Agency — gather regularly to discuss upcoming public service events or festivities where their honor guard might be needed. They dress in old military uniforms they have bought on their own and have decorated with patches of their own design.
The meetings now come with a renewed urgency.
When they die, these secret warriors of a secret American war want to buried in veterans cemeteries alongside their American comrades. But even though they now are commonly acknowledged as having fought for the United States in northern Laos, they are prohibited by law from being buried in national or state veterans cemeteries, which are reserved for American service members and honorably discharged U.S. military veterans and their families.
A bill in the Minnesota House asks Congress and the president to change the prohibition. But the state Department of Veterans Affairs warns that doing so could open the door for others who have helped Americans in their conflicts overseas, escalating costs and crowding the cemeteries.
Earlier this week, the veterans made their plea at a hearing of the House Veterans Services Division.
“We were American soldiers fighting alongside American soldiers,” testified Chue Chou Tchang, the national chairman of the Special Guerrilla Unit, an association of Hmong fighters in the United States, speaking through an interpreter. “We fought like brothers. We died together. Coming to this country, we’d like to rest with the American soldiers that fought with us.”
Forbidden by a United Nations agreement from committing American troops in Laos in the early 1960s, the CIA launched a covert operation of training and funding Hmong soldiers, first to retrieve the bodies of pilots whose planes had crashed and then to block supplies and attack North Vietnamese and communist troops.
Related articles
- Hmonging ‘Em Pretty Good: (brothersjuddblog.com)
- Frenchman in ‘pro-Hmong suicide’ (bbc.co.uk)
- Fresno Journal: A Hmong Generation Finds Its Voice in Writing (nytimes.com)
- Editorial: Still Secret After 30 Years? (nytimes.com)
- Trekking to remote Hmong villages in Vietnam (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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