Sky Is Falling

An Oral History of the CIA’s Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos

by

Gayle L. Morrison

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Morrison, Gayle L.

Sky is falling : an oral history of the CIA’s evacuation of the Hmong   from Laos / by Gayle L. Morrison

p.     cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7864-3753-5

1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975—Laos.  2. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975—Personal narratives.  3. Hmong (Southeast Asian people) 4. Political refugees—United States.  5. United States. Central Intelligence Agency.  I. Title.

DS558.6.L3M67     2008

959.704'34—dc21     98-34811

©1999 Gayle L. Morrison. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover design by Gayle L. Morrison

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

www.mcfarlandpub.com

In Memory of Jerry “Hog” Daniels

June 11, 1941–April 28, 1982

Jerry was strong and helpful and really loved and understood Hmong people. He stayed with the Hmong for many, many, many years, and he had the best relationship with us.

Jerry died in Bangkok, but he was buried in Montana. At his funeral his mother said: “Well, Vang Pao, this is your son, and you can do whatever you want. You can do his funeral by the Hmong custom.” So that’s what we did. With drums [nruas] and qeej, we did the Hmong way for Jerry.

—former Sky employee

Funeral wreath with picture of Jerry Daniels, May 10, 1982, Missoula, Montana. Wreath inscription: “All your Hmong Associates, Field Liaison Officers, The Forward Air Guide.” (Carol Leviton-Wetterhahn collection)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book could not have been written without the help of many individuals. I want to extend special thanks to each and every one of the following.

First, thanks are due General Vang Pao, the person who made me aware of the evacuation story within a much larger historical perspective. Throughout the project he was generous with his responses to any questions I had and was congenial about my interviews with many of his family members.

I am grateful to my former employer, Lao Family Community, Inc., as well as to my current employer, Lao-Hmong Security Agency, Inc., who allowed me to take extensive periods of time off from work to continue research for this book. I owe much to both employers for their flexibility, generosity, and encouragement.

Thanks go to my host-friends who graciously took me into their homes on my many research and interviewing trips: Nai V. and Pheng Moua (Fresno, California), whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for 20 years and who let me stay with them “as family,” sometimes for weeks on end; Elizabeth Kirton, who provided good friendship and wonderful hospitality in Fresno, in Phanat Nikhom, Thailand, and in Vientiane, Laos; Laura Leonelli (Sacramento, California), who introduced me to many members of the Sacramento Hmong community as well as played the consummate hostess to a road-weary friend; Ava Dale and Charles Johnson (St. Paul, Minnesota), who graciously allowed me to descend upon them annually to continue my Twin Cities interviews; also hosts Suzy Moser and Chris Berrisford (Hong Kong), Xia Y. and Lia Vang (Dallas, Texas), Scott Takushi and family (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Bee and Koua Moua (St. Paul), Beui M. and Va Xiong (Southern Pines, North Carolina), Ms. Lucie Yang and family (Mt. Gilead, North Carolina), Mr. and Mrs. Xao Lee and family (Connelly Springs, North Carolina), and Mr. and Mrs. Lo Ma (Morganton, North Carolina).

Thanks go also to the many translators who gave freely of their time and energy: in southern California—Chong Vang, Yang Toua Chiachue, Mrs. Maikou V. Saykao, Seng Kue, Blong Moua, Mrs. Mayjoua (Joyce) L. Vang, Mrs. Shoana V. Ly, and Ms. Paj Nhiag Vang Nengchu; in Fresno—Pheng Moua, Ms. Misty Moua, Paul T. Moua, and four translators from the Hmong Senior Citizen Program, Ms. Choua Yang, Mrs. Tsor Yang, Mrs. Choua Lee, and Mrs. Sherry Ly; in Sacramento—Chee Vang, Rocky Vang, and Mrs. Fahm Seng; in Minnesota—Blia Thor, Yao Lor, and Bee Yang; in Georgia—Miss Paja Xiong; and in North Carolina—Teng Vang.

Academic and professional encouragement was provided by Bruce T. Downing, Timothy N. Castle, Ava Dale and Charles Johnson,

Jane Hamilton-Merritt, William M. Leary, Larry D. Sall, and Sally Peterson. Anne Frank and Nancy Caudill are two librarians who used their extensive expertise to locate archival reference materials for me.

I would like to thank the agencies that let me borrow an office in which to conduct interviews from time to time: Sacramento Lao Family Community, Inc., Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc., Lao Family Community of Fresno, Inc., Lao Ethnic Association, Inc. (Fresno), Hmong Council, Inc. (Fresno), and Hmong Mutual Assistance Association, Inc. (Minneapolis).

Thanks are due the friends and colleagues who provided a variety of functions and services out of their enthusiasm for this project and the kindness of their hearts. First and foremost, I thank my good friend Nhia Vang, who provided hundreds of hours of technical support over the course of many years to keep my computer running. Roger Warner offered a collegial spirit and a remarkable Rolodex and paved the way for me to meet some of the extraordinary “old Lao hands” who still live in Bangkok, Thailand. Tim Pfaff and the Chippewa Valley Museum (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) included this research project as part of a Hmong History Series. A special thank-you goes to my friends in the Air America Association, especially Brian Johnson, Jane E. Mullins, Jack Knotts, and Dr. Larry Sall. It is an honor and a pleasure to feel welcomed by this friendly group of seasoned pilots and support personnel who know Laos in a very unique way.

Thanks are also due Carolyn Bowlen, Jonathan Brostrum, John Chang, Pichai Chuensuksawadi (Bangkok Post), George Dalley, Esther Dendel, Gina Froelich, Eileen Granosky, Sally Hoff, Harriet Hope, Christine Kopitzke, Judy Lewis, Sheryl Markham, John Melton, Peter Morrison, George Moua, Elaine Rubenstein, Lupe Salazar (Los Angeles Times), Jim Schill, Anourack Soukhaseum, Cheu Thao, MacAlan Thompson, Dr. Lue Vang, Terrence Wang, Carol Leviton-Wetterhahn, Ralph Wetterhahn, and Xang Yang.

A number of people have been helpful to me in my ongoing search for pictures of the Long Cheng valley and the evacuation. Finding and copying pictures was a formidable task that took years to complete. Many people merit thanks for their efforts, most especially G. R. Jenkin, who took numerous fine photos of the Long Cheng valley, and also Galen Beery, Bao V. and Mouasu Bliaya, George Dalley, J. R. Johnson, Jack Knotts, Ly Teng, Ly Tou Pao, Tou Geu Lyfoung, Susan Lindbergh Miller, Blong Moua, Nao Thao Moua, Nai V. and Pheng Moua, James E. Parker Jr., Allen Rich, Jim Schill, Steve Schofield, Scott Takushi, Cha Vang, Maykao L. and Chao Vang, Mao H. and Chu Vang, Mrs. May Song Vang, Mrs. Chia M. Vang, Nhia Vang, Roger Warner, Carol Leviton-Wetterhahn, Yang Chee, Chong Ge Yang, Jay Ge Yang, Mrs. Tong V. Yang, Yang Toua Chiachue, John Xiong Yang, and Ze Yang, all of whom let me make copies of their personal collections of Laos photos and slides. The

CAT

/Air America Archives at the University of Texas at Dallas was exceedingly helpful in my search for photos of northern Laos.

I offer a big hug of thanks for the ongoing support of my entire extended family, in particular my father, Lewis C. Pope, who has a love of airplanes and who slipped me extra “gas money” so that I could continue my research, and my mother, Letty Jo Pope, who played the vital role of being my mother and who never quit worrying over me and my travel adventures.

And last but not least, I thank all the people, Hmong and American, I have interviewed and talked with over the years. It has been a pleasure getting to know each individual. My only regret is that Ly Vong Lynaolu, Allen Rich, and my uncle Gordon N. Swoffer Jr., all enthusiastic supporters of this project, did not live long enough to enjoy the publication of this book. They completed their work before I completed mine.

To everyone listed here, and to anyone I have inadvertently overlooked, I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Maps

Introduction

Brief Chronology of Events

1. An Uneasy Peace

2. Not Enough to Fight a War

3. Vientiane Hmong

4. A Strategic Junction

5. For the Safety of My Soldiers

6. Laos Is Falling

7. Spies, Traitors, Tanks

8. Not Too Many Pilots, Not Too Many Planes

9. Get Ready!

10. Mobs and Mobs of People

11. People Go Like Ants

12. Three Children

13. Survival Only

14. A Can-Do Operation

15. Find Your Own Way Out

16. Thailand

Appendix A: People Interviewed

Appendix B: Pilots' Flight Logs

Glossary: Terms, Places, People

Index of Terms

PREFACE

In Sky Is Falling, I document various personal experiences of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Hmong evacuation, using an array of first-person eyewitness accounts: of leaders, of rank and file, of men and women, of Hmong and Americans. To do so, I conducted over 200 audiotaped oral-history interviews with more than 50 Hmong and Americans, a process that took nine years to complete. Since the interview format elicited both specific and unexpected information, each person was interviewed many times in order to clarify and substantiate the facts. No one asked to remain anonymous; all appeared to take an active interest in and personal responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of their words, since those words would be directly attributable to the interviewees. Over time, the interviews produced a chronological framework in which multiple and sometimes contradictory personal experiences were reported. I have cross-referenced dates, events, and people involved to verify the accuracy of the information presented. The result, I believe, is an honest and fair portrayal of the range of experiences that played themselves out at Long Cheng in May 1975.

Because of the lack of original written documentation regarding the final Hmong evacuation, each of the 200-plus interviews is considered primary source material. Verbatim transcription of the tapes produced more than 2,700 pages of text. For the purpose of publication, I have edited this unwieldy amount. However, the words and sentiments expressed are drawn directly from the transcripts.

People entered into this project with their personalities and opinions fully intact: some were restrained, some gregarious; some had hazy and some had outstanding memories. A few turned out to be true raconteurs. I have tried as much as possible to retain the actual flavor of each individual’s personality, editing material with an eye to the goal of letting the interviewees express themselves and their opinions in their own styles. Although each individual’s story stands by itself, all are also part of the dense web of social relationships that is the basic structure of the Hmong community. It is this web that holds the stories together, whether the voices are in harmony or at odds—and even when the voices are non–Hmong. Because of this intrinsic web structure, I call this work a perceptual history, a history that gives voice to the human variety of experience as much as to the chronological sequence.

For my part, conducting years of interviews within the busy and robust Hmong community encouraged tenacity, discipline, patience, and the good stewardship of social relations. The extended time matured the joys of friendship, sharpened the mental challenge of chasing down a good mystery, and intensified the satisfaction of completion. Having acknowledged these benefits, I also should state that this was not an easy research project. Mapping out an uncharted historical landscape can be a tedious and frustrating experience, more so in this project because of the complications of working extensively with nonnative English speakers. Whereas 75 percent of the Hmong I interviewed chose to speak in English, another 25 percent preferred to speak through Hmong-English translators for all or parts of their interviews. Either way, working with non-native English speakers meant that sometimes the verbal fog thickened before the dawn of mutual comprehension eventually arrived.

Given the challenges of working in two languages and two cultures, it still may have been easier for me, a familiar non–Hmong, to access the Hmong community for this project than it would have been for a Hmong person, who likely would have been evaluated based on complex Hmong social expectations more than on the merits of the project itself. I am grateful for the close relationship I have enjoyed with the Hmong community. And I hope to return the favor of goodwill with this book: by promoting Hmong historical consciousness through sparking the curiosity of the younger generation while acknowledging the contributions and strengths of the older generation as they bear witness to their life experiences.

The time I have spent talking with Hmong and Americans in the course of this research has enriched my life. I have come to understand that the drama of a specific crisis, such as this evacuation, allows one to explore different viewpoints on timeless human themes—loyalty, trust, responsibility, fear, power, and tactics for survival—as well as to provide glimpses into both the heroic and the darker sides of individuals, situations, and geopolitical systems. Crisis is often the ordeal whereby character is tempered, and guardians, alarmists, cool strategists, and tricksters are created. Ultimately, this story is a mirror of the human condition, and my fascination with this subject comes as much from its humanity as from its politics. I hope I will be deemed to have treated the story with the respect and compassion it deserves.

Note: Throughout the text, the order used for Hmong names is based on the personal preference of the speaker. Some names follow the Hmong practice of family/clan surname first followed by given name; others use the Western form of given name first followed by the family name.

MAPS

Map 1.

Long Cheng Valley

(LS 20-A)

Key to Map 1.

1. Lao military training camp

2. “Lao Houam Phao” (“United Lao Races”) radio station

3. Colonel Ly Tou Pao’s house

4. Colonel Youa Va Ly’s house

5. Colonel Shoua Yang’s house

6. American/Sky air ops

7. loading ramp; head of airport where ammunition and fuel stocks are located

8. Lieutenant Colonel Vang Neng’s house

9. Colonel Ly Pao’s house

10. old Lao school (grades 1–6)

11. water supply tank

12. Buddhist Temple (Wat Long Cheng)

13. Soun Kang Fuek military training camp

14. hospital

15. new market

16. T-28 office and supplies

17. soccer field

18. MR2 Air Maintenance (garage) and Lao airport office for T-28s, C-47s, and O-1s

19. T-28 parking ramp

20. air control tower

21. old market

22. General Vang Pao’s house and compound

23. Colonel Ly Teng’s house

24. Lieutenant Colonel Moua Gao’s house

25. Colonel Moua Tou Lu’s house

26. Colonel Moua Sue’s house

27. Lieutenant Colonel Hang Sao’s house

28. Samoson community building

29. General Vang Pao’s ramp, “VP’s Ramp”

30. Sankadee (Lower Court, closed in 1971 after an enemy attack; main office for Lieutenant Colonel Tou Fu Vang from 1973 to 1975)

31. Panya Touby Lyfoung’s house

32. Colonel Ly Su Blong’s house

33. Colonel Lyfoung Nao Kao’s house

34. King’s House (huab-tais tsev), built for King Sawang Vatthana by General Vang Pao and the Hmong

35. guest house

36. fishing pond with earthen-dam landing pad

37. Lieutenant Colonel Vang Geu’s house

38. Colonel Ly Lo’s house

39. theater (cinema)

40. Colonel Tou Long Yang’s house

41. ramp used by Thai “volunteer” troops (1969–1974)

42. Xiengkhouang Savings & Loan

43. ADO (Agricultural Development Office)

44. XKDC (Xiengkhouang Development Corporation)

45. Farm Service Center

46. Lieutenant Colonel Tou Fu Vang’s house

47. Thai P.C. Infantry (Post Central or Central Office) (before 1974; noodle shop after 1974)

48. Thai P.C. 155mm artillery (Post Central or Central Office)

49. Thai 155mm artillery base (before 1974; Lieutenant Colonel Moua Gao’s office after 1974)

Map 2. Laos: Military Regions of the Royal Lao Government

Map 3. Northern and Central Military Regions of the Royal Lao Government

Map 4.

Vientiane, Capital City of Laos

INTRODUCTION

Long Cheng is a secluded, impossibly distant, wild and beautiful valley cut deeply into the rugged karst mountains of northern Laos. At 3,120 feet, ancient and undisturbed, its isolated quiet encompassed the life and society of tribal highland farmers. But the requirements of war transfigured Long Cheng forever. It became the new home of the headquarters of the Royal Lao government’s Military Region 2, commanded by General Vang Pao.

Starting in 1961, tall, white strangers advised and supported Vang Pao, a tough, wily Hmong officer in the Royal Lao Army. There in the valley of Long Cheng they constructed a secret airbase, which inexorably developed into an active military town of nearly 50,000 people with a macadam airstrip 4,200 feet long—lengthy enough to accommodate the aircraft that Vang Pao and his advisors depended on to conduct their missions.

From 1961 to 1975, Hmong guerrilla soldiers functioned as the hands and feet of the “secret war” conducted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) against communist forces in Laos. With significant implications in national, regional, and superpower political relations, Long Cheng was built up and evolved into the clandestine epicenter of the American-Hmong war effort. Hmong anticommunist operations in Laos remained highly classified throughout most of the Vietnam War—despite the involvement of tribal troops in numbers rising to almost 40,000, despite heavy casualties both inflicted and accepted, and despite massive internal civilian refugee movements.

Hmong guerrillas earned the respect of the CIA. In April 1994, William Colby, former director of the CIA, testified at a congressional hearing: “Vang Pao … quickly came to [CIA’s] attention for his qualities of leadership and courage. He was exactly the sort of leader CIA hoped to find, who could inspire and lead his people, take full command and work well with CIA support. He and CIA began a working relationship which would last many years and conduct one of the most successful operations CIA ever conducted. ‘Most successful’ for our purposes of that day, a disaster for the Hmong.”

Vang Pao’s earthy charisma led the Hmong into the CIA’s Southeast Asian theater of clandestine missions. His secret tasks, affirmed by low-profile U.S. intelligence and military advisors with tactical support from the Agency’s own Air America transport services, defined the hidden war. For 15 years, training, ground and air operations, radio networks, weaponry, and almost continual movement characterized the daily life of Hmong soldiers and civilians alike. Funded and advised by the CIA, Vang Pao’s tribal soldiers fought to protect their homelands.

This was the key to the CIA’s success on two fronts:

CIA-supported guerrilla soldiers maintained the illusory perception of the U.S. government’s neutral political policy in Laos and, at the same time, helped to fulfill U.S. military policy. Vang Pao’s army occupied the attention of North Vietnamese troops in Laos, troops that otherwise would have been sent to fight in South Vietnam. Indigenous peoples’ self-defense is the camouflage of choice for covert operations; this is the success of which Colby spoke.

Over the years, the U.S. government had quietly made a pledge to the Hmong that the Americans would take care of them if the country of Laos was lost. To almost everyone, it seemed an unlikely turn of events.

But in May 1975, after years of highly classified operations in “neutral” Laos, the promise was evoked. The CIA generated an air evacuation, effectively undertaken by an Agency case officer, that moved more than 2,500 Hmong officers, soldiers, and civilian family members out of their mountain-ringed airbase.

BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

1955—North and South Vietnam are divided, and Laos is established as a neutral, sovereign state. French leave Indochina.

The U.S. establishes a small mission to Laos to help with economic problems and military assistance. A small intelligence network is set up by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

1959—Fighting occurs on the Plaine des Jarres (PDJ) between the Pathet Lao (communist Lao) and the Royal Lao government troops.

The U.S. sends Special Forces teams to train the Royal Lao Army (RLA); CIA increases supplies to the RLA.

1960—United States backs anticommunist General Phoumi Nosavan against a coup by neutralist Captain Kong Le.

In response to direct Soviet involvement in Laos, the United States decides it must intervene or put all of Southeast Asia at risk of falling to the communists based on the “domino” theory.

John Kennedy is elected U.S. president.

Maj. Vang Pao, a staunch anticommunist officer in the RLA, is promoted to lieutenant colonel.

1961—Washington decides to make no direct military intervention in Laos but will supply covert arms and training. On behalf of the CIA, Bill Lair seeks out and makes first contact with the Hmong (Meo) leader, Vang Pao. Lieutenant Colonel Vang Pao is promoted to full colonel.

Clandestine arms and ammunition are supplied to 9,000 Hmong tribesmen recruited under Vang Pao. Supplies are delivered by the CIA’s proprietary airline, Air America. Also, emergency rice is airlifted by Air America to Hmong populations displaced from their villages by fighting.

Jerry Daniels, a former smoke-jumper from Montana, arrives in Laos as a cargo-kicker for Air America.

1962—“Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos” is signed in Geneva, requiring a coalition government be established and all foreign troops be withdrawn.

The U.S. withdraws and stops arms shipments to Laos while the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) denies it has troops in Laos. Hmong positions are attacked by expanded NVA troops, and the U.S. reluctantly reinvolves itself and resumes clandestine supply flights.

Colonel Vang Pao is promoted to brigadier general in the RLA.

Work begins on the construction of an airstrip in the Long Cheng valley, situated in Military Region 2 (MR2), the Hmong homeland.

1963—Hanoi’s NVA troops continue to increase in Laos. Kennedy administration authorizes CIA to increase Hmong guerrilla army to 20,000 troops.

President Kennedy is assassinated.

1964—Communist NVA and Pathet Lao occupy the PDJ in northern Laos. Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma requests U.S. assistance to train and supply the Royal Lao Air Force.

Brig. General Vang Pao is promoted to major general in the RLA.

At the end of the year, construction work begins on extending the length of the runway at Long Cheng from 2,200 to 4,200 feet.

1965—The “secret war” in Laos begins, under the direct control of U.S. ambassador to Laos, William Sullivan, who serves from December 1964 to March 1969.

U.S. war efforts in Laos extend down from the U.S. ambassador to the CIA chief of station at the U.S. embassy in Vientiane to the CIA headquarters at the Udon (Udorn) Air Base in Thailand, then back to five military regional headquarters in Laos. The CIA headquarters at Udon provides air support for the secret war in Laos; the most important military regional headquarters is Long Cheng, the stronghold of the Hmong leader, General Vang Pao.

1,000 U.S. bombing sorties are made each month against the communist supply line to the south, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which runs through Laos. Despite bilaterally increased covert support, both the United States and North Vietnam maintain the fiction of neutrality in Laos.

200,000 U.S. combat troops are in Vietnam; however, no U.S. ground troops are introduced into Laos.

1965–68—The guerrilla war between the communists and anticommunists follows the seesaw pattern of the wet and dry seasons.

1967—The U.S. installs 24-hour all-weather bombing equipment in northern Laos to assist with bombing sorties in northern Laos and North Vietnam.

1968 North Vietnam sends 35,000 combat troops to Laos to protect the Ho Chi Minh Trail, boosting the communist troop total to 110,000. With a new range of more powerful weapons, North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao initiate major offensives. Their successes bring heavy casualties to the Hmong guerrilla troops.

Vietnam has the peak strength of more than 500,000 U.S. troops; antiwar movement grows in the U.S.

1969—A sharp increase in U.S. bombing sorties in Laos is an attempt to make up for the heavy loss of Hmong troops.

Increased air power supports General Vang Pao’s successful drive to reclaim the PDJ, but the plain cannot be held for long.

In Long Cheng, a two-story reinforced concrete-and-rock house is completed for General Vang Pao and his family.

Jerry “Hog” Daniels, who has been a CIA advisor to MR2 since 1966, becomes chief of operations at Long Cheng.

1970—The situation in Laos is serious enough that Washington approves Ambassador G. McMurtrie Godley’s request for the first B-52 bombings against the 67,000 North Vietnamese troops in Laos.

In MR2, the government-held town of Sam Thong falls to the communist Pathet Lao. Sam Thong is the major refugee-relief station in northern Laos and the site of a medical hospital. It is less than 10 miles from Sam Thong to Long Cheng.

Continued heavy losses by Hmong troops lead to the introduction of Thai “volunteer” troops into Laos. At the same time, the U.S. is withdrawing from Vietnam; at year’s end, 280,000 U.S. troops remain there.

Henry Kissinger begins secret peace talks in Paris with Le Duc Tho, North Vietnam’s principal negotiator.

1971–72—NVA launches a massive attack and penetrates all the way into the MR2 headquarters at Long Cheng before falling back to the PDJ.

U.S. troop levels in Vietnam are at half the strength of 1970: 140,000.

1972—The Royal Lao government Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma proposes peace to his half-brother Prince Souphanouvong, leader of the communist Pathet Lao.

1973—Cease-fire peace agreements are signed in Paris regarding Vietnam and Laos. Formation of a new coalition government is called for in Laos.

Last U.S. troops leave Vietnam on March 29, 1973.

1974—A new Laotian coalition government is formed in April. All Air America and U.S. military planes and personnel leave Laos; however, 40,000 NVA troops remain in place. Build-up of communist troops in South Vietnam and Laos continues.

U.S. President Richard Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal.

1975—In January, NVA launches an offensive against South Vietnam; U.S. Congress does not approve reinvolvement.

In March, despite a cease-fire agreement in Laos, Pathet Lao troops begin a series of attacks against Vang Pao’s forces at the strategic road junction of Sala Phou Khoun.

In mid–April, Cambodia falls to communist-backed Khmer Rouge.

In late April, a massive U.S. helicopter evacuation of Saigon occurs as the capital city of South Vietnam falls to communist NVA.

In May, a CIA air evacuation of Long Cheng transports General Vang Pao and 2,500 Hmong to safety in Thailand.

– 1 –

AN UNEASY PEACE

(1973–1975)

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

You ask what is Sky? Well, Jerry Daniels was Sky. He was raised in Montana, “Big Sky Country.” Jerry was the advisor for the secret operation based in Long Cheng, Laos. So he named the American headquarters the Sky compound. Jerry never called himself CIA—which is what he was—but people understood it that way. We know the Sky is not legal, but Jerry was there, working the Sky operation in Military Region 2 since ’62 or ’63.

In truth, Sky headquarters was an American embassy outpost during the Vietnam War. The U.S. government had to send the Sky to Laos to stop the Viet Cong’s travel and support rice coming through Laos to South Vietnam on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Sky was the liaison for the American embassy and Sky worked with General Vang Pao in MR2 in Long Cheng. The only support for General Vang Pao was through the Sky—support for hardware, “hard rice.” You know what I mean by “hard rice”? Something very hard, super hard—boom, boom! Only Sky supplies that. The Sky and MR2 have to go together. Vang Pao here and Sky here. VP and Sky together. You got it? It makes sense, right?

Sky supported MR2 and the SGU soldiers all during the war years. Then everything changed after the cease-fire. In 1974 the Laotian coalition government starts to release some of our SGU soldiers to return to civilian life. The government says there is peace in Laos and every year they will reduce the military. People left their farms a long time ago when the communist soldiers came to fight. Without any farms, almost every family relies on financial support from their soldiers. Without a military salary, how can this population survive? Already there are almost 200,000 Hmong living in the Long Cheng area, including the far outposts like Pha Khao, Sam Thong, Phou Khang.

Some other income is needed for the Long Cheng population, so Sky reorganizes. Sky creates development projects to help the farmers get started and contracts for mining surveys that will create jobs in the area. USAID develops training programs and schools, builds roads, and constructs a water system to help build up Long Cheng. These are development projects paid for by the Sky and USAID and General Vang Pao—projects that will help to establish some other source of income for the soldiers’ families now that the government says there is peace.

George McArthur, Los Angeles Times staff writer, August 1, 1974

Laos War Still Real for Meo Tribal Leader:

CIA Aid Gone, Mountain General in Lonely Fight for Threatened Homeland

LONG CHENG, LAOS—The most effective general produced by the government side in three decades of war in Laos, Lt. Gen. Vang Pao, sits today in his once-secret mountain fortress, his maps still showing North Vietnamese troops looking down his throat, and shrugs, “La guerre, c’est fini (the war is over).… But we will never have peace as long as the North Vietnamese are here.”

These are difficult times for the 46-year-old soldier, lifted from relative obscurity by the US Central Intelligence Agency 15 years ago. The reason then was simple: Unlike his Laotian counterparts Vang Pao was energetic. The tribal mountain people, unlike the lowland Laotians, were willing to fight and unafraid of the Vietnamese. With CIA money, Vang Pao led the army that carried the brunt of the fighting.

… Long Cheng has muted the trappings of war.… The raffish Air America pilots and CIA men of the past are gone (though who can say what a CIA man looks like). Only four Americans stay in Long Cheng regularly, working in … buildings labeled United States Agency for International Development.… Yet the sprouting radio aerials, the bombs stacked by the runway, the swagger of tribal soldiers on the streets attest that Long Cheng retains some muscle and mystery.…

In this fortress valley,… Vang Pao holds sway as something of a warlord—though hardly in the old tradition.… In the casual manner probably picked up from the Americans, many of his men simply call him Vee-Pee.…

In title, Vang Pao is simply commander of Military Region II. But in fact he is the leader of 200,000 people who make up the Meo tribes.…

While Vang Pao admits the North Vietnamese show no present sign of attacking, he notes the presence of four veteran regiments in the Plain (of Jars) probably numbering 10,000 men.… Just to keep Vang Pao edgy, the North Vietnamese keep a handful of tanks just north of Long Cheng and also have the base within range of a battery of Soviet-built 130-mm guns.…

There is grumbling among the men who are being sent home … and more grumbling over pay and severance allowances.

Copyright 1974 Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission.

Old market road and stalls, Long Cheng, 1974 (G.R. Jenkin collection).

Jim Schill, USAID

What a place Long Cheng is! Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries still milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, Junkyard.

The town itself is not much. There’s one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters for the multitude of Hmong. Not more than 100 yards up a hill and away from the airstrip is a complex of cement, wood, and stone buildings which houses the CIA operatives—Sky headquarters. Until 1974, the look of the place is military, surrounded by concertina, gun emplacements, and sandbags.

Long Cheng is still a major staging area for the Hmong, led by General Vang Pao. Many of their family members have moved to be nearby. Traditionally, the hill tribespeople were slash-and-burn farmers. The trouble with that idea is for the past ten years, MR2 has been a battleground and little farming has been done. Both in Long Cheng and out in villages, people depend on weekly airdrops of rice and food from the USAID program to sustain themselves. In fact, many of the young children have never harvested local rice and assume that it comes from the heavens in double-bagged burlap bags. By 1974, USAID rice has been supplied in massive amounts for over a decade to multi-thousands of people all over Laos.

Rice drops are a major activity for AID, but food is not the only problem. Long Cheng is in a constant state of chaos because there are very few public services such as waste control, sewage, water, medical and sanitation, and public schools that are effective. The problem is the lack of interest the Lao public officials have in helping the Hmong in general and working in Long Cheng, so close to the front line.

During my first week in Long Cheng in late ’73, I am able to inspect the projects funded by USAID—the local primary schools, the public health infrastructure, which includes the hospitals at Long Cheng and Ban Son as well as the clinics, the farmer cooperative, continuing construction of the open-air market, and the development of a water system for Long Cheng. Also I talk with American engineers who are blasting a gravel road out of the mountainsides and constructing bridges all the way from the Vientiane plain to Long Cheng. The road will open up this part of the country to vehicular traffic. Indeed, USAID is spending big bucks to help develop the road.

When I see the demand for USAID services in the area, I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge. No matter how much USAID tries to help, the war is all-encompassing.

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

The cease-fire went into effect in Laos in 1973. By 1974, the overall picture is that the Laotian coalition government wants to demobilize many of the soldiers. Military Region 2 is mostly SGU soldiers, CIA soldiers. They want to incorporate some of those into the coalition government army. They want the excess number of SGU soldiers to switch from military to civilian, from soldiers to farmers. During the war, lots of people in MR2 had been forced from where they lived, dislocated people. They relied for so many years on what we call the airplane-dropping-rice [nyoob hoom pov txhuv] supporting everyone. Now the soldiers and the refugees have to go back and feed their own families, work for themselves. They have no animals, no tools, no nothing. So the U.S., the CIA, goes in with start-up money to set up various development projects in MR2 like chicken farms, Farm Service Centers, even a bank. The U.S. is pumping money into these peacetime development projects so that the population in the Second Military Region in Laos can be self-sufficient.

In June 1974 I graduate from college in the United States. When I return home to Long Cheng for vacation, I end up with the job of running all these projects as the Xiengkhouang Development Corporation [XKDC]. And in fact, in 1974, the Farm Service Centers and the poultry farm and the savings and loan do become self-sufficient.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

Right after the cease-fire agreement is signed, Sky starts developing postwar economic reconstruction projects in Long Cheng: growing coffee, rehabilitating buildings, setting up farms. Village people can come and see the model development projects and then take that idea back to their home villages.

Sky set up many pilot projects for the Hmong to follow because we know the Americans will have to leave. All the project money comes from the American base at Udon, Thailand. According to the budget, it should all be spent by the end of 1975. So even Jerry is planning to leave at that time.

Jim Schill, USAID

In 1974, the umbilical cord is beginning to be severed between Sky and the Hmong. Not only because of the cease-fire but because the CIA is beginning to move out of Long Cheng anyway. I think they are looking for two things: one, a way to extricate themselves without causing undue commotion and concern; and two, to continue to support Vang Pao in some fashion. That’s why they convince VP to open up chicken farms, pig farms, and other projects. Development projects aren’t Jerry’s bag, so Sky brings up technical advisors on cooperatives and agricultural activities.

USAID development projects are tiny in comparison to the Sky projects, even though AID has been working in Long Cheng for years. The difference between the AID projects and Sky projects is that Sky has lots more money—fungible money. Fungible is a bureaucratic word that’s used all the time. Fungible is not illegal; it means money you can use for projects without having to go back to Washington, D.C., to get a lot of permission for it: “funny money.” That means Sky has more ability to spend money on discrete activities. Sky has a lot more money than USAID, and they aren’t confined to anything.

Sky is getting ready to leave, and the spooks want to spend their money and keep the Hmong happy. This creates a little tension between AID and Sky because the spooks, through the Xiengkhouang Development Corporation, just hand out money without regard for the old AID concept of creating a step-by-step business plan. They say: “What do you want? You want chickens? OK, here. Go get started.” So there is some tension.

AID has a budget of $2 million a year for projects on the ground in northern Laos. On the other hand, right up until the beginning of 1974, the spooks have masses of money. In the prosecution of the CIA’s covert interests in northern Laos, their funding was 20 or 25 times the AID budget. Even when the Sky budget drops exponentially to maybe $3 million or $4 million, there are still different interests, different modus operandi, different budgets, different constituencies between us. The spooks work unilaterally because they feel that USAID is a bunch of do-gooders. And they are partially right. We are out there trying to operate from the framework of logical development while they are more into supporting VP.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

After the cease-fire, everything changes. The two brothers, the communist Prince Souphanouvong and the Royalist Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, join together. The new coalition government wants to know where all the MR2 support funds come from. They say that the money from the U.S. government can no longer go straight to MR2. It has to come through the coalition government in Vientiane first and then go to MR2. Sky doesn’t like that.

Starting in February 1975, Sky and the high-ranking officers in charge of MR2 know that something is going to happen within the next three months. When the U.S. withdraws from Vietnam, MR2 will have no U.S. support because the mission to Laos is part of the mission to Vietnam. We have to plan for that withdrawal. The U.S. embassy in Vientiane asks Jerry to inform Vang Pao that one way or another, VP will have to leave Long Cheng. However, the embassy won’t allow VP to leave right away. The U.S. government says to the general: “You can’t go yet. If you leave Long Cheng, the Pathet Lao troops will come all the way to Vientiane in one day. All of our heavy equipment, computers, radios, trucks—everything in the American compound and the U.S. embassy in Vientiane will be taken over by the communists.” The Americans need to get everything out of Vientiane to the American base in Udon, Thailand, and they can’t move it that fast. That information is only between VP, Sky, and USAID, but I know what’s going on because I am the radio operator for Sky and USAID. I am the one who receives the telex messages, and also I hear what Jerry says when he talks by voice to Vientiane.

The U.S. doesn’t want VP to leave yet, and VP doesn’t want to leave yet either. No, he likes the way the Yankees are moving out slowly. It gives him some time to think of different possibilities, to find a place that we can defend even without U.S. support, if necessary. He wants to hang on and buy more time just like the U.S. does.

Brig. Gen. Roswell E. Round Jr., DAO/DEPCHIEF

In 1975 I am the Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Vientiane, Laos, and Deputy Chief, Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, Thailand. Acronyms for these positions are DAO and DEPCHIEF.

January 1975 is the month when many of our activities in Laos are curtailed or eliminated. As a result, excess personnel and equipment are shipped out. When the salvage/exfiltration operation starts, we hope that our diplomats will be able to keep the fragile coalition government together somehow. Our goal is to reduce the U.S. presence in Laos—not eliminate it entirely. Until February, things just sort of drift, but in February there is a noticeable decline in the political and military situation. Things start falling apart when economic conditions in the country start to go sour and a malaise begins to infect the political scene.

Major General Vang Pao, 1974 (G. R. Jenkin collection).

By March it is obvious that the United States is going to leave one way or another. I am referring to events that are unrolling in Cambodia and Vietnam and especially in Washington in Congress. At this time, we start bringing in Americans from many of the outlying sites—Ban Houei Sai, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet.

The American exfiltration, rather than an evacuation, continues into April. During that time, we also are directed to salvage as much of our critical and sensitive equipment as possible—code devices, classified radio equipment, and other items. There are many people involved in the operation, but this sort of oozing out does not attract the attention of the Lao.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

The Muang Suoi road is the last part of territory for the Pathet Lao troops to cross on their way to join hands in Vientiane for Lao louam Lao, “Vientiane side joins with Pathet Lao side.” The Pathet Lao troops are moving towards Vientiane in February and March. But if they pass from Muang Suoi down to Vang Vieng and straight through to Vientiane, it means that Long Cheng is surrounded. If they control that part, we are dead up there in Long Cheng. No escape. That’s why when the Pathet Lao move into our territory in late March or April and attack our troops at Sala Phou Khoun, VP decides to send the T-28 fighter-bombers to bomb the Pathet Lao. Prime Minister Souvanna is very upset because VP breaks the cease-fire and slows down the Lao louam Lao. The truth is, if we are not in MR2, then the Pathet Lao and the Vientiane side probably would be joined already. But the place that bothers them, the place that is difficult for them to cross, is MR2 because we have to protect our land.

After VP bombs the Pathet Lao, the Lao government is mad and they want to push VP out fast—have him resign and go somewhere else, anyplace, just get him out of town or out of the country. But the U.S. government and the embassy still say: “No. There’s a lot of important stuff still in Vientiane. VP, you have to hold on and stay to the last minute.” VP cannot leave Long Cheng until the U.S. government releases him.

After bombing Sala Phou Khoun, VP continues looking for a relocation site for MR2. But wherever VP lives in Laos, wherever the new location site is, it is still going to create a problem for the Laotian coalition government.

Tou Geu Lyfoung, Ministry of Justice

My brother, Touby Lyfoung, became Minister of Social Welfare in 1960. He was the first Hmong cabinet member in Laos. By 1975 he is the Minister for Post and Telecommunications. From 1961 to 1975, mostly I work in Vientiane as the General Director of the Ministry of Justice.

Early in 1975, the Pathet Lao are claiming that Mount Dan-Soung, around 30–40 kilometers from Vientiane, is a place that is theirs. But it is clearly in the government’s territory in Military Region 5, so General Thonglit bombs the Pathet Lao at Mount Dan-Soung. When Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma hears about that, he calls in General Thonglit and scolds him. To me, that is a sign, because when the Lao government side does something, like General Vang Pao or General Thonglit, they are scolded by Souvanna. But when the Pathet Lao do something it is OK.

Certainly Thonglit has the right to defend Dan-Soung. When the Pathet Lao take over that mountain, instead of yelling at Thonglit, why doesn’t Souvanna yell at the Pathet Lao? Souvanna Phouma does the wrong thing.

After the battle at Mount Dan-Soung, I know the rules of coalition do not work anymore. Souvanna accepts what the communists are doing. That is when I start to see signs of how the events are turning—the expansion of the communist occupation.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

In Laos the die was cast by the Paris Accords. Once the Paris Accords were finalized, the direction from Washington was quite clear. There was a policy, and there was no equivocation on the policy. The agreement set in motion an irreversible shift in the military and political balance of power. The Insurgency Forces, which were predominantly Hmong but also included ethnic Lao, Lao-Theung, and every other tribal nationality, had to be disbanded forthwith. All American personnel were obliged to implement the accords. It had nothing to do with one’s personal feelings or disposition. There simply was no room for dissent.

In the spring, and certainly by May, everybody in the U.S. mission and the station was exceedingly busy. These were serious people who were seized with the implication of what was going on. It was a very trying period.

Left to right: Touby Lyfoung, Chao Soapsay (Xiengkhouang City), General Vang Pao at the marriage of their children, Maykao Lyfoung and Chao Vang. Long Cheng, August 21, 1969 (Maykao L. & Chao Vang collection).

Tou Geu Lyfoung and family, Vientiane, 1965 (Tou Geu Lyfoung collection).

Lt. Chang Ger Yang, Bodyguard for Col. Tou Long Yang

Sometime in April they hire someone to dig a trench around the king’s house in Long Cheng, to protect the position. The trench is three meters deep and three meters wide, too wide to jump across. We will use the trench for defense, but we have not completed it yet. We will put the bamboo spikes in the bottom of it. They also dig trenches at Skyline 1 and Skyline 2.

We build the trenches because the communists are not very far away. Already they are fighting at Colonel Moua Sue’s position at Sala Phou Khoun, and we think that Long Cheng might be attacked. There might even be some enemy already in Long Cheng, but they are still underground, undercover.

Two views of Long Cheng valley (20-A), January 1970 (G. R. Jenkin collection).

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

I have a CB radio in my office in Long Cheng so I can talk to all the project sites to find out what’s going on. Starting in the last week of April, I can hear lots of radio interference from the Vietnamese army. Those are Vietnamese speakers, not Pathet Lao. When I hear that, I know something is wrong. I talk to my staff and say: “Hey, you guys, they are getting pretty close! They are here somewhere.”

“King’s House,” 1969 or 1970. Ranking wives wait for the arrival of King Sawang Vatthana and Queen Chao-Ying Khamphoui on their first visit to the house built for them in Long Cheng by General Vang Pao.

From left: #1, Mrs. Hang Sao; #2, Mrs. Thong (Lao); #3, Mrs. Phan (Lao); #4, Mrs. Xia Thao Vang; #5, Mrs. Phimpha; #6, Mrs. Chao Saykham; #7, Mrs. Tou Geu Lyfoung; #8, Mrs. Phouthen Sam Neua; #9, Mrs. Touby Lyfoung; #10, Mrs. Souvanna Phouma (French); #11, Mrs. Ly Xang (Lao); #12, Mrs. Tou Lu Moua; #13, Mrs. Thong Moua (Mrs. Tong Vang Yang collection).

– 2 –

NOT ENOUGH TO FIGHT A WAR

(May 1–5, 1975)

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 1, 1975

The War Is Over: Communists in Full Control

SAIGON (AGENCIES)—The longest war in modern times ended yesterday when South Vietnam surrendered unconditionally.

Despite pockets of resistance from die-hard troops of the Saigon regime, the capital fell virtually without a struggle….

The collapse came only hours after the Americans completed their disorderly pullout which President Ford described as closing a chapter in the American experience.

There was no immediate comment on the surrender from Washington.

Tou Geu Lyfoung, Ministry of Justice

In Vientiane, I am worried and scared because the Pathet Lao troops are coming down the road towards the capital city. The ministry that takes care of all the bulldozers, all the trucks, is now headed by a Pathet Lao general. When he orders all the bulldozers and heavy equipment to go help the Pathet Lao troops at Muang Kasi, still Souvanna does not say anything critical to the Pathet Lao. The intent of the coalition is for the communists and the Royal Lao government to work things out together, not for the communists to go and take Long Cheng. If the Pathet Lao troops and tanks are coming from Sala Phou Khoun to Muang Kasi, it is because it is important for them to show us that now the Royal Lao government doesn’t have any power, that the communist North Vietnamese have won the war in Vietnam and now only the communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese have power in Laos too. I fear they will come to the capital city and Souvanna will not do anything.

In May I am quite worried, but I go to work as usual. I am quite busy with preparing to open the Judicial Congress in Vientiane. When the congressional members arrive, they are scared. They ask, “Will we open the Judicial Congress or not because the Pathet Lao troops are coming down the road?” I am scared too, but I try to remain calm. My body is in my office, but my mind is flying around somewhere else.

On May 5, I call to Nhia Ying Vang who works at General Vang Pao’s house in the Nahaidiao district of Vientiane. I am lucky because Nhia Ying says that the general is coming today.

It is noon when I meet the general at his house, and we have lunch together. We speak about the situation, and the general is very firm in his decision to fight back against the Pathet Lao troops moving into his territory. He is very positive and very determined to stay. Certainly I believe it is possible to stay with all that strength. Because of the general’s firm decision, we feel comfortable. We talk about farming and say there is nothing to fear.

Capt. Vang Bee, Code Name “Fackee,” T-28 and Baron Pilot

I fly the T-28 fighter aircraft from 1970 until 1975. I make thousands of bombing missions against the enemy, but I survive! Usually I fly T-28, but if General Vang Pao needs me, I also fly his Baron or Cessna aircraft for him.

Early in May, after the Pathet Lao fight at Sala Phou Khoun, General Vang Pao says to me: “Hey, Fackee! Fly the aircraft for me!” I fly General Vang Pao down to Vientiane. The general goes to talk to Souvanna, and when he comes out of the meeting he is mad. In the car he says: “The cease-fire says that both sides have to stop. But after we cease-fire, the Pathet Lao continues to move over! What do we do? We are soldiers, and we have to fight! We are military! But Souvanna says: ‘No! Let them come over.’ We cannot do that! This is a cease-fire but we cannot do that!”

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

During the first week in May, there is a meeting in Vientiane with VP, Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, the rest of the generals, and the supreme commander. They are not happy with VP after VP ordered a bombing attack on Sala Phou Khoun. They tell him they will send a new person to Long Cheng to assist VP. They give the name of Chao Monivong and say he will be accompanied by coalition soldiers. VP rejects that. He says: “Region 2 belongs to me! I am always against the communists, and I will not agree for someone else to come and help me run my people that way!” He warns Mr. Prime Minister: “It’s not going to be a fair game like the communist party says. They will not keep their promises.” VP tells them that. But the rest of the high-ranking Laotian officers see it a different way. They say: “Well, the Pathet Lao are also our relatives. We are all Laotian, and they will not do such things. Let’s join hands and welcome them.” VP tells them that there are only two ways to go—fight the communists or leave. When he asks the prime minister for permission to fight, they say: “We will not fight, and we will not leave. We will stay together with them.” So VP tells them: “If you decide that way, I will be the one to leave. I cannot stay with the communists. I have fought against them for 30 years. If I am here, I have to drive them out. If they are here, I have to go somewhere else.” They tell him, “Vang Pao, if you don’t like it, you can quit.” So VP pulls off his stars and quits. He gives his final words to the prime minister, “If I am gone, you are dead.”

General Vang Pao and King Sawang Vatthana, ca. 1970 (Chao Vang collection).

Mr. Sisouk Na Champassak is at that meeting of the high-ranking officials. Mr. Sisouk is the minister of defense. When VP walks out of the meeting room, he goes straight to Mr. Sisouk’s office. VP says to Mr. Sisouk, “Why don’t you order me to defend the country rather than leave?” Mr. Sisouk says: “Vang Pao, we are like brothers. When you die, I die. When our boss is not willing to fight, then we both must leave the country in peace.”

After the meeting with the Vientiane government, VP realizes they will not back him up in fighting. Still VP does not give up. VP goes to Luang Prabang and asks the king to give a direct order to VP to defend the country. But the king says: “Vang Pao, your people are dying. So many have died already. I don’t want to see your people die anymore. I will not give you what you want.” VP wishes him well and tells the king he should take care of himself. I think the king knows exactly what is going to happen.

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

After his meeting with Souvanna Phouma, we see General Vang Pao is so strange. I worry about him a little bit. I ask around and hear that Souvanna told the general, “Vang Pao, you still want to fight, you still want war, but we want peace.” Vang Pao got very angry, and he threw down his stars and his general’s hat. He said: “OK! If you say I want war, I quit. Let Long Cheng and the northern part fall to the communists, and you will see what happens!” They think that he is the one who created the war instead of Prince Souphanouvong and Prince Souvanna Phouma creating the war. That makes him very angry.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

The day after VP meets with Souvanna Phouma, he gets mad about that and he says we are not going to surrender. Since the Pathet Lao violated the peace treaty, we will fight—fight to the last soldier, fight like a guerrilla force. We are not going to stand in one place and let them come and butcher us. We have the right to defend ourselves because they do not honor the peace treaty. The general says that we will shift our families out of Long Cheng before we fight. That’s what he tells us.

VP’s first order to me is to check how many bombs are left at the airfield. If we have intensive bombing, how long will they last? I check, and I report back to him that we don’t have too many bombs. They could last for only five days if there is intensive bombing.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

At first Vang Pao does want to fight against the Pathet Lao because they are invading our territory. Vang Pao says he will find enough ammunition hidden in the mountains over the past 15 years. But Jerry Daniels and the attaché from the U.S. embassy in Vientiane come to talk to him about the impossibility of fighting anymore. Jerry says: “There is no way you can get this ammunition right away. There may be some left but not enough to fight a war.”

Ammo dump at north end of ramp, Long Cheng (M. Rosholt collection, Air America Archives, University of Texas at Dallas).

At this time, Jerry starts to stick very closely to the general. In my personal opinion, I think he does so because it is his duty. I say that because Jerry didn’t meet Vang Pao very often during economic reconstruction; basically, the pilot projects were Jerry’s ideas, and he made all the decisions about them. Now the mood has changed, and politically, Jerry’s Agency wants Vang Pao safely out of Long Cheng and out of Laos. That is Jerry’s duty. I ask Jerry what I should do, and he says: “Just wait and see. In less than 30 days maybe everything will be finished.”

Lia Vang, Bangkok Student

I think that the Americans do not want to get involved any more in the Indochinese War. That is politics. And I think the Americans make good judgment on that. It’s sad, and it makes us angry that we have to lose the war and the Americans are not backing us when we need it. However, we Hmong pretty much understand why. If you want to talk personally, then we are upset and we are yelling: “Hey, how come you don’t help us? Why aren’t you staying here any longer to help us?” Personally it’s one way. But politically we know it is better off for the whole world if the fighting stops. It’s a matter of the whole understanding.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

VP realizes that there is no way we Hmong can stay in Long Cheng any longer. The Laotian people do not understand that the communists will completely take over the country. They think that they can stay with the Pathet Lao in peace. They do not believe that there will be another war or any killings. They think that Laos will be a peaceful country at last. When VP meets with his high-ranking officers, he already knows that if the Hmong decide to fight on their own, it’s going to look like we don’t obey the orders from the prime minister and the king. It’s going to look like the Hmong people fight by themselves. We will be in a position where the Laotian coalition government could ask for assistance from the United Nations and bring in troops from everywhere to fight against the Hmong, legally. We could end up fighting against the whole world rather than just the communist Pathet Lao. And then the Hmong people would be totally wiped out. That’s what VP sees.

VP happens to be in a very important position. He is really making a decision for the whole country. If VP decides to stay, everybody will stay. VP wants to make the right decision because he doesn’t want the Hmong people to be killed by both the Vietnamese government and the Pathet Lao. VP sees things ahead of time, and the only thing he can see is that the Americans are leaving and the CIA secret army is the first target the Vietnamese government will hit. Because of their past, the Hmong people will be the ones who will be punished and killed first. So the Hmong either have to fight or leave. If there is no support from the Vientiane government or the U.S. government, then the only solution VP sees is that he must lead the Hmong to a safe place and not let them die.

I think that VP and Colonel Ly Tou Pao do not want to give any official public announcement about their plans. They do not want the Pathet Lao and the coalition government to know exactly what we will do. But Hmong people hear rumors. Some think we might stay and fight. Some think we might just take off. When the rumors start to go around, that is when our people start to drop what they are doing and move into Long Cheng. Even VP’s military units start to break down. They drop their jobs to come to Long Cheng to find out what’s going on.

Military people start coming into Long Cheng from all over the Xiengkhouang area. Those are people who are close to VP and who have been fighting against the communists for a long time. When they come to Long Cheng, they are worried about the situation, so they send messages to their children who are in school in Vientiane to tell them to come back home.

At VP’s house in Long Cheng, we have radio communication to VP’s house in Vientiane. When the Hmong students from other families start to return home to Long Cheng, I hear VP order everyone to clear out from our house in Vientiane. My brothers and sisters quit school. VP’s wives pack up their suitcases quickly, then everyone moves from Vientiane to Long Cheng. The family, the soldiers, maids, cooks, students, relatives who don’t have a place to stay—maybe 50 people pull out at one time. Now I start to have a picture that this could be the end. I do not know what plan VP has in mind, but something serious is going on.

General Vang Pao, 1964–65 (Chao Vang collection).

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

The general meets with his staff to talk about what to do. As the former chief of staff, I advise the general privately that maybe the first step of escape is to move some of the military families across the Mekong River to the Sayaboury area in Laos. In Sayaboury there will be no help for us because the U.S. will continue to withdraw. But if we get to Sayaboury, we are already on the other side of the Mekong River and very close to Thailand. We will not escape to Thailand—just make a stand in Sayaboury and see what the situation will be and maybe fight if necessary.

Let the soldiers’ families go to Sayaboury first and send some forces for their protection. Probably we can fly a couple thousand members of the front-line families there—women, children. The rest of the soldiers will stay in Long Cheng and see what is the reaction of the communist forces. If we cannot stay in Laos, we can escape out the back door from Sayaboury to Thailand.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

In early May I fly the C-47 aircraft and make regular supply drops to our military positions at the front—drop bags of rice, ammunition. There is only one C-47 for MR2, so it is a heavy work schedule.

I fly all day. In Long Cheng they have meetings every night, and I hear them say it is now a critical situation. They say, “We will go to Sayaboury.” All the ladies and the children will go there first because the soldiers will have to fight if the communists attack Long Cheng. They say all the pilots should stand by and wait for orders to carry the families out—C-47 and T-28 pilots too. But if we have to take ladies and children to Sayaboury, it should be me in the C-47 because that is the only cargo plane.

Mrs. Nou Kue Ly, Wife of Pilot Ly Teng

Our family lives in Vientiane. One day my husband comes home from Long Cheng and looks around at the house. He says, “Oh, maybe we cannot stay in our house for too many years.” I say: “Why? Where do you go?” He says: “I don’t go anywhere, but I think maybe the war comes and we will run away. In the future maybe there will be no house.” I don’t know anything, and I answer him: “We have a beautiful new house! I don’t want to go away.” I tell him, “If you want to go…”—you know, if a Hmong man wants to leave the wife, usually it is so he can marry another lady. I think he wants to marry another lady so I am angry. I say: “If you want to go away, go and let me stay in this house! Everything is mine!” He bought two motorcycles and a car, and everything is good, so I think he cannot run away and I tell him like that. He looks at me, and he sees I am angry. He says: “No, not like that. It’s another thing. It’s politics.”

– 3 –

VIENTIANE HMONG

Tou Doua Kue, Hmong Student Association

I am in school at the Lycée in Vientiane. There are about 350 Hmong students in the capital city. I am involved with the Hmong Student Association that includes all the Hmong students on five major campuses: Fangeum, the Technical School, and Sisavong University. Sisavong University includes a medical school, the Dong Dok teacher-training school, and the Institute of Public Administration—the law school. The Dong Dok teacher-training school has more than 100 Hmong students attending; the majority of Hmong students are on that campus.

As students, all of us read the Thai and Lao newspapers, and we are very familiar with the changes that are happening—with the Americans signing the peace treaty with Vietnam. We are well aware that the communists take over Cambodia mid–April. News of the collapse of Phnom Penh is on the radio and in the newspapers. Then comes the collapse of South Vietnam on April 30. All of the students get together in small groups and talk about it. We know it is going to happen in Laos too.

We students don’t know what to do. Everything is so sudden. By early May, I call my friends, and we talk about what we should do. One of my Hmong friends is a student at the law school. He knows which people will be on the government’s unwanted list. He tells us: “Potentially we have this number of people who are going to be protested against. They will be asked to leave the country. If they stay, they will be prosecuted in court.” Soon afterward, I read about that in the Vientiane newspaper. Both civilian and military people are on that list, but there is only one Hmong listed. I think you can guess that is General Vang Pao. To see his name on that list is not a surprise. If the communists come, whether or not his name is on the list, they will bring him to trial. But I am kind of curious why there are not some other Hmong names on the list too. Why only one Hmong? There are more than that who are active!

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

From January to May 1975, the student activities become more and more strange, the way I see it. In January we start to see protests going on. The communist system tries to brainwash the leaders of the students in each school. The people who are trying to influence the students want them to feel that the people in government-level positions, they will never retire. Students who graduate from college in Vientiane or go to school in America or France or some other country can never achieve their goal because the older people will never, never leave their jobs. Well, it is pretty much true that no one retires from the job, so it is not hard to convince the students about that.

During the demonstrations the students give the older people a hard time. They burn the Laotian flag. They yell their parents’ names and the names of the leaders who run the country—they want these people to be out. They yell and scream so loud, right in front of the people. Those brainwashed student leaders are backed by the communist party.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 3, 1975

Diplomats Flee Vietnam Embassy in Vientiane

At least 46 South Vietnamese diplomats and their dependents attached to the South Vietnamese Embassy in Laos fled to Thailand after a series of incidents in which Lao youths tried to ransack the embassy earlier in the week. …The diplomats were forced to flee the embassy in Vientiane following a big demonstration Wednesday by youths celebrating the communist victory in Vietnam.

Tou Doua Kue, Hmong Student Association

About May 3rd, we have a meeting of seven or eight people, including my friend from the law school, my cousin, and two other senior students from the Dong Dok teacher-training school. This is the first time the student leadership from all five schools meets together to discuss our options and come to a consensus. We meet at a private house. We have to be very careful because we don’t know who the students are out there. We don’t know what their reactions will be. A lot of people are ready to go out in the streets and join the demonstrations. You see, the Hmong students in Vientiane are broken into three different groups. You have one group that is radical, a second group that doesn’t know how to do anything, and a third group that wants to get out.

The pro-peace movement is a very, very political student group. That group is called Santiphab; santiphab means peace. However, they are leaning toward the left. The radical group really wants to help the communists. My friend has access to information about what the pro-peace movement is going to do—that they will demonstrate against the Americans, with people protesting by walking in the streets. He tells me: “Tou Doua, this is reliable information. You have to take it seriously.”

The active members of the pro-peace movement are both Lao and Hmong students. I think it is about 20 percent of the Hmong students who really sympathize with joining the communists because their parents have no background with the Americans. They say: “Well, we haven’t done anything wrong in the past. If we join the demonstration, maybe they will like us and we can do something to help the Hmong.” The pro-peace movement has good intentions, and they are very well organized—very strong and highly motivated. In fact, nobody can stop them.

The second group is totally neutral. They are the 20 percent of the Hmong students who have no idea. Their families live nearby in Vientiane, and they don’t know anything. You see, not all the Hmong are tied in with the war. I cannot use the term all. The war was too long. The students are tired of the war. They are naive and not particularly aware of its effects on them. Even if their parents are tied to the war situation, the students may feel remote from it. But in reality, most Hmong have ties. In reality, the majority of the students and their relatives are going to be affected by the political change.

The third group wants to join their families in the Long Cheng area. That 60 percent is anxiously asking: “How can we get out of the capital city? Do we go as a group or as individuals?” So the process is very difficult when the three groups meet together to talk about what to do. Sometimes we are hostile to each other; sometimes we want to fight. In the end, we all agree we need to know what Vang Pao and his close advisors are going to do. We decide to send two student representatives to Long Cheng to find out.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

In late April or May, two Hmong student leaders come to Long Cheng and talk to my dad in person. The students feel that there will be a war because the Hmong people will not back down and will not leave the country without fighting. They propose that the Hmong students in Vientiane want to get involved and help VP’s soldiers. They say, “We are willing to fight when the time comes.” But my father finds out that is not the way it is. Those two students are student leaders, and they also attend the Pathet Lao seminar. The idea is just to come up to Long Cheng, where they can carry on the assignment that was given them and create problems. My father decides not to allow the student group to come to Long Cheng to join VP’s soldiers because we have a bad feeling that they will not do exactly what they say. The students have been demonstrating and protesting against the government, so VP doesn’t feel that he should give them weapons. They are already against us instead of helping us.

Hmong girl students from the capital city of Vientiane. Photo taken in Long Cheng (Mao H. and Chu Vang collection).

I am the same age as some of those students, but I am very different from them. I am a totally anticommunist person. No matter what the communists say, deep in my heart, I am always against it. No matter how good they are, I don’t care. I’m that kind of person. Some of the Hmong students are very, very close to VP too. The parents work with VP, and the son protests against the parents, against VP, against the other Laotian leaders. The students never stop to realize that they help to destroy their own families.

I think the Vientiane Hmong are the last group that decide to stay in Laos or to leave the country. They are young people—mostly students. They think they have a better understanding of Laotian people, including the Pathet Lao. They think they know exactly what is going on. They are educated people, but they are inexperienced. The Vientiane Hmong are naive. They watch the Laotian people first before they start to do anything. If the Laotian people are able to maintain and stay, probably the Vientiane Hmong will try to do the same thing.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

I just hate the Hmong students who participate with the Pathet Lao. For the Pathet Lao and the Hmong communists, they already have a motive to kill the Hmong. It is their duty to do it. In fact, the Pathet Lao actually want all of the Hmong to get out of Laos. Deep in my mind I think they don’t want any Hmong to stay. “Get rid of them because they are the troublemakers.” For the Hmong students to participate and take advantage of the political situation so the Pathet Lao will favor them or give them some position in the new government, those people I hate.

Hmong students: Sisavang Moua (Bangkok, Thailand) and Pheng Moua (Dong Dok, Vientiane, Laos) (Pheng Moua collection).

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

On May 6th I am on my way to Udon to sign project papers. In Vientiane I go to VP’s house to call on the radio to Long Cheng. I just happen to be there when 20–30 students have a meeting. They ask me if I can talk to VP and Jerry and make arrangements to get arms and ammunition to Phou Khao Quoi, the Buffalo’s Horn Mountain, so they can fight against the Pathet Lao. My intention that night is to go ahead and help the students. It seems like they are serious. But by the next day the Pathet Lao found out about the meeting and everything that was said. It seems there was a traitor in the meeting. Now everyone is scared off, and nobody wants to do anything more. I have to be in Udon anyway, so I just leave town.

Pheng Moua, Dong Dok Student

In early May I am in Vientiane, ready to graduate from Dong Dok as an English teacher. That week there is a Hmong student meeting at the general’s house. I hear the final decision is to rent ten big cargo trucks to take the students to Long Cheng that night. All the students who want to go to Long Cheng can get on the trucks and go. For me, I am ready to go—ten o’clock, eleven o’clock, twelve o’clock. Then it is canceled. The rumor says that the communists already blocked the road to the north. They check very carefully before they will let you go through. So the chaos has started. Now we cannot take ten trucks of students and go. It will be very suspicious to the communists.

At that time the fear of the communists, the only fear they have, is of Long Cheng’s army. If Hmong come down from Long Cheng to Vientiane, it might be dangerous to the communists. Or if Hmong move from Vientiane to Long Cheng, that also could be a dangerous thing to the communists. So the students cannot go in a large group. We can go only in small groups of five or ten students, just like going home for vacation. In fact, some of the schools are closed already. For myself, I have not finished yet, so when the trucks are canceled, I remain in Vientiane.

Tou Geu Lyfoung, Ministry of Justice

One of my daughters is a student at Dong Dok. She is told to be part of the student strike. She comes and asks me if that is OK, and of course I say no, you are not going. When the student demonstrations are going on, the Pathet Lao are leading those demonstrations; they are not abiding by the coalition accords.

At this time the Pathet Lao are having their way in the city and everywhere. It is not possible to handle justice in the way justice should be handled. In some situations where I have a say, people threaten me. They say, “Just manage this case the wrong way and we will call the Pathet Lao to get you.” Believe me, there is no justice.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 8, 1975

Lao Prince Murdered

VIENTIANE (AP)—A rightist prince who was a former minister of culture and religious affairs was murdered Tuesday night by a hand grenade thrown by an unidentified motorcyclist. Boun Om Na Champassak was killed instantly in his car when the grenade went off.…

The murdered man was the brother of Prince Boun Oum Na Champassak, who is the King’s representative in the southern provinces and one of the rightists opposed to formation of the coalition government.

– 4 –

A STRATEGIC JUNCTION

(Tuesday, May 6, 1975)

Lt. Col. Vang Neng, Sala Phou Khoun

Colonel Moua Sue comes into Long Cheng, and the next day, April 30, I go out from Long Cheng to the front line at Sala Phou Khoun. Attacks have been going on out there for the past month. When I arrive at Sala Phou Khoun, 1,000 of our soldiers are there. They have been at the front with Colonel Moua Sue for a long time already. They are divided into many companies, many positions. Their mission is to stay on the border and mark the front line only, not to defend the area. The Laotian government in Vientiane has told everyone: “We have peace. You are not there to fight.” The truce has been signed, and the Vientiane government is convinced there will be no war, so our artillery and big guns have been taken away. Everything is reduced because of the peace treaty.

During my first two days, in the daytime there is no activity, but at night you can see a lot of flashing lights and you can hear a lot of truck engines, machinery, and bulldozer movements going on. The Pathet Lao are secretly building roads. They work at night, when there are no airplanes flying over to observe them. I realize that the Pathet Lao are coming towards us, building roads, pushing closer. It is clear to me that the communist goal is to move forward, all the way to the capital city. I feel they want to move us out of the way, and they will break the cease-fire to do so.

I send a telegraph message to General Vang Pao in Long Cheng and also to General Bounphone at the Defense Ministry in the capital city of Vientiane. I report all the communist movement going on, and I predict that the Pathet Lao will attack us on May 15th. I am totally convinced that the Pathet Lao will break the treaty.

Within one day there is a return telegraph message from the Vientiane government. It states that they will send the ICC people to come over and take a look and investigate the situation. General Vang Pao also responds. He calls me by Fortmai radio to talk to me personally. He says: “Don’t panic. I don’t believe that attack will happen like you predict. But be careful and be prepared.”

On the evening of May 5th, that night I go to sleep, but something is disturbing me, disturbing my body. My body feels like there are ants crawling all over it and they are biting me. At midnight I wake up. This is the first time in my life that I have a feeling like this, and it seems like something is not right. I tell my brother-in-law, my bodyguard Vang Yer Xiong, to wake up too. Wake up and get your shoes on! Something is bothering me, and something might happen. I warn all my people, and surely enough, at that moment, guns start firing everywhere in the whole area—AK-47s, bombardments, tanks. The tanks come from every area, and as they come they shoot automatically. When the communists attack, they attack all 20 positions we hold. They are very coordinated to be able to do all of that at one time.

After approximately ten minutes, it is clear that we cannot defend ourselves because their forces are supported by heavy artillery, big guns, and tanks. We are there with just the minefields, M-16s, M-40s, and bazookas. If we continue with only small weapons, we will all be killed by the heavy bombardments and the tanks. We have no choice but to run. When we take off from Sala Phou Khoun, we are more fear than fight. Everyone runs from midnight until dawn, just to the border of Muang Kasi.

All that night I am so upset because the truce has been broken by the communists. That is #1. At the same time, the CIA withdraws all their ammunition and support from Laos. We know the Lao government no longer has supplies for us because they don’t have any money. The CIA withdraws, and the Vientiane government gives us no defense, no nothing. And I believe that it is not only us who have been attacked—probably those in Vientiane and those in Long Cheng too. Probably every government position is attacked at the same time. I think of my wife, my family, and I believe that this is the end of my life. My soldiers are all scattered, and I don’t think we will have a chance to go to Long Cheng or to anywhere else. I believe that strongly, and I cry.

By 8:00 or 9:00 A.M. the next morning we reach a place where we feel more safe. Then I turn on my Fortmai and find out that our base is still there in Long Cheng. I am so relieved, but May 5th is a date that I will remember for the rest of my life! That morning, May 6, Vang Pao sends a Lao helicopter to lift me to Long Cheng to meet with him.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 8, 1975

Pathet Lao Overrun Town

VIENTIANE (UPI): Pathet Lao troops, driving tanks, equipped with artillery and backed by North Vietnamese troops, overran the government town of Muong Kassy Tuesday night as they moved down the main northern road to the capital, military sources said yesterday.…

The sources said Muong Kassy fell only after 30 minutes of fighting.… The latest fighting here came as leftist groups were sparking civil unrest in the southern sector of the country.

Lt. Chang Ger Yang, Bodyguard for Col. Tou Long Yang

Colonel Tou Long Yang asks me to be a bodyguard for him because there is talk about how the communists might overrun Long Cheng. If the communists come, we will have to fight. That’s why the commanders and colonels send their families and wives down to Vientiane, to a safe place. They send them down to Vientiane because they are afraid.

In Long Cheng, I am one of ten bodyguards who stay with Tou Long. For protection I have a .45 handgun and my M-16. Tou Long also gives me two radios to carry. One is the HT-2 walkie-talkie to contact the airplanes; the second one is the Fortmai. The Fortmai can call to the general’s house in Long Cheng or to any soldier positions in that area. Tou Long says to me, “If we fight you must radio to VP and talk to the Sky people.” The Sky people are the CIA people, like Jerry. Tou Long gives me those two radios on May 5.

On May 7 or 8, while Tou Long’s family is in Vientiane, he says: “If the Vietnamese come into Long Cheng, we have to fight. I have 1 million Lao kip in my pocket and packed around my body! Maybe more than 1 million! I can spend this money for us, and we can fight our way through the jungle to Thailand!” He says he will spend that money for food and lead our ten soldiers to Thailand. If we have to walk out through the jungle to Thailand, we will probably go in the direction of Ban Son. It is too dangerous to walk on the main road, but there are small trails we can follow. That is the plan in case the communists come and take over Long Cheng and no one can escape.

For the next week I have the Fortmai radio on all the time, 24 hours per day. I listen to the soldiers calling in from the front, from the field. I listen only.

Maj. Xiong Yang, Wing Commander

Early in May I study English at the Lao English School in Vientiane. The general radios to his house in Nahaidiao to order me to fly my L-19 back to Long Cheng.

When I get to Long Cheng, general says: “Xiong Yang, you come back to work with me to control all the airplanes. You come back to work for me for a couple of weeks, and Colonel Khouang can go back to Vientiane.” General Vang Pao asks me that because I am the wing commander. Wing commander is the first person to control all the airplanes that go with the Hmong. I say, “Why?” He says: “Now we lost everything, and the Americans go back home. You come back and control the airplanes for me.” General says: “I want you here. We will look at the situation and see how it goes. In two or three weeks maybe we will leave.”

General Vang Pao’s two-story reinforced rock-and-cement house built in Long Cheng in 1968 (Steve Schofield collection).

The general says: “Colonel Khouang looks a little sick. Let him go to Vientiane.” Yes, a little sick, but also the general doesn’t want the Lao colonel to stay in Long Cheng and know his plan. The general gives money to the Lao colonel and tells him: “Xiong Yang will stay here for a couple of weeks. You go to Vientiane, and when you are better you can come back.” Then Colonel Khouang leaves.

Mrs. May Song Moua Vang, Niam Ntxhoo, #6 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

Every night at 6:00 P.M. I listen to Asia-Seri, the Freedom radio, in the outside living room at the house in Long Cheng. I listen because I am always interested in the news! Usually May La, the #5 wife, is there too. The other ladies are not really that interested in it.

In late April I hear from the radio that the Americans drop Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos. I am kind of worried, but I think it is just talking. I hear that on the radio for several days, but I don’t mention it to VP for a couple of days. Then I say: “Oh, I heard that. Is that true?” He says: “No, nothing. Don’t worry.” He doesn’t want to talk to me about that. I know that VP is very worried, but he doesn’t tell anybody in the family anything.

A couple of days after I hear about the Americans leaving Saigon, Xia Thao, Chia, May La, and I eat breakfast in the upstairs dining room. After breakfast we sit outside in the living room. That is our normal routine. In the living room, VP comes and talks with us, but not too long. Chia and Xia Thao ask VP, “Are we going to Chieng Mai today?” VP already knows they plan to take some of the kids to school in Chieng Mai, Thailand. They say: “We want to go today. What do you say?” They ask like that because they need to take the airplane. When VP says “yes,” then you can go wherever you want, but if you plan and he says “no,” then nobody can go anywhere. And May La and I say, “We want to fly down to Vientiane and go shopping.” My son, Long, is one year old, and I want to go to Vientiane to buy some clothes for him. VP doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t say no, he doesn’t say yes. Then he goes downstairs. Maybe an hour later VP comes back upstairs. Oh, we ladies sit in the living room all the time! When VP says for us to do something, everybody is there to hear it all at one time! This time he tells me: “You and Xia Thao and Long have to prepare to leave. Take just a little bit of money, two suits of clothes, and diapers and milk for Long only. Don’t think about anything else.” He says me and Xia Thao should go first. Niam Chia and May La should go after us. I ask, “Go where?” VP says: “Don’t ask so many things. Just pack—but not too many clothes. You have to leave at 10:00 A.M.” I don’t ask anything more, but I feel he is very worried and something is wrong. I think: “Oh, my God! What is going on? Am I leaving my country?” I don’t think the others are worried like me. They don’t think about politics so much, but I think about it a little bit. I am very worried because of what I heard on the radio.

I take two suits for me and two suits for Long, diapers and milk. I take my jewelry with me, but I don’t have much. When VP married me, he just bought me little things: a ring, a small gold necklace with a small diamond pendant, earrings. I carry those with me. And I have one xauv necklace from my parents. Also I take maybe four pictures with me; those pictures are of Long, VP and me, me and Chia, me and May La. If there is a problem, I don’t want to lose everything! Also I take some money. I take U.S. dollars and Lao kip and Thai baht because I am not sure about the situation. Several months earlier, May La and I had gone to Vientiane to exchange some of our Lao kip for U.S. dollars. We know that if there is an emergency, we should have dollars. I carry everything with me in one little suitcase. Then I tell my babysitter, Mai See Xiong: “You have to go back to your house in Pha Khae. I don’t know what’s going on here. When I return I will call you back.”

Xia Thao and I leave on the Baron with VP and pilot Vang Bee. When we take off from Long Cheng I look around and I start to cry. I pray to God, “Please, someday, let me come back because I love my country so much!” Even though we had left Long Cheng many times, I know this time is very different. Somehow, everything is different.

Mrs. Chia Moua Vang, Niam Txiab, #4 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

Xia Thao and I have a reason to go to Chieng Mai, Thailand. At that time the Thai sponsor my little son, Su, and Xia Thao’s two sons to go to school there. We prepare to go to Chieng Mai to drop off the three boys. It will take us about one week to make that trip.

On this morning, after breakfast, VP has two Hmong men coming—Colonel Ly Tou Pao and Colonel Youa Va Ly. VP meets with them downstairs. They say they sent their wives to Vientiane that morning for safety. When VP hears that, he comes upstairs and tells us to change the plan. He says: “Today you and Xia Thao don’t go to Chieng Mai. Me and May Song and Xia Thao leave first. You and May La come after us.” I say: “OK. No problem.” I don’t ask him about his plan, and he doesn’t say what he is going to do. He doesn’t say where me and May La are going, he just says: “Stay here. Wait for a couple of minutes.” At that time I don’t know too much! I don’t know, and I don’t ask any questions because the wife does not bother the husband.

MAY SONG (interjection): For everybody, it is the same thing. VP is always so busy! He is always with the Hmong, and he is always concerned about the country. Whatever you plan for the family, he never plans to go with you. Even now, we make our own plans!

About 10:00 A.M. Xia Thao’s brother, Xiong Lue Thao, and the Lao driver, Ai Lien, take VP, May Song, and Xia Thao to the airport in a jeep. Ten minutes later the two men come back to the house. I am upstairs in the living room, waiting. Upstairs is for the family only. Those two men come upstairs and tell me, “Prepare to go!” I do not ask them where we are going. Too many people downstairs might hear that, and it would be a big surprise for them. I don’t know where I am going, but I say OK.

Niam Me comes back. She comes from the talat, the local market, only five or ten minutes after Xiong Lue and Ai Lien come and talk to me. Niam Me doesn’t know what we are planning because she was not in the house when VP talked to us about leaving. She comes from the talat, and I tell her we have to prepare to leave, but Niam Me doesn’t want to go. She says: “Why do you control me to go? I am not a kid! I want to stay in my house!” VP’s mother too! I ask VP’s mother to go with us, and she says: “No, Niam Me is still here. I want to stay with Niam Me.”

At 11:00 A.M. we leave Niam Me and VP’s mother in Long Cheng, and May La and me go. Each of us has one suitcase. In my suitcase I have only three suits and my money and jewelry.

General Vang Pao and four wives: Niam Ntxhoo, Niam Txiab, Niam Loj, and May La (Niam Nplog). A picnic at the Nam Ngum Dam, 1973 (Mrs. May Song Vang collection).

Ai Lien and Xiong Lue drive me and May La and Mai Kia, Xia Thao’s daughter, to VP’s farm at Nam Ngua. It takes 20 minutes for us to drive there, and the kong-thap, the Lao military helicopter, is already waiting for us. Xiong Lue and Ai Lien drop us off, and they go back to Long Cheng.

Three of us fly, and in one hour we are in Vientiane. Uncle Nhia Ying is waiting for us, like always. We go have lunch at our house in Vientiane, and I say to Pa Lai, “Today I will go to Thailand, but I will leave my two daughters here because they are still in school.” Pa Lai says: “No. You take the two girls with you because they are too small. Maybe something will happen.” I say OK. I take two suits for Ying and two suits for Mai Nia. Only that! You know, at that time everything is left behind!

That afternoon Niam Me and VP’s mother fly to Vientiane on the kong-thap Dakota airplane. When Niam Me gets there, she doesn’t say anything to me, and I don’t say anything to her. Nhia Ying says to me, “Niam Chia, if you go to Thailand, take Niam Me too.” I say: “No. Not this time.” I don’t talk to her again about going with us. We already talked in Long Cheng.

About 3:00 P.M. Noi comes from Udon. Noi knows from VP to pick us up. He knows May Song and Xia Thao are already in Udon. Noi says in Thai, “Khun-may [“Mom”], we go.” For Lao and Thai, when you are getting older like us, it is very respectful to call us “mom” like that. That is very polite. I ask, “Where am I going?” He says: “Don’t say anything. Just go.” Thirty minutes after Noi comes, I take my two daughters as well as Mai Kia and May La and we go with Noi to Tha Deua. We go across the Mekong on a little Thai police boat with police inside. Niam Me and VP’s mother stay behind in Vientiane.

It is late afternoon when we arrive in Udon at Thao Chai’s house. May Song and Xia Thao are already there. They get there that morning, and we get there in the afternoon.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

I see Vang Pao’s private airplane flying back and forth to Thailand. Jerry himself is involved in moving Vang Pao’s family to Udon and trying to get security for his family to stay there. Not many people know that Vang Pao is moving his family across the border. To the Sky and those close to Vang Pao, it is not secret. We know that he plans to leave. But Vang Pao does not want the junior officers to know what he is doing and ask why he is transporting his family to Thailand.

Yang See (“Glass Man”) on left and Nhia Vang (“Judy”) on right, working in Sky operations office (Senathikan) at Long Cheng (Nhia Vang collection).

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

On the same day, after the general sends several of his wives to Thailand, he meets with five or six of us. Me, Tou Lu, and a couple of other colonels too. At that first meeting, we hear from the general that everything collapses. Vietnam falls, and now the Americans completely pull back from the whole Southeast Asia situation. No more help from the Americans. General Vang Pao feels very disappointed about the whole situation. Especially the U.S. disappoints him. That is his point. He says: “We must leave. But where will we go?” We talk about that. First choice is Thailand. If Thailand refuses to take our people, then second choice is Sayaboury. If we move to Sayaboury, the officers and other leaders have to organize a guerrilla resistance around both Xiengkhouang and Sayaboury. You cannot depend on Sayaboury alone. But General Vang Pao does not agree to create a resistance. He says the Hmong have already done so much for the country. So many people have died, and we have such a reputation as patriots. He doesn’t want the government to call us pativat, rebels.

Now General Vang Pao limits himself on meeting people. He retreats a little bit, feels disappointed, and is upset with everything.

– 5 –

FOR THE SAFETY OF MY SOLDIERS

(Wednesday, May 7, 1975)

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

Jerry Daniels is still in Long Cheng. Jerry is the CIA advisor to Vang Pao. But on top of those duties, over the years he becomes like a son to VP. He becomes part of the family, and they have a very good relationship. The last month before we leave I don’t think Jerry is involved with his regular duties any more. What he really wants is to make sure that VP leaves the country safely. Most of the other Americans and CIA advisors are already gone, but Jerry decides to stay with VP no matter what. That is his personal commitment because he cares so much.

A day after the family left to Thailand, Prince Mangkharat comes to Long Cheng from Vientiane. Prince Mangkharat is the son of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma. As I recall, Mr. Mangkharat has with him one general from the British army and one general from the Indian army.

We meet downstairs in the house. At that time Jerry is there, sitting with VP. I don’t know whether Mangkharat and Jerry knew each other before, but they are introduced at that time. The two foreign generals want to know who Jerry is also.

When the meeting begins, all the soldiers clear out of the room, but I remain for security reasons. Just to make sure that VP is safe. That’s all. I know Mr. Mangkharat has a pistol. I don’t know if Jerry carries anything. My dad doesn’t have anything. I am armed with a pistol and an M-16. In case Mr. Mangkharat gets into a temper and draws his gun, then that is my job. I sit at the table with them, on the other side of VP, just listening to the conversation.

Prince Mangkharat tries to invite VP to go back to Vientiane for a second meeting. He says those same high-ranking Laotian officials that VP met with already are now willing to listen. The reason he brought those two generals with him is because he wants them to guarantee the safety of VP. He says, “If you don’t believe me, they will provide the security for you.” The other two generals speak in English. They say their governments guarantee the safety of VP. It is their governments, not just themselves. The trip to Vientiane will not have anything dangerous involved, and security is well covered. They will make sure that VP returns to Long Cheng in a very short period of time. The two generals speak a couple of words, and then they sit down quietly.

In my own opinion, I realize that Jerry doesn’t want VP to make any mistakes in answering because the CIA already is withdrawing everything and VP is part of that CIA system. That’s the reason why Jerry sits with him. Usually when the prime minister or the supreme commander comes to meet with my dad, the CIA clears out from the house. Only Laotian government officials are allowed in. But not this time. My dad wants Jerry to stay in there to give them a clear picture that the Americans are there. VP wants to say: “You want to make me behave and obey the prime minister’s orders, but part of me also works for the CIA. You can listen to them directly and see if they say yes or no.” Jerry acts like a partner to guarantee the situation. VP is very willing to let Mr. Jerry Daniels stay there.

Jerry takes part in the conversation, but he does not talk to Mr. Mangkharat or the two foreign generals directly. Sometimes when he listens to the conversation, he breaks into the middle of it and says, “General, yes,” or “General, no. No, sir, I won’t let you do that.” Jerry speaks to VP in English, and I can see that he worries a lot because VP is speaking to the son of the prime minister. Mr. Mangkharat is only a colonel in the army, but you don’t see him that way because he is also a prince, a very highly respected person. With the royal family, Vang Pao always behaves like a good boy, so Jerry thinks maybe he will say, “Yes, I will go with you.” Mr. Jerry Daniels, VP’s advisor from the American government, does not agree for VP to go to Vientiane. Jerry sits right there beside VP to make sure he always answers “No.” The CIA already knows what will happen. If VP arrives in Vientiane, the Pathet Lao officials will assassinate him at the airport right away. They will assassinate VP because when VP is gone, then the Hmong people will have no leader and they will not know what to do. The high-ranking Laotian government officials already know that the Hmong people will not listen to anybody else—just VP. Those officials don’t want it to go that way. So they want VP to go to Vientiane, and they will just let something happen. No one wants to take part in it or take any responsibility for it, but VP will have no chance. Jerry reminds VP that he will not have any backup in Vientiane, that nobody can really give VP any security if he goes down there. But anyway VP knows all that, and he won’t listen to Mr. Mangkharat. VP looks at Mr. Mangkharat and the two foreign generals and says: “Nobody can guarantee my life. I do what I want to do.”

VP refuses to go to Vientiane, and then VP and the son of the prime minister both get in a temper. VP bangs his fist on the table and says to Mangkharat: “From now on I don’t belong to anybody except myself! I am not a Laotian general! I already resigned from the Laotian government! Now I am the leader of the Hmong! I am a different person, and the prime minister cannot tell me what to do!” He says: “When I leave, it will be from Long Cheng. I will not go to Vientiane!” Both sides get to the point of a big argument. Oh, everybody is angry! All their faces turn red. Especially Mr. Mangkharat. The prince wants to order VP to go there. He is a prince! Mangkharat bangs his fist on the table to my dad. Then Jerry bangs on the table to Mangkharat. Jerry is very angry too. Jerry talks directly to Mangkharat only when he gets really mad. Then he shows some reaction. He keeps saying to Vang Pao: “Just tell them no! Even if you say yes I still say no! I won’t let you go!” I am there watching, and I keep my mouth shut.

Left to right: Chao Monivong (in white hat), Pheng Phongsavan (Minister of Interior), Prince Chao Sisavang Vatthana (in front), Sisouk Na Champassak (Minister of Defense, in dark glasses), and Touby Lyfoung (advisor to king, former Minister of Post, Telegraph & Telecommunications, with cane). Hmong New Year at Long Cheng, December 1973 (Maykao L. Vang collection).

Now Mangkharat knows there is no way to get VP to Vientiane because the CIA is right there. Even if the general says yes, the CIA will say no. They will not allow him to go to Vientiane. Now I think it is clear to everyone that VP will be leaving the country with American assistance.

There is one final issue. Mr. Mangkharat says that Colonel Chao Monivong will replace VP as the commanding general for MR2. Since VP refuses to go to Vientiane, they want to know what will happen when Chao Monivong and the coalition soldiers arrive in Long Cheng.

Chao Monivong used to work with my father. They get along very well. The government knows if they send someone else, VP could shoot them because, you know, at that time the temper gets to the head and VP is very angry. When someone comes to your home and tells you to get out, then anything can happen. See? They want to make sure that nothing happens, so they send a longtime good friend of VP’s to replace him. VP’s going to get angry, but at least nothing is going to happen to that person. That’s why they pick Chao Monivong. I think VP gives them his word that he will not attack the soldiers and will not fight against the incoming troops.

Including all the shouting and yelling, I would say that meeting goes on for 30 minutes to one hour. When Mr. Mangkharat and the two foreign generals leave, I have a feeling that they are very, very angry at VP.

For the next few days there are more meetings between VP and his top officers. If he can’t fight, then VP wants to get his people out as soon as possible. His concern is for all the Hmong people, but the ones he really wants to have leave first are those holding important military positions. It is for the safety of his soldiers that he decides to do an air evacuation. Maybe he will leave the country now and return to fight again later.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

We hear from MR2 intelligence that the Vietnamese and Pathet Lao are coming closer and closer to Long Cheng. There aren’t too many days left before we have to leave because the government announces that the cousin of Souvanna Phouma, General Chao Monivong, will take the place of Vang Pao as commander of MR2.

Everybody knows that one way or another VP has to leave. When you are dealing with American people and working with them for so long, then your leaders cannot stay behind. The North Vietnamese know who works with the Americans. If you stay in Laos, you are dead for sure. So the Americans plan to evacuate all the important persons out of there. But the State Department and the U.S. embassy are only concerned about the people who worked for them, not for the general population. The embassy says, “For the people outside of the military, it will be a lot better for those people to plan to stay.”

VP and his top officers talk about that and say: “Hey, there’s no choice for us to stay in Long Cheng and fight. We have to leave because right now nobody supports us. If we go to Thailand and negotiate, we may get some help later so we can come around back into Sayaboury to stand and fight.”

VP, the Sky, and the U.S. embassy talk about getting the Hmong out to Thailand when we know the situation is critical. VP gives Jerry the rough number of 2,300–2,500 by counting from the top leader, the general, down to the rank of majors or captains, including their families. The Sky agrees to 2,300–2,500 after we think about the time and the transportation that can lift that number out.

Twenty-three hundred to twenty-five hundred is the ballpark figure, but when they actually count them up, it’s more than that. Later VP comes back and asks for more, but Jerry says we don’t have the capability to lift more than 2,300–2,500 given the length of time and the airplanes that are available. VP and Jerry argue over that number, but I don’t pay attention to them because I am busy listening to the radio communications.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

The idea of going to Sayaboury is the first plan formulated by Vang Pao and his officers to save the families in the event of an emergency, but then it is not backed by the U.S. advisors. To them, a retreat to Sayaboury means the intent of conducting underground paramilitary operations against the newly formed government of Laos. The U.S. advisors cannot support that. If the U.S. advisors will not support a retreat to Sayaboury, General Vang Pao asks Jerry to take his officers and their families directly to Thailand.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

I can see that Jerry has a plan for VP: #1, to stay for the personal safety of the general because they worked together for a long time; #2, to make sure that there is a U.S. citizen still remaining in the Long Cheng area so there will be an American plane to pick them up for sure—at least VP will get on the same plane with Jerry; #3, to make sure that VP doesn’t change his mind and decide to stay and fight—the CIA has already backed out, and there is no more support for fighting; #4, to make sure that VP doesn’t go to Vientiane—Jerry can’t help VP if VP decides to go to Vientiane.

I believe Jerry knows VP is having a hard time deciding whether to leave or stay. That’s why Jerry stays very close to him.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

I think Jerry and the Americans finally convince VP not to fight because suddenly the general has a new order. He says that since the Laotians think that the communists are bringing peace and prosperity with them, why should we fight? We have been fighting from 1960 to 1975 and the Laotians didn’t do anything, so we are not going to fight any more. He says: “To heck with it! If we let them come in without fighting, it is just like committing suicide because they want to kill us all. So we will evacuate to Thailand and let the Lao have their peace!”

I don’t know exactly what makes VP change his mind, but I think most of the decisions come from the American advisor, Jerry Daniels. Without the American planes, we cannot evacuate. Only the Americans can order an evacuation. VP will fight for the evacuation, but the decision has to be from the American embassy. Even Jerry cannot do that by himself; he is only an embassy officer. I think the decision for an air evacuation like this has to come from Washington. Washington has to say, “Go ahead and do it.” Then the embassy can go ahead. Besides, Thailand won’t accept it unless the U.S. government tells the Thai government that it is OK. That’s why the planes can evacuate the Hmong from Long Cheng to Udon and Nam Phong. The Thai government has the full knowledge of this. That’s why we can go there.

2d Lt. Nhia Tou Vang, T-28 Pilot

My brother, Colonel Vang Neng, comes from Sala Phou Khoun on May 6. My parents come from Nam Yin on the 7th. That night we talk over the situation with our daddy and mama and all of our brothers at Neng’s house in Long Cheng. We talk about what we should do. Neng and I are the only two in our family that the communists really don’t like because he is a lieutenant colonel and I am a pilot. We will be the first to go! Daddy and mama say: “Sons, both of you are in the war. You will not be able to stay here.” All of the brothers agree and say there is no choice. We know Vang Pao will leave; we will go with him. Oh, there are a lot of tears that night! We are up until 2:00 A.M. talking, and everybody cries.

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

We have a big meeting at Samoson. More than 100 Hmong officers and leaders are at that meeting. Dr. Yang Dao heard that the Hmong will move out, so he comes from Vientiane to Long Cheng and joins the meeting. He comes to explain the situation to the Hmong community leaders, to talk about how it would be a good idea if only the top officers escape Long Cheng. Let the civilians and the people who are not much involved in the war stay behind. He says he visited the communist countries and the communist countries are not that bad. That those countries are good so everybody will be able to live with the communists. He says real peace will come to Laos, and he tries to persuade everybody to stay and not escape to another place. But the people know that maybe the communists take him to see only the good things, the good places. If you never see something bad, you think everything is good. But it is not that good.

Left to right: Hang Sao, Youa Yao Hang, Nao Tou Lo, Colonel Ly Tou Pao. Long Cheng, 1963 (Ly Tou Pao collection).

Oh! There are many officers at that meeting who dispute with Yang Dao. Moua Lia and Vang Chou are the ones who talk hot to Yang Dao—and both of them are his brothers-in-law! VP is at that meeting too, but he doesn’t say anything.

When the people decide not to listen to Yang Dao, Yang Dao drives a car from Long Cheng down to Nasu and Ban Son to khosana to the Hmong people not to run. He says: “You should stay! Let the military officers escape only. The communists are not so bad!”

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

I don’t attend the Samoson meeting, but some of us analyze the situation and the words that Dr. Yang Dao spoke at the general’s house before the meeting—that the Hmong should stay and that the Lao government guarantees their safety. Yang Dao speaks broadly about “the Hmong.” We talk about that, and by the next day we say: “‘The Hmong,’ yes. But not General Vang Pao and not Colonel Vang Geu and not the other high officers.” The government says, “We guarantee the safety of ‘the Hmong,’” but not the safety of individual people. The promise is too broad, and we say: “Hmmm. It is not safe for us to stay. We cannot trust those words. Later they might say, ‘Yes, we promise to “the Hmong” but we don’t promise if you are a colonel or a general.’”

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

VP hears that Yang Dao went to Muang Cha, to Pha Khae, and said: “Don’t go with VP. Stay. The government will just change the leaders. The rest will remain the same.” VP doesn’t care about that message. Even though Yang Dao wants to stay with the coalition government group, VP is so concerned about him because VP very much recognizes that very, very few Hmong have a high education and Yang Dao is a highly educated Hmong person. VP loves Yang Dao, and he wants to save him. VP says: “If I leave, you will have problems. No matter what, if you are Hmong, you are already on my side in the eyes of the Pathet Lao. If you stay, it is a very short life.” He says: “While I’m still here, why don’t you pack and go with me? Wherever I go, I will take you.” VP wants to save Yang Dao’s life. To VP, Yang Dao is the most important.

Just before the evacuation starts, VP tells Jerry: “There are some important people that I want to have with me. I give you the list.” That’s why VP and Jerry send me in the Porter plane down to Vientiane to pick up Yang Dao. When I get to Yang Dao’s house, Yang Dao has stepped out, and I meet only his wife. One or two days later we send another plane down. We go down many times! Yang Dao says he is ready to go, but every time we get there, Yang Dao has changed his plan.

2d Lt. Her Tou Moua, Muang Om

I am out in a soldiers’ battlefield camp at Muang Om, 30 air miles to the southeast of Long Cheng. Already we have been in position in the Muang Om area for about half a year.

Everyone is listening to the national radio station from Vientiane, waiting to hear if peace is negotiated. Instead we hear from the broadcaster that they will change the positions of leadership in Laos. They say a vice-general, Chao Monivong, will take over General Vang Pao’s position as commander for MR2. Oh, we are so surprised to hear that! Everyone is so surprised!

After we hear that news I look at Colonel Moua Gao, and I see he feels sad. We have no idea what is going on in Long Cheng. Moua Gao goes to Long Cheng the next day.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

The colonels who are working in the field are not sure what to do. They are calling in to find out what is going on, but there is no instruction about whether they have to stay or have to go home. By now there is a suspicion among Vang Pao’s junior officers that he is going to leave. Some of the commanders come in from the field because they are worried about their families and about the situation. They are coming to talk to Vang Pao.

– 6 –

LAOS IS FALLING

(Thursday, May 8, 1975–Saturday, May 10, 1975)

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

On the morning of the 8th I am at the CIA office at the American base at Udon in order to sign the papers to pay the project contractor. After I finish, I say I want to fly back to Long Cheng. They say: “The plan changed. Call Long Cheng.” I call Long Cheng on the CB radio. I talk directly to Jerry’s office, but Jerry isn’t there. I say: “I want to come home. Send a plane to pick me up.” Someone there says: “No. The plan changed. You don’t come back to Long Cheng, OK? Someone will call you back.”

All day I wait there, and I am worried. Finally Jerry calls me back and says: “You don’t come back to Long Cheng. You stay there. I want you to ask those guys and see if they can get a C-130 to send to Long Cheng. Find out how we can send all the people from Long Cheng to Udon. You coordinate with the CIA and the Thai military.” I say, “What?!” And Jerry says: “We are going to evacuate all the military commanders from Long Cheng to Thailand. So you stay over there, see what you can do, talk to those people.” I am in Thailand; I am supposed to coordinate everything there. Maybe 2,000 to 3,000 people will be evacuated almost immediately. I left Long Cheng only two days ago, and now I don’t know what is going on! Everything is too fast to feel anything about it. You cannot think. You just do what you have to do because they are coming. Laos is falling.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

For several days we are waiting in Long Cheng, waiting for the order. We are still thinking that we will fly the ladies and children to Sayaboury. But at the last minute General Vang Pao and the colonels make the decision that we will evacuate to Udon, Thailand.

On May 9 we get our orders to fly out. The military, like the colonels and the soldiers, they want to go because they are afraid. They fought against the communists, and they know they cannot stay. The other people don’t know what to do because they don’t know what is the future over there in Thailand. In the past, the Hmong escaped from area to area inside Laos, but they never left the country before. This time they will escape from Long Cheng to Thailand. This is different. They will go to a different country, so they don’t know the future. Is it bad or good?

On the first day, May 9, the Lao pilot and I take off in the C-47 to Udon. We have 24 seats, and we take just that many passengers. We fly only the children and the ladies—the officers’ families. There are so many colonels in Long Cheng, so I don’t remember exactly whose families are on that flight!

Lia Vang, Bangkok Student

On May 8th, VP orders a helicopter to go pick up my family in Pha Khao because now there is a plan for an evacuation. The helicopter picks up Colonel Neng Chu Thao’s family as well as mine and drops them back into Long Cheng.

That afternoon we all prepare because a soldier brings the word from VP that tomorrow morning a C-47 will land, and we are instructed to get on that first flight. That message is sent out to selected individuals only. My mom is a merchant, so she tries to pack a lot of things from her shop. But I know the situation, and I ask her not to do that. Pack only those things that, if we need them, we will have to go out and buy. Basic supplies like medicine.

That night everyone puts their belongings into the jeep. While you are preparing your things, you can hear other people running back and forth too because everyone is hurrying to leave town. Those people don’t know that there will be an air evacuation, but they do plan to move out. They are running back and forth to pack their belongings as well as discussing where they are going, what should they do, and what route should they take.

The next morning, things are so quiet in the valley because a lot of airplanes were shipped back to Vientiane already. I sit on the roof of the jeep and wait. We were instructed that we are not supposed to go to the airport until the plane actually lands. Long Cheng is surrounded by mountains, so you don’t hear or see an airplane until it comes over the mountains. About 9:00 A.M. we hear the plane when it crosses the mountaintops. We all jump into the jeep and wait until the plane lands, turns around, and parks. When it comes to a complete stop, we take off in the jeep. Now we see a whole bunch of jeeps coming out of hiding and rushing to the airplane. I assume all those people got a special message from VP too. Already you see it is like ants who run for a drop of honey! Two hundred or three hundred people surround the airplane. As soon as the door opens you jump on board. Then get as far as possible into the front of the airplane to prevent anyone from removing you. Just stack everyone up and defend your territory!

A few families come a little late, so they are still on the ground. They are all high-ranking groups, but there are too many people on the plane already. The kicker thinks it’s too heavy to take any more. There’s a lot of debate and a lot of arguing about who should go and who should not go. In the end, only six or seven families can get on the first flight: my family, Colonel Neng Chu’s family, Shoua Yang’s family, Vang Chou’s family. And I think Moua Tou Lu’s and Colonel Hang Sao’s families are also with us. But not all the family members—usually only the wives and the smallest kids get on. Six or seven families get on, but there must be 15 families that got the same message, and they are right there, arguing. I don’t know what is the verdict on all those arguments, but they close the door, and we start to taxi. As we get ready to take off, I look through the window and see at least 10 or 15 jeeps are parked next to the runway. When the airplane takes off, everyone left on the ground runs back to their home to make life look normal so no one thinks about what that airplane is coming for and what is its purpose. However, if you look at the airport, you see a lot of jeeps full of belongings and no one is driving them; they are just parked there. That’s the way the evacuation starts.

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

I will never forget May 9th. I know the first plane is coming into Udon because I stay on the radio talking to Jerry’s office. They say, “They are coming.”

In the afternoon I go over to greet the first airplane, VP’s Baron. That plane holds only about four passengers, but it is still the first group, the first airplane to land there from Long Cheng. Then the Lao C-47 makes a trip to Udon too. The C-47 holds a lot more people. Those in that first group on both the Baron and the C-47 are the immediate family relatives of VP. For me, their arrivals are hectic, and I don’t feel good about that. Where am I going to put these people? How will I feed them, and how will I keep them away from the newspeople? That is my sole focus.

We really need a place to put the people. Maybe Thao Chai or Noi suggests using Ban’s place. Ban has a lot of small houses just outside the base. When Lia Vang comes, I ask him and many of those young Hmong students who study in Bangkok to help me figure out where to put the people and to help find them food.

Lia Vang, Bangkok Student

When the first wave lands in Udon, I am the person who coordinates the living quarters. Mr. Ban Pawang is a contractor who owns a private club named after him: Souan Ban Pawang. Souan Ban Pawang has several small bungalows, like duplexes. We fit the first 6 or 7 families in there, but by the day’s end we have 180 people in Souan Ban Pawang. There’s no room at all!

And when we arrive there is no lunch, nothing to eat. It seems that no one else is going out there to organize it, so I take on that role. For the first lunch, Chee and I go out to the street vendors and buy three different kinds of sack lunches: rice with an egg on top, rice with something stir-fried on top, and fried rice—150 sacks. There are three varieties, but when you arrive with 150 bags you don’t know what’s what. We leave them out, and whoever wants to eat can pick one up. And actually it’s not enough because the number of refugees is already greater than 150 and more keep coming.

That night we talk about how we are going to take care of dinner. We decide to cater the dinner from a restaurant, but when the caterers arrive there is no place to serve it. So we kind of go scrambling because it is chaos! We have not planned it properly, and people are real hungry. Some missed lunch, and they have not eaten all day. We order enough food for 200 or 250, but it is still not enough. There’s a lot of people, and we all agree that we need to move the people out of there.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

Starting on May 9, Vang Pao uses the Lao military Dakota C-47 to transport some of the families straight to Udon, Thailand. The Dakota has a Lao pilot and belongs to the Lao Army, but it works strictly under Vang Pao’s orders in Military Region 2. The C-47 starts to fly on the 9th because we are getting reports that that Pathet Lao troops are approaching. Now we must take action.

Only one Laotian C-47 flies because there is no plan for lifting the general population. On May 8, Jerry had sent a cable to the U.S. embassy in Vientiane requesting approval of evacuation of 2,500 people. Two days later, Jerry’s Agency agreed to a second request to increase the number from 2,500 to 3,500 people. They believe that the C-47 will be enough to transport the 3,500 people on the roster. If the C-47 makes at least six trips a day, it will not take too long to move 3,500 people to Udon because it’s not far. But the C-47 makes only two or three trips per day, and that is not very good. One hundred people per day is not enough.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

Usually I make two trips each day. The number of trips depends on the refueling and the loading. The loading takes time because the passenger boarding order depends on the guards. They load step by step, from the big rank of colonel to the smaller rank of major, captain.

“On final” coming in to land at 20-Alternate (Long Cheng) (M. Rosholt collection, Air America Archives, University of Texas at Dallas).

Long Cheng, 1973–74 (Jim Schill collection).

When the kickers load, it is their duty to control the weight, to look at the bags and decide if they are too heavy. Maybe the family has three bags. The kicker says: “Which bag do you really need? Take one, leave two.” We tell them to select only the good and necessary things. If they take everything, it will be too heavy. The guard checks the list, and the kickers check the weight. They load for 25, 30, maybe 35 minutes.

There are 24 seats, and everyone has to take a seat. After they load the families and tie in the bags, we pilots go take a second look. We know the kicker checked already, but we still want to make sure that there aren’t too many people and that the kickers belted everything.

At that time the people are not a problem. But the things, the bags, are the problem. We don’t have a scale, so we just guess how heavy. Maybe we say 50 pounds, but it is 60 or 70 pounds—or maybe just 40 or 30. We don’t know! But when we compare, we know the total weight is overloaded. Not the number of people but the things. Heavy things like clothes and blankets. Mostly it’s the senior colonels who are too heavy in the bags. For some, everything they have in their life, they want to take it. They try to carry everything except for tables and beds. If they carry pans and pots to cook in, we tell them to leave it because they still have relatives in Long Cheng who can use those things.

For the C-47 that I fly, I think the things, the bags, are overloaded, but not the people. We load only one family at a time, by order of the list. Then we go.

Jim Schill, USAID

The way the pilots tell it, the Long Cheng airstrip is angled up at about 3 degrees, with one direction coming in and out. A big C-130 can land with a full 40,000 pounds of cargo if its wheels touch down at the beginning of the strip with full flaps and brakes. But taking off is another matter. It seems that the maximum amount of cargo on the outgoing craft is limited to 20,000 pounds.

Lifting out of there is difficult in any case, with mountains on all sides, and some not too far from the runway. I asked one American pilot when they had to commit for a takeoff, and his answer was fairly simple. The way he told it, they committed at the beginning of the strip, could not possibly stop, and that was it.

In 1973, I had my first flight outbound Long Cheng on a C-130. The pilots revved up the engines until the plane was shaking so hard I thought it would come apart. They released the brakes and moved ever so slowly down the runway. When we finally cleared the mountains, I began to recover my breath.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

On the first day, the C-47 flies back and forth. By the next day, more and more people come to the airport. Just one C-47 plane is not enough to take the people out, so General Vang Pao tells Vang Bee to take me and a Lao pilot down to Vientiane to get the Xiengkhouang Air C-47. That cargo plane belongs to General Vang Pao. With two C-47s, we can carry more people out.

The Lao pilot and I plan to check the airplane, check the magneto, before we fly. We know Xiengkhouang Air can still fly, but maybe you have to fix it a little because the left magneto drops about 200. When it drops, the power cuts off, and then we cannot risk using it to fly the people to Thailand. If it has that problem, we will just leave it in Vientiane.

In the afternoon we fly to Vientiane with Vang Bee in the Baron. We go to General Vang Pao’s house and Nhia Ying tells us that an American pilot took that plane to Udon already. Maybe the Americans know that if they don’t take Xiengkhouang Air, the Pathet Lao will come and keep it, so they want to move it out first. We cannot get that airplane, so we leave and fly back to Long Cheng.

Left to right: unidentified person, T-28 pilot Xiong Koua, T-28 and Baron pilot Vang Bee, T-28 and C-47 pilot Ly Teng, Raven backseater, unidentified American. Long Cheng, 1971 (Ly Teng collection).

Capt. Joe Hammer, Continental Air Services Pilot

I was the last Bird and Sons pilot hired before Bird sold out to Continental on September 1, 1965. I flew for Continental for ten years: six years in Saigon, South Vietnam, and four years in Vientiane, Laos.

I am the one who flew that Xiengkhouang Air airplane out, Lao registration XW-PGW: X-ray Whiskey Papa Golf Whiskey. My logbook says it is May 10. That morning the general manager of Continental calls me on the phone. I go into his office around 8:30 A.M., and he says, “When was the last time you flew a DC-3?” I say, “Oh, about a year and a half ago.” And he says: “We want you to take Vang Pao’s airplane to Alternate. If we get you a co-pilot will you fly it up there and haul out refugees? Vang Pao’s people.” He specifically mentions that I am to go up and get VP’s family out to Udorn. I say: “Well, yeah, no sweat. I can do that if you give me a good DC-3.” Hell, I’d been flying in and out of Alternate for four years. Usually the reason we move people out is because the communists are coming, so I assume that’s why they are bailing out of 20-Alternate. I ask, “Do you want me to wear my uniform?” He says: “Christ, no! Go in civilian clothes!” I am assured that this is all laid on by the CIA and everything is coordinated. I mean, I’m not told that, but you have to assume it. All I ask is, “Does Udorn know I’m coming?” And Larry says, “Yeah, yeah, it’s all been laid on.” This is about 30 minutes before I take off. We square it all away in his office.

One of the guys drives me over to the plane, which is parked over at Frenchie’s hangar. Frenchie is a hell of a mechanic, and he runs his own aircraft-repair shop there on the field at Wattay. He is taking care of Vang Pao’s airplane. Someone at Frenchie’s says that airplane hasn’t been off the ground for about a year and a half. And on the propeller blade there is a big sign that says, “Don’t move the prop because this engine has no oil.” Oh, these things really give you a lot of confidence! Frenchie says: “Don’t pay any attention to that sign. The engines are alright.” He takes the sign off the prop. I say, “Well, OK.” But it’s got no gas in it. We bring over the gas truck. The gas truck pulls up, of course it’s a well-planned operation, and one kid says, “Hey, Captain Hammer, will you sign for the gas?” Oh, it is normal that a captain signs the gas chit, but I already know I’m going out without clearance and it’s not going to make the commies real happy that I’m bailin’ out of there with VP’s airplane. I sign my name reluctantly, and they put the gas in. Frenchie and I go through and check out the instruments and see if it’s going to fly safely. We get it fired up, and finally both engines are running. I run it up. Oh! The right engine is barkin’ with about a 400 RPM drop on the mag. It’s bangin’ away at high RPMs, but Frenchie assures me it will run. So, OK. It’s no big thing.

I ask Frenchie about the landing gear, and he says, “Oh, it ought to work.” Ha! I say, “OK.” I am sure that if it doesn’t work, I’ll get to belly it in. And I have to use a cargo strap to tie down the cargo door to the seats because somebody broke the door handle and it won’t latch. Then I get in the cockpit. No copilot—couldn’t get one. Besides, I’m not going to take this thing with a bangin’ engine to 20-Alternate anyway. Alternate is kind of in a bowl, and you have to climb a ridge to get out of it. It’s at a 3,120 elevation, and you’re not going to make it out of there loaded with just one engine. Even if they couldn’t find me a copilot, I would have flown it in and out of Alternate by myself evacuating people—if the airplane was any good and if I had a radio.

I say to Frenchie, “You go over to the tower and tell them this is a NORDO”—no radio flight. I don’t have any radio, so I can’t talk to them. “Say this is a check flight, a local test hop.” We can’t tell them that I am taking off for Udorn. I say: “When I see you walking up to the tower, then I’m going to take off. Don’t stop walking because I’m going to take off when I’m running.” I tell Frenchie: “I’m not stopping to check the mags. When I hit the end of the runway, I’m gone!” I ask Frenchie, “Is this going to get you in trouble?” He says: “No. I’ll just say, ‘Hey, that pilot’s crazy! He’s stealing the airplane!’” So, OK.

When I see Frenchie crawl up the tower, I taxi out real fast because I don’t want anybody to stop me or come roaring out there with a car and drive in front of me. It is obvious we are getting the airplane out of there. I taxi out of the parking area, and I don’t bother getting lined up. I make fast onto the runway and I just keep going. I use all the power I can get without making the engine bang at me. Of course I am real light since it is empty. As soon as I get off, I reduce power, and it runs good all the way to Udorn, about a 25–30-minute flight.

When I get to Udorn, I don’t have any radios, I have a bangin’ right engine, I’m by myself in the airplane. I come over the top of Udorn. I don’t have a radio, so I can’t call anybody. I come across the runway in a 90-degree angle, right at the tower, and rock my wings. I get a green light on the tower right quick. I come around, I’m going to land, but an F-4 is coming in, and he has priority, so I go around. I come back and land. I figure since they know I am coming they’ll be looking for me, but not a soul is there to greet me! I taxi right in facing the tower. They give me a flashing green light, which means I’m OK to taxi on. I turn left, go down, I taxi down past Air America, where the Customer has his offices and a whole bunch of equipment. I taxi right into the CIA headquarters there at Udorn, and this little character in his white shirt and tie rushes out—typical of the CIA. He asks, “Did you come here to fly for me?” I understand him to mean fly out of Alternate. I assume that because the only discussion we had that day was about flying out of Alternate. I say, “Not in this airplane!” He says, “Oh.” He is disappointed. I say, “Where do you want me to park this airplane?” He says, “I don’t know anything about this.” I say, “Well, it was all laid on.” Another well-planned operation! I park and get out of the airplane and say, “Do you have any transportation for me back to Vientiane?” He says, “No, I didn’t even know you were coming.” I leave the DC-3 in Udorn. After that, I have no idea what happens to it.

In my logbook it says: “XW-PGW. General Vang Pao’s aircraft. No co-pilot, no radio, no clearance. Ferried by myself!” You know something else? When I take VP’s airplane out of Wattay, I am the last guy to get out of there without clearance. The next morning there are two 12.7-mm automatic machine guns set up—that’s like 50-caliber American guns—installed at each end of the Wattay runway. Oh, yeah! The PL got wise real quick.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 9, 1975

Laos Exodus as Reds Push On

NONG KHAI, THAILAND—About 30 high-ranking right-wing Laotian officials and over 260 Thai and foreign businessmen in Vientiane have fled into Thailand and tight security measures have been imposed along the Mekong River in the wake of growing tension in Laos.…

UPI reports from Vientiane said Pathet Lao forces backed by tanks have continued their advance south on the Vientiane-Luang Prabang Highway and are now near the neutralist centre of Vang Vieng.…

The coalition Cabinet of Pathet Lao and loyalist ministers sent a cable to the headquarters of the communist movement requesting a halt and calling for a withdrawal.…

Authorities said there was little fighting in the mountainous country along Route 13 north of Vang Vieng, with government forces falling back ahead of the communist advance. There was believed to be four to five miles of no man’s land between the two sides.…

[In Nong Khai, Thailand] Governor Kamphol Klinsukhon instructed various districts to build temporary shelters to prepare for a sudden influx of refugees from across the river.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 10, 1975

Laotian Rightists Quit Cabinet

VIENTIANE (AP)—Five Right-wing Laotian Cabinet ministers closely identified with US policies in Laos have resigned under mounting pressure from student groups and Left-wing labour organisations, highly placed sources said yesterday.

They include Defence Minister Sisouk na Champassak and Finance Minister Ngon Sananikone.… Others who resigned were Khamphay Abphay, Minister of Public Health, Tianethone Chantharasy, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Houmphanh Sayasith, Deputy Minister for Public Works.

Word of the resignations came shortly after a rowdy student and teacher demonstration in Vientiane yesterday during which students stoned the US Embassy and hauled down the flag.…

The resignation of these most powerful figures virtually eliminates the rightist faction in Laos and coupled with an order by Souvanna Phouma to the rightist forces not to fight Pathet Lao forces, appears to be the beginning of the final act that will lead to a bloodless Pathet Lao takeover.

…The demonstration [involved] more than 3,000 students.… Students carrying placards saying “Yankee Go Home” and “Cut the Throats of the Rightist” paraded around the [Victory] monument chanting “CIA Go Home.” …The demonstration took place against a background of an increasingly confused military and political situation.

…The fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia to communist-led governments have worried the predominantly ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese business community in Vientiane, who see Laos as the next domino in the line.

1st Lt. Cha Phia Chue, Absent Without Leave

In May I am still in Vientiane at Kai Chinaimo. The big Lao leader at Chinaimo is General Kuprasit, but our group leader is Major Phoumouang. About May 8th the major says: “General Vang Pao will try to take T-28s and three companies of soldiers to come and bomb Vientiane. You can open the stockroom and take anything you want—shells, guns, uniforms, shoes. However many you can carry, you can take!” The major is scared and says: “Maybe in a couple of days we will go to Phou Khao Quoi. Then we will fight.”

Phou Khao Quoi is a big training camp for the central army. The government wants to go make a station there, but I don’t know if we are going to attack communists or attack who? They say Vang Pao is going to bomb Vientiane and we are going to go stay at Phou Khao Quoi. But they don’t say who we will go to fight!

I tell you, at this time there are many problems from the communists. They make tricks. That major says that Vang Pao will try to bomb Vientiane. That makes the Lao people in Vientiane scared. But I don’t know if Vang Pao will bomb Vientiane or bomb the communists! I think the Lao try to pressure and make trouble for the Hmong people because they don’t like us. I think they lie.

There are 200 Lao and only three Hmong in Chinaimo—two Her clan and me. I am scared, so I talk to them secretly about what the major said. I say: “Do you guys want to go to Phou Khao Quoi or do you want to go to Long Cheng? You have a mother, father, and wife who stay in the village. If you want to go home, you must catch a taxi and come to pick me up at General Atsaphantong’s house.” I tell them: “You must catch a taxi early in the morning, like 4:00 A.M. Don’t wait! If we don’t go home in three days, that is the day we should go to Phou Khao Quoi. If we go to Phou Khao Quoi, it’s too far to go back to Long Cheng.”

I am a first lieutenant, the group leader at General Atsaphantong’s house. He is the leader of Topokho, the coalition soldiers. Three days after I talk with the two Hmong guys, I wake up early in the morning at Atsaphantong’s house. I pack up my soldier’s uniform and boots and wear just a white T-shirt and khaki pants; I leave my gun and my blanket behind. A couple of minutes later—beep, beep, beep!—the two Her men come in a taxi.

We take the taxi to Moua Ge’s house, and in one hour we catch the bus to Ban Son/Nasu. When I get on, I put my package with my uniform and my soldier boots in a box under the bus driver’s seat; I make secret. At Si Khai bus station we pick up more passengers. Everything seems normal. Then when we get to Hin Heup, the soldiers stop and check every bus that goes to the north. This time it is all Pathet Lao soldiers and a lot of Viet Cong soldiers—nyab laj. I hear them speak Vietnamese.

The Pathet Lao soldiers come inside the bus. They carry AK-47s, and they say to us: “Hey! Where do you guys go?” I say, “Oh, we are students from Dong Dok in Vientiane.” Dong Dok is a big school, and a lot of Hmong students go there. “We go back home to see our mothers, fathers.” The Pathet Lao say, “You have a short haircut—only two centimeters long.” I try to look like a Vientiane student, but they know we are not students. The hair is too short! They know we are soldiers—tahan. They try to get me out of the bus, but I say: “Hey! Don’t worry about it! I am just a student from Vientiane!” Oh, I am scared! Scared! If they take me off the bus, they will put me in jail because I left my soldier post without a letter of permission from my commander. Then they say, “OK, you can go.”

When we get to Ban Son I say, “Hey, bus driver, give me your two boxes.” He says: “Why? What do you need?” I say, “My uniform and my boots.” The bus driver is Lao, and he says: “Are you crazy? How come you brought that uniform inside?” He is scared! If the soldiers find out, they will cut his neck! Oh, danger! But I don’t care! I only need to get to Long Cheng!

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 11, 1975

Pathet Lao Accuses Rightists of Coup Bid

HONG KONG (REUTER)—The Laotian Pathet Lao yesterday accused Defence Minister Sisouk Na Champassak of the Right-wing Vientiane side of planning a coup d’etat in Vientiane, the Khaosan Pathet Lao news agency said.… The agency charged that “Sisouk Na Champassak, Minister of National Defence of the Provisional Government of Laos, and a number of high-ranking officials of the Vientiane side secretly met on May 3–4 at milestone 27 in Vientiane to map out a plan for a reactionary coup d’etat in the neutralised city.”

The agency said that on May 6 “ultra-rightist reactionaries” sent troops in civilian guise to lay ambushes at many places in Vientiane city. “They also dispatched artillery and tanks to milestone 27 in Vientiane and ordered T-28 fighter bombers at Long Cheng airport in Savannakhet Province [sic] and Udon airbase in Thailand to stand ready for the coup,” the agency said. “Meanwhile the Thai reactionaries sent their gunboats and artillery to support Sisouk Na Champassak and ordered Thai troops to infiltrate the administrative capital of Vientiane. A number of them in civilian guise have mingled with the people around Chinaimo Camp,” it charged.

The Vientiane citizens energetically denounced this plan aimed at rekindling the war in Laos and serving the aggressive scheme of the “US imperialists and the Thai reactionaries,” the agency added.

…The US Embassy … asked Americans to be calm. A spokesman denied a rumoured evacuation of any of the 800-plus persons attached to the embassy.… But he admitted a handbook of evacuation instructions titled “Bend with the Wind” had been issued.

…The Pathet Lao control about 80 percent of the country. …About 300 of their forces [are] reportedly stopped at Vang Vieng. But residents of Vientiane were convinced a large military force was on the way to the capital, and this caused a drop in value of currency and increase in the price of rice. Some businessmen have closed their shops and left the country.

CIA case officer Jerry “Hog” Daniels and General Vang Pao on the Plain of Jars (PDJ), ca. 1971 (Vang Bee collection [The photo provider is a helicopter pilot and is not the same person as the T-28 pilot of the same name]).

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 10, 1975

Vang Pao May Have Left Post

Meo General Vang Pao has resigned as commander of Military Region Two in Laos, according to well-informed sources in Bangkok.

The sources said he submitted his resignation after refusing a government order to go to Vientiane, apparently fearing he would be separated from his troops.

Vang Pao, who commanded the CIA-financed Meo guerrilla army in the mountains north of Vientiane, is a particularly detested enemy of the Pathet Lao.

Brig. Gen. Roswell E. Round Jr., DAO/DEPCHIEF

The activity and the atmosphere in Vientiane in May 1975 is chaotic. It is a world in which civil authority has broken down and in which we never know from one day to the next what our next crisis will be. Our overriding concern in early May is for the safety of the remaining Americans. There appears to be a real threat to their safety, and we are deeply involved in the preparation for a possibly bloody air evacuation of Americans à la Saigon. I have so many other things on my mind that there just isn’t room for General Vang Pao or the other four military region commanding generals.

I do not know if anyone at our embassy is involved in the Hmong air evacuation. I hear about it at a staff meeting, and I assume that the operation is out of Thailand. Certainly none of us in the DAO or in DEPCHIEF are involved in it.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

By 1975 I had worked with Jerry Daniels for many years. I knew him well; he was an absolutely outstanding young man—totally dedicated, very honest, and very courageous. He epitomized, in my opinion, the very best that this country can produce. That’s why, when it came down to one person, Jerry was the one man retained at Long Cheng. He had been there for years and had a close personal relationship with VP and the others. They saw him for exactly what he was—as long as he was there, we were there.

Jerry and I discussed ahead of time the need for him to get himself and VP out safely. When it came time, I looked to him to devise a plan, which he did, and that’s what we implemented. In the end, the trickiest thing was to pull it off without getting somebody killed or causing a panic.

– 7 –

SPIES, TRAITORS, TANKS

(Saturday, May 10, 1975, and Sunday, May 11, 1975)

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

By May 8 and 9, the general doesn’t meet with anyone because he hears that people might be plotting against him. The word is that many communists have infiltrated Long Cheng. Some people already warn the general, “There are people around here who start to watch you and want to assassinate you.” Mostly the general stays with his guards upstairs. He doesn’t come down to the ground floor very much. If someone comes and says they want to meet with the general, he says he is too busy that day.

The general is thinking about the assassination plots right after the Samoson meeting because that is when he gives the idea to people that we should leave. Now everybody knows that he is going to leave, but they don’t know how many people will go. They don’t know about 3,000 to 3,500 only. In the Samoson meeting he just explains that for those who want to stay, he hopes that the communist government is still Laotian and that they will still care about the Laotian people—the Lao and the Hmong. For those who want to come with him, he welcomes them to come, but he is unsure about the future.

By the 8th, 9th, 10th, many Pathet Lao spies already move into Long Cheng by taxi. They come from Muang Cha and other places. Our Hmong talk about that because maybe they know who those people are but they are the ones who never come to Long Cheng. Why are they here now? Those strangers are not General Vang Pao’s people.

I don’t think it is Hmong clan politics that creates problems at this time. I think those strangers are the Red Hmong spies and some of the Lao from the area around MR2 who plot against the general and want to take power. If the general will stay and resist, they might take action against him. But after the meeting at Samoson, they know the general will leave, so they watch and wait.

Capt. Vang Bee, Code Name “Fackee,” T-28 and Baron Pilot

At first General Vang Pao tells me I have to prepare his Baron airplane to stand by for him every second. But then all the Hmong leaders who care about General Vang Pao say no, the general can’t fly with me. All the Hmong leaders and the CIA people, Jerry, say: “The situation is too critical. The bad men are watching your aircraft every second. It’s too dangerous for you to go with Vang Bee! Let Vang Bee go back and forth for you, but you have to change your mind and go another way at the final second. We take care of you.” That situation scares me because now I know the bad guy is watching the Baron all the time. If Vang Pao goes into the Baron, maybe they will shoot it.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

Almost at the same time the evacuation starts, I decide to stay with VP and be his personal bodyguard. I make my decision that I should protect him and stay with him to the last minute because anything can happen.

Xiong Moua and I are longtime friends. We both decide to stay very, very close to VP. After we send Xiong’s family to Thailand, from then on he is free to help me.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

There are a lot of people guarding VP. Four or five bodyguards are downstairs on the first floor. From the first floor there are stairs that go up to the second floor. VP’s room, the family bedrooms, and the family dining room are on the second floor. At night when VP goes to bed, Chu and I sleep across the stairway to the second floor so no one can go past us. We are armed to defend ourselves, to protect ourselves and the general.

At night I keep thinking about what will happen if the plane stops evacuating people. I just think about that by myself; I don’t talk to Chu about that. I don’t know what his plans are, but in the back of my mind I think: “Chu is the general’s son. Whatever happens they will take him. But me—I need a plan.” I decide I will have to walk from Long Cheng to Thailand. I take out a map and look at the map and figure out which direction I want to go. I think about how much rice I have to pack on my back and the supplies I need to last all the way to the border. I have a compass, map, clothes, a raincoat, 300 rounds of M-16 ammo in a pack I keep around the corner from where Chu and I station ourselves. I prepare and make plans as a safety measure.

But the thing I really worry about is that some of our own people will try to assassinate VP. The communists can bribe someone to do that. Give them money, give them a position, if they finish VP off. Spies and traitors—that is a real threat. We have some idea of who we should keep an eye on, some of the people who don’t like VP. Those are people who already live in Long Cheng, not Pathet Lao sneaking in.

There are a lot of things going on in my head. The orders from Vientiane are that we just have to let the communist troops walk in. We don’t care much about the orders from Vientiane any more, but if they come in so fast that we cannot get out, then we will have to fight to the death. We know we cannot surrender. If we surrender to the enemy, we know we will be killed. We are sure of that.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

We listen to the military radio, and it seems that the Pathet Lao are moving closer and closer to Long Cheng. And they have tanks. We are surprised to hear about the tanks. It seems that the tanks will move in if we decide to stand and fight. If we don’t open the door for the new group to move in, then they are going to take action. We hear about the movement of Pathet Lao soldiers before Mangkharat comes, but the tanks we hear about after he leaves.

Captain Vang Nou is the one who is in charge of security for VP’s property inside the fence. Lieutenant Vang Neng is the one who controls the unit that is sent out to get information. He sends out groups of seven or eight soldiers to each area to watch the road. When they see tanks or Vietnamese troop trucks, they call in to a private radio room that VP has in the house. We are informed that the enemy is moving closer, closer each day. Whatever happens, my duty is to protect VP.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

At night the place that every enemy points the gun is at the Sky compound and at VP’s house. If the enemy does something, those are the two places they are going to bomb. Now it is no longer safe to stay at the Sky compound at night. Jerry and I sleep at my house for security.

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

People call in from all around. Too many things are going on, and there is confusion. In Long Cheng, many soldiers don’t want to go to the front. They don’t listen much to their orders; they just want to go home to their villages. At the same time, soldiers are leaving the front, not just at Sala Phou Khoun. In Ban Na, near Phou Pha Sai mountain, many troops retreat from there also.

Aerial view of Sky compound at Long Cheng. The compound was built on a rocky plateau directly above the old market road. Head of airstrip is in background (G.R. Jenkin collection).

Long Cheng valley, looking north. Vang Pao’s house is at lower left; Sky compound is in middle of picture, left side of karst (G.R. Jenkin collection).

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

By May 10 it is my feeling that the Hmong people are in actual danger. There are indications that tanks are approaching Ban Son, coming from Vang Vieng towards Long Cheng. There is no confirmed report on how many tanks, but the road to Ban Son is the only way the people can get to Vientiane. If tanks are coming from Vang Vieng to Ban Son, it is the same as shutting the border. The Hmong will be shut in, and no one can get out. I can forsee that the Hmong people are not very friendly with the Pathet Lao, and they will fight at every step. If they are occupied, they will be killed. That is why I think I must go to Vientiane.

At about 10:00 A.M. the Porter airplane from the U.S. embassy comes to Long Cheng. That airplane brings Pat McHugh; Pat McHugh is Sky. He is making his regular delivery of economic reconstruction money so we can pay the project contractors. About 250,000 U.S. dollars comes into Long Cheng in each delivery, but that is not enough money to last a month. We pay the contractors in U.S. dollars, not Laotian kip.

That same morning, after Jerry meets with Pat McHugh, I tell Jerry that I have to go down to Vientiane to find another way for Hmong people to cross the border rather than just wait in line here. Jerry tells me, “There’s no way you can do that because we have no policy to help anybody cross the border other than Vang Pao’s family and the people on the list.” There is a list, but Vang Pao makes that list himself, and it is whoever Vang Pao wants to take. Whoever Vang Pao says should go, Jerry will allow them to go. Jerry does not want to do anything other than what he is told to do. He is responsible only for Vang Pao, Vang Pao’s family, and the list of 3,500—the number of people authorized by the U.S. embassy.

Jerry is practically staying in his office all the time. If he has to talk to VP, he has the radio to talk on. Or if he has to meet face to face, he drives down, talks, comes back, and goes into his room. He does not meet with the general population. He doesn’t give them any idea about what to do. I tell Jerry that this should not be the end of the relationship between the regular Hmong people and the United States. I do not want to discuss the situation with him to the extent that we will be angry at one another, but I tell him I have to go down to Vientiane and try to help the Hmong people. I know that for Jerry to try to help the Hmong, he has to help his own government and stay on the side of the U.S. government policy. But for me, I have to do something. I tell Jerry I have to leave; I have to forfeit my job with him.

That morning I also meet Yang Dao. Dr. Yang Dao came to Long Cheng one day before to give some briefing to Jerry. Jerry wanted to get some feedback about the other side’s political opposition and military opposition. That morning Yang Dao asks me to go down to Vientiane and take his family across the border. Yang Dao says he has to leave from Long Cheng to Udon because Vang Pao is going to be leaving Laos and he wants to take Yang Dao with him. I agree to Yang Dao’s request.

On the 10th the general population of Long Cheng hears about the evacuation. People also come from all the small villages to the airstrip at Long Cheng. Maybe 1,000 people are gathered together. Those are regular Hmong families as well as junior officers and soldiers. The junior officers are unhappy about the general population showing up at the airport. Now there are so many people at the airstrip, and there is only one C-47 airplane to evacuate them.

That morning I tell my wife I have to go down to Vientiane to try to find a way for Hmong people to cross the border to Thailand. I tell her: “You stay here. Jerry told me that if he leaves he will take you and my son out of Laos.” I tell her to keep her faith high and stay close to my Hmong colleagues. Jerry and I had talked about the Hmong who were U.S. employees for Sky and USAID. He will get them to Thailand even though they are not on the list of the 3,500 people. When I leave my family in Long Cheng, I have the sense that we might not meet again until Thailand.

I board one of the last embassy airplanes from Long Cheng to Vientiane. When I get to Vientiane, I go straight to the U.S. embassy. I want to ask around if the embassy knows anything about the Hmong evacuation of Long Cheng. But nobody knows and nobody cares. Nobody thinks the Hmong people will try to escape to Thailand.

Jerry knew what my intention was, and he had called on the radio from Long Cheng and left a message there for me. In the message he says: “Try to do whatever you can. There is nothing left here.”

When I left Long Cheng, I did not know that there were already Hmong people gathering in Vientiane.

Jim Schill, USAID

I am living in Vientiane, writing up some god-awful report for AID. We go to work as usual at the USAID compound while general unease continues to build. The coalition government transitions are not going smoothly, but the embassy and USAID say very little about any major problems we, as U.S. government employees, might be facing.

Early one evening in May, I go out on the town with friends. To our surprise, many of our old haunts are no longer open for business. That seems strange, but more strange is that I see quite a few Hmong I recognize from Alternate. They are traditionally dressed, standing around looking very out of place among the Lao.

Most Hmong have never been out of the mountains. Seeing that many of them moving into Vientiane shocks the heck out of me. I am too shocked to greet them and too troubled to think clearly. What the hell is going on? I am startled because there is no indication from the embassy or USAID of anything happening. I do not connect seeing the Hmong with any exodus to Thailand.

Mouasu Bliaya, XKDC Economic Development

From Udon I talk to Jerry and his staff on the radio. I ask, “How are you guys doing up there?” They say: “We are doing fine. People are moving. How are you doing?” I say: “We survive. We are doing all right.” We touch base with each other constantly.

In Udon the planes come straight in from Long Cheng, drop off the people, then take off again. The people getting off the plane seem like refugees. They don’t know where they are going or what’s going on. We take them on a bus from the airbase to Ban’s houses, with the help of the CIA for sure. We are busy with that all day long on the 9th and 10th, one flight after another. And they keep coming, keep coming.

The Thai newspeople find out about it because we have the people staying outside of the base at Ban’s place. People are everywhere at Ban’s place. They are in the open, easily visible. Probably 500 people. The newspeople want to make a big issue about it, a big issue because why are we in Thailand? Without passing through immigration, how did these refugees get to Udon? We fill up Ban’s place very quickly. Too many! There is no place for them to cook or be outdoors. We need to have a bigger place. And there is too much publicity here. We have to find somewhere to move to.

On the second day I go back and say to Dan Arnold or his staff that we need a place, very far from a town, very quiet. They suggest that Nam Phong is a good place because that base used to be used by the U.S. military but they abandoned it. So on the 11th we drive over to Nam Phong to take a look. We see that Nam Phong is the ideal place because there are lots of military barracks. Those long houses made out of metal, like long barns. And there’s an airfield there that is very long; any plane can land there. There’s barbed wire all around, and it’s far from town. After we see Nam Phong we say yes, that’s the proper place.

We start to transfer people from Udon to Nam Phong on the 11th. We move those people on buses and planes, and it still takes two days to move all the people. On the 12th we start to land people directly from Long Cheng to Nam Phong. After that, nothing from Long Cheng is landing at Udon, not even the Baron. And all the Hmong are gone from Ban’s place.

General Vang Pao and family. Long Cheng, summer 1971 (Chao Vang collection).

Lia Vang, Bangkok Student

On the first day at Nam Phong the facility is not set up yet. There is not enough water, no kitchen, no fire, no nothing! It is an emergency situation, so with my knowledge of the local area and my Thai language skills, I go to the closest town, which is 19 kilometers away, and buy bag lunches again. And when I order 600 lunch bags, the food vendors are surprised—600 lunch bags, then 600 dinner bags! No local people know that these Hmong are coming. It is, I would say, a secret mission.

Mrs. May Song Moua Vang, Niam Ntxhoo, #6 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

We stay at a hotel in Udon, and I listen to the Thai radio. I am very much worried because every day the radio talks about how Laos lost the war and how the Americans dropped Laos. They talk about when the Vietnamese take over Cambodia, South Vietnam, and Laos. Every day that is the news you hear on the radio. I wonder: “What are we going to do if the Americans drop us? Where are we going to stay?” For the Hmong people, for refugees, there is no place to stay. There is no place else to go.

We don’t know what’s going on in Long Cheng. It makes the family feel so sick. We think maybe the communists have caught VP or something has happened to him. We never talk about that with each other, but you keep it in your heart all the time. You never know if something has happened to him because he is left behind.

Mrs. True Ly Vang, Niam Nrab, #2 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

For many months I have been living with my parents in Muang Cha. One day a green Lao military helicopter lands in a flat field near my father’s house in Muang Cha. Everybody sees it land, and the people run to the helicopter to hear the news.

When I see the helicopter land, I decide I want to go to Long Cheng to see what is going on. I pick up my small bag with just a few contents—my money, a few clothes, my rings and bracelets. I don’t have a chance to talk to my parents to tell them that I am going to Long Cheng. I am afraid if I stop to tell them, then maybe that helicopter will not wait for me. I run to the helicopter. Everyone knows I am VP’s wife, so it’s OK.

When I get to the helicopter, I see it is Hang Sao who comes to Muang Cha to talk to the people. He says: “Everybody has to be calm, don’t panic. If anything changes or we have to move anywhere, then the general will let you know.” But several days ago I already heard the secret that Niam Chia and Niam Song and the other wives already left Long Cheng to Thailand. I don’t want to stay behind if the other mothers already left. I hurry into the helicopter, and we take off.

When I land at Long Cheng, Nai Phoun [“General” Vang Pao] is at the house. Many men and soldiers are coming in and out, talking to him. Nai Phoun says to me: “See? If you stay in Muang Cha, then maybe I will go away and leave you behind!” He says that, but he is not mad or angry at me. Nai Phoun sends me to Thailand the next day.

– 8 –

NOT TOO MANY PILOTS, NOT TOO MANY PLANES

(Sunday, May 11, 1975)

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

When the evacuation starts, Vang Nou and Xiong Moua and I prepare the antiaircraft machine gun on the roof of VP’s house, 12.7 caliber. It was covered up with a plastic tarp, but they clean that gun all the time so we know it is in operating condition. We take a couple of cases of hand grenades up on the roof, also a couple thousand rounds of M-16 ammunition. There are only three people who are allowed on the second floor and on the roof at night: Xiong Moua, me, and Captain Vang Nou.

The reason our security at the house is so tight is because Long Cheng was under a war situation two times already: 1969 and 1972. In January 1972 the Vietnamese troops got all the way into VP’s house one night. There was even shooting on the stairway of the first floor.

In 1972 it was a sneak attack. They sent a special operations unit to attack VP’s house. Those Vietnamese commandos came all the way in through town. They sneak past all the security checkpoints, and no one saw them. They made it up to the outside fence. They were cutting the fence wire when one of the soldiers guarding the house saw one of the Vietnamese and fired. Then suddenly there were hundreds of people shooting at each other. Forty or fifty Vietnamese must have come in. They fought all night. Soldiers were on the roof throwing hand grenades down to the ground, throwing hand grenades to the fence. Vang Nou shot the little rocket flares into the sky to make the light flash in the air to make sure the soldiers could see each other. He controlled the whole situation all night long. That night the Vietnamese almost got control of the house. Certainly the plan was to assassinate VP. But VP’s people are tough, and the Vietnamese failed that time.

Vang Nou is the one who told me that story. He had been through the attack in 1972, so he had the feeling and had the experience. Vang Nou said: “Prepare. You have to prepare for when the action comes.” I talk to Xiong and say, “It could happen again.” In this kind of a situation, anything can happen. That’s why we prepare for combat.

On the next day we listen to the news from the radio communication signals that we pick up from the enemy radio transmissions as well as from our own road-watch teams and civilian guards who call in. Mostly those calls come from Nasu, and they say that the Pathet Lao soldiers are everywhere outside the town already. They can move in at any time, any moment. And there are tanks stopped at Nasu. Nasu is only 30 or 40 miles away from Long Cheng. The government told us they would send a new general to replace VP but they never said they were sending Pathet Lao troops and tanks. Now a few of the tanks are there, holding their position and waiting for the whole tank unit to get there.

When we hear the news that the tanks are at Nasu, we get a big box of 30 or 40 antitank rockets from VP’s soldiers at the airport. We put a lot of them on the roof and on the second floor. Now each of the 50 soldiers guarding the house has his own rocket launchers. If a tank comes, they will shoot it.

VP’s house is built out of 50 percent rock and 50 percent cement, and it has a special cement roof. It is big enough and strong enough for a helicopter to land on, but we never did that. It is a large, flat, open roof with a three-foot-high wall that goes around the roof area. That wall is pretty thick. They used that wall for defense when the communists attacked in 1972, and we prepare to do the same this time. Most of our supplies are on the roof—the machine gun and the hand grenades. We try to set different types of weapons in different areas so when you need it you can reach it easily.

I have about 200 or 300 rounds of ammunition on me for the M-16. It is so heavy! Five or six hand grenades, three pistols, the M-16. When you sleep at night you keep everything on you. Even the M-16—you have to hold it when you sleep at night. But we aren’t sleepy. The only thing we worry about is VP’s safety.

One of us will guard the stairway, one walks around on the second floor, and one is on the roof to check on the fence area around the house. We do that for three or four nights. We take turns, Xiong and I and Captain Vang Nou. We go nonstop without sleeping.

VP doesn’t sleep either. He goes to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. after talking to people. We think he is already sleeping, but then an hour later he walks out and checks around to make sure we are still awake. We don’t want to get caught by VP for sleeping on the job! The pressure is on, and no one knows what is going to happen. The only thing he can really count on are the three of us who stay with him on the second floor. He wants to make sure that the three of us are awake so no one comes up the stairs. I don’t know if he sleeps at night or not. He goes into his room and closes the door. Who knows? The most sleep he ever gets is two or three hours a night. But that is a normal routine for him.

General Vang Pao’s house at Long Cheng. The house had a flat roof for defense and could be used as a helicopter pad in an emergency (Mrs. Chia Moua Vang collection).

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

More people are coming to Long Cheng, and we can’t find enough transportation to ship them out. We ask around for planes and pilots, but not too many pilots are around and no pilots want to do this kind of evacuation mission when the plan is made up at the last minute.

Lt. Col. Vang Geu

Early in the morning on May 11 General Vang Pao tells me my mission is to go to Udon to talk to Sky to send the Jolly Green helicopters to pick up the people and take them directly to Nam Phong instead of to Udon. He says: “If the Americans agree to send the helicopters, we will put torches on the airstrip so they can lift up the people at night. We will organize all of those torches around the airstrip, like we did in 1972 or ’71. You must go to Udon and lead the helicopters back to Long Cheng.”

In ’72 or ’71 we prepared and practiced a torch technique in case the enemy attacked at night and we needed the T-28s to be able to fly over and help support us tactically. To make the torches, the soldiers used 6–8 oz. milk cans with kerosene and a cloth wick. We put them out on the runway to mark the airstrip. If the pilots saw where the airstrip was, then they could avoid bombing it.

If the Americans will send the Jolly Greens, our soldiers will put the torches all around the airstrip. The torches will burn all night long, and the Jolly Greens will land in the middle of them.

I leave Long Cheng and fly to Udon. I talk to an American about getting the Jolly Green helicopters to lift people from Long Cheng directly to Nam Phong. I wait three hours for a response. Then the American tells me we cannot do that. He says: “We cannot use the Jolly Greens in Long Cheng because that would violate the agreement. But we can use the C-46 and C-123 and C-130 to lift the people.” Then he says, “We already told General Vang Pao we cannot use the Jolly Green helicopters but we can send him the cargo airplanes.”

I don’t pursue it. I know that we Hmong fled from China to Laos, and many Hmong refugees fled from place to place during the war. In every case, we never go back. So I think: “Yes, this is the end. We will never see our country again.” I feel that way. Then I ask him to send me on a plane to Nam Phong so I can join my family there.

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

Only the Lao Air Force C-47 flies on the first two days. But more people come, and then there are too many refugees. The general gets very upset, and he yells at Jerry to look for more airplanes to evacuate the people. VP pushes Jerry very hard to have the Americans bring more aircraft. Maybe Jerry talks to the big man. They agree to send the American airplanes to pick up more people. After the American planes start to fly, VP does not push on Jerry anymore. Enough push already!

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

We talk to the embassy, and they search around and find just a few American friends, pilots who flew for Air America and Air Continental, who served in Laos for so many years with VP and Jerry. They know that people who are involved with the Americans can’t stay in Laos. So they volunteer to be in the air evacuation. I say volunteer, but this kind of volunteer is not free. This kind of volunteer means you say, “I think I can do it.” Then Sky pays for it. There is a lot of money available for that. Sky money left over from Vietnam. A lot! We pay for those pilots to lift the people because those pilots fly aircraft that never have taken off loaded from Long Cheng, like the twin-engine C-46. The C-46 never has taken off loaded from there because Long Cheng has a very difficult mountain at the end of the airstrip. A C-46 is a little bigger and a little heavier than a C-47. It uses more power when it takes off, and it climbs very slowly. If you load a plane heavy, it cannot get across that mountain.

Jerry and I worry about the C-46. We know Sky has to pay the pilots enough money to make sense, to make it worth their risk.

Capt. Jack Knotts, Helicopter Pilot

It was my general impression for some time that Jerry was very well thought of and received by the Hmong group, and he certainly reciprocated that. He was a tireless worker on their behalf as well as on the U.S. government’s behalf. Even at that last moment, Jerry was the linchpin, the center, even more than VP at that moment because Jerry controlled the air and everything had to come through him. He was respected.

Bill Leonard, U.S. Air Operations, Laos

From 1966 to 1975 I am in Air Operations for the U.S. State Department and embassy in Vientiane, Laos. My office is out at Wattay Airport.

At the time of the final evacuation from Long Cheng in May 1975, the situation is critical. We’d always had somewhat of an evacuation plan for Long Cheng, but this one comes upon us very suddenly. Long Cheng is about to fall. The whole ridge above Long Cheng is covered with North Vietnamese. We just can’t wait any longer. We have to get the people out.

The evacuation is a one-time shot, and decisions are made not in Vientiane but in Udorn. The pilots are well chosen. They’ve been in and out of Long Cheng a lot, and they are well acquainted with it. The best of the pilots available are the ones who are selected by the people in Udorn.

The problem is that there aren’t any planes. We sent them all off, and we don’t have time to find any more. Also it is a big question of cross-border clearances with the Thai. We used to have carte blanche to go around between the Lao and Thai bases, but all of a sudden each individual plane has to have clearance first. Probably it is something between the U.S. embassy in Bangkok and the Thai government. At any rate, the available air assets don’t have the capability, and we don’t have the time to evacuate everyone. It should have happened a week ago, but let’s do it right now.

Two-panel shot of Long Cheng valley as seen from the king’s house, 1974. Skyline ridge (Phou Mok) is directly across the valley (G.R. Jenkin collection).

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

By the time the request for a U.S. airlift came, it was not a surprise. The American drawdown was in progress, but there was never any question about honoring the commitments that had been made in the preceding 14 years by every U.S. ambassador and every senior Washington official who ever visited the area and met with the Insurgency and/or Lao government leaders. There was never any question that a commitment had been made. There was every intention to honor that commitment.

When the time came, it was imperative that the evacuation proceed without delay. Of course the request for authorization for an airlift had to go to Washington, and this was done by the highest precedence. This went from CIA to the White House through the Department of State. However, that clearance did not come back very quickly, and time was critical. Orders were given that any available aircraft, either at Wattay or at Udorn, be commandeered and flown to Long Cheng and used in the evacuation. We moved very quickly because the objective was very clear: to get as many people out as possible and as quickly as possible. We did not have an exact number, a precise ceiling, put on the evacuation request. There was not a cap. The intent was always defined in terms of the key leadership and their families, to the extent we had the capability to get them out.

Capt. Les Strouse, C-46 Pilot

There aren’t any airplanes left. I’m telling you, there just aren’t any. The only airplanes available to start the evacuation are two Continental Air C-46s on contract to the U.S. embassy. Al Rich and I are the C-46 pilots. Since April, we are the last two Continental captains in Bangkok, Thailand, and we are more or less volunteered because Continental decides they can make a little more money if we fly the evacuation.

Al and I are sent from Bangkok to Udorn to stand by, but we don’t know what for. In Udorn they say, “Tell us how many people you can carry out of Long Cheng.” We say, “None.” It is not safe to bring a load out of Long Cheng in a C-46. You fly cargo in and come out empty. Nobody ever carried a load out of Long Cheng with a C-46. The book says if you lose an engine, you’re not going to make it. So we say, “None,” and they say, “You gotta do better than that.” We scratch our heads and say OK, what can we do? Al and I determine we can get out with 35 passengers if we do not try to cross the ridgeline. We will take off to the south, turn to the right and go through what we call “the gap,” follow the river and gain altitude, then come back on course.

– 9 –

GET READY!

(Monday, May 12, 1975)

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

The Lao C-47 had been flying from Long Cheng to Udon for two or three days. Then on May 12 the first American evacuation planes come. I don’t think that the American government has a plan to evacuate the people out of Long Cheng. In my own opinion, the reason the American government does that evacuation is because Jerry Daniels asks them. Jerry begs those people, those CIA officials in Udon, to do it for him. You know, when they promise the planes for one day, he asks for a second day. After the second day, he asks for the third day. That is why I have the feeling that the whole thing is because of Jerry. I think that we owe him a lot because that is what he does for us.

You can count the evacuation as three days, May 12 through May 14, because before May 12 it is just one or two flights each day. Before May 12 no one really cares about it much because some people decide to stay and some people want to listen to what’s going to happen next before they make up their minds. Those last three days, that’s all I really count.

When the first American plane comes, to be honest with you, I am happy. I am happy that the Americans still care and they will not leave us behind. When that first plane comes, some pressure is released out of me because I know the people who fly out will be safe. The only thing I have to worry about now is VP’s safety.

The planes come, and I see people leaving. But even the first flight seems that the plane is overloaded, and they have a hard time taking off. After the American planes come, every flight in the evacuation is over the limit on passengers.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

When it is just the Lao C-47 flying, the people don’t fight to get on the plane. They wait calmly; they don’t panic. But when the American planes come, they are fighting to get in. Now there is no organization at all. The leaders put their families in there first, and that makes the people panic. If all the leaders leave and only the soldiers are left, what will the soldiers think? They say the leaders will not come back. “Who cares about us?” That is one of the mistakes.

No one has ever really thought about losing Long Cheng and going to another place. That is our homeland, so leaving is unthinkable. Many of the Hmong leaders—both military and civilian—have not prepared themselves for this situation, for the fall of Long Cheng and an evacuation to Thailand. I believe if they had prepared themselves for this situation they would say: “Just get in line. First come, first go. It doesn’t matter what rank you are.” Then the people will follow the evacuation plan, and it will go very smoothly. No one will panic. But that is not what happens.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

During the evacuation, Jerry reported every movement of planes arriving and departing, the movement of each group, and so forth. In turn, Washington was kept fully informed of the progress by high-precedence messages. At the same time, Washington was repeatedly requested to urgently arrange for additional airlift capability because we had drawn down so heavily. The problem was occasioned by delays at the highest political level.

Capt. Ly Vong Yeng Nao Lynaolu

There are 5,000 people waiting for the planes. The Vang family says: “Wait for the rank of colonel. The colonels must go first.” But I take a quick look, and I see that is not true. I see they try to catch only Vang Pao’s family, Hang Sao’s family, Ly Tou Pao’s family, Shoua Yang’s family, Moua Tou Lu’s family—only them. They are the big men at that time. The Big Men. I say, “What are they trying to do?”

Those five families are the most useful to Vang Pao. Vang Pao counts on them. The relationship includes money, includes talking, includes heart, includes attack—almost everything, those people. And all the rest are left to die. I am the officer who tries to stop them because they are not fair. When the war comes, they need everybody to fight. But when they lose the war, only five families will run away. The Vang Pao family treats the people wrong. That’s why we are unhappy with Vang Pao.

I talk to the people who come close to me; I talk to them one by one. I say: “Since I examined the situation, we must fight to get on the airplane. When your people rush and fight to get on the airplane, those five families cannot get on according to their plan. They cannot go family by family, they can only go two persons or three persons, not all together. When the five families all go, the politics will change and the airplanes will stop. Just a few trips and then all done. Then what are you going to do? We have to split up the five families so the airplanes will keep coming, keep coming, keep coming. Don’t let them go easily. Maybe they go two or three persons and our people go four or five persons. Mix it up. Then more and more can go and we have a chance.” I know the situation very well, I think. To break the five families, I do that by myself because they do unfair.

Evacuation of Long Cheng, May 12, 1975. Picture taken from pilot’s window, C-46 (Al Rich collection, Air America Archives, University of Texas at Dallas).

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

When the American planes come, then the people don’t stay in line. More and more, you cannot control them. Ten thousand people! You cannot make a list. Even if you make a list, they fight you right away. So just let them go! When the American planes come, first come, first serve!

Capt. Vang Bee, Code Name “Fackee,” T-28 and Baron Pilot

Two days earlier, General Vang Pao said to me: “Fackee, you are my pilot! You have to prepare the Baron for me for any second I want to leave from Long Cheng. Move your family to Thailand as soon as possible.”

Left to right: Wang Ger Cheng (FAC), Ly Tou Xiong (T-28 pilot), Xiong Koua (T-28 pilot), General Vang Pao, Xiong Yang (T-28 pilot), Yang Bee (T-28 and H-34 pilot). Long Cheng, 1972–73 (John Xiong Yang collection).

I stand by for the general because I take orders only from General Vang Pao. But I cannot send my family out because there are too many people—too many people! After two days I go to the general’s house and say, “My family is still here.” He says, “Why?!” I say: “Too many people in the airport right now! My family has no chance to go. If you say it is OK, I will fly your Baron and I take my family to Thailand.” He says: “No, you cannot do that. You don’t know Khonekhene airport!” I say: “Why do you say I don’t know? I know it well! I trained for T-28 in there!” He says, “OK, if you know it, you can go.” He tells the Thai CIA, Amonsack, to radio to Udon and let them know that I will come past the Udon radar to Khonekhene/Nam Phong. Udon says OK—that I can go anytime.

After the general says that, there is no time to wait. My family is a big family—13 people! That day I make two trips to move my family from Long Cheng to Thailand.

Maj. Xiong Yang, Wing Commander

Starting on May 12, so many people don’t know what to do. Some soldiers want food; some need an airplane to go to Lima Site 14, 31, wherever. Some company commanders or soldiers who stay out in the field so far away, they want to go back home, they want to go back to work.

All the people, many tahan, want to fly on the choppers. They come to ask permission from me because I am the wing commander. I listen, and when I need to talk to the general I go to his house. I say, “This guy wants to go to Muang Mok.” Or Paksane or wherever. “Can I send the chopper?” He says: “This guy you can take. This guy, no.” Then I come back to my office. I do like that for many days already.

On May 12, the general tells me: “Don’t let the two MR2 choppers fly anywhere. Those choppers stand by for me only.” But then a major or a captain goes to his house and tells the general that he wants to go back to work or wants to go back home. The general doesn’t know what to say or what to do about that. So he signs a paper for him. That major or captain brings that paper to come see me at the office. He says, “The general says it’s OK for that chopper to take me home.” I see that the general signs the paper so I ride my car to the general’s house and say: “You told me that the chopper must stand by for you. Why do you sign the paper?” The general says: “I don’t have any idea, Xiong Yang. If I don’t sign, it’s not so good for them, so I will sign. But you do by yourself. If you can help them, or if you must hold, you use your ideas only. I don’t know what to say, but my choppers should not fly.” I say, “Everything I do is from me, not from you?” He says, “Right, you do by yourself.” I say: “OK. Then I will hold the choppers. They will not fly. I will tell them there is no gas and I have to wait for the gas to come from Udon.” Now even if they have signed papers, I will not release the choppers. Even if General Vang Pao tells me, “This helicopter can go work,” I will say no and I will hold it because this time we work very hard.

Lt. Vang Yer Xiong, Sala Phou Khoun

After we lose Sala Phou Khoun on May 5th and Colonel Vang Neng is airlifted to Long Cheng, we soldiers retreat up into the mountains, into the bush. We cross Highway 13, then we walk for three days and nights, eating whatever we can find in the jungle. More than 400 of us are heading to Ban Son/Nasu. When the whole group finishes walking, an elephant can walk there with no problem because that path is so big!

It takes us six days to get to Ban Son. We finally get there about 9:30 P.M. on the night of May 11. By now we are angry and mad because we are so hungry. We have no supplies and nothing to eat for so many days—angry and hungry!

We stay that night in Ban Son, and the next day I go by taxi to Pha Khae, where I hear from my relatives that the leaders are flying out of Long Cheng. On May 13 I go to Long Cheng. My objective is to find out from the leaders what’s going on.

Royal Lao Government H-34 helicopter (Galen Beery collection).

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

By May 12 the tanks are in the Nasu area, only a couple of hours away from Long Cheng. Maybe the front-line enemy troops are already outside of Long Cheng city. Because of that, it is very dangerous for the planes to fly in. If the pilots don’t feel safe and they see something strange going on, they might stop the plane and turn around and go halfway up the airstrip and pick up a different group of people and then take off. Those are people who don’t have their names on the list! They just get on the plane! A lot of things are going on.

On May 12th, 13th, and 14th, it could be up to 100,000 people who are in and out of the valley because 40,000 to 50,000 live in the Long Cheng area and another 40,000 to 50,000 come in from other places. When people hear there will be a plane to take them out of the country, they move in from everywhere, and the number just keeps getting larger. There are so many people moving in and out of the valley. They come in, see the situation, they leave to go get more relatives, then they return again. Always they go and try to get the missing ones.

Blong Moua, Lycée Vientiane Student/Photographer

When I return to my village at Nam Vay, my father has been sick for two or three weeks already and my family has no idea what is going on. I tell my dad, “Now the political situation is too confused.” After my father hears about the situation, then he is too worried. Too worried about his health, too worried about the future, too worried about everything. He is still ill, but he says to me, “Tomorrow morning we have to go down to Ban Son to know exactly.” We will go down there because at that time my brother, Nou Vang Moua, is the manager at the Farm Service Center in Ban Son.

My father and I leave Nam Vay about five or six in the morning. We don’t want to have the sun be too hot on us because my father is still sick.

We walk down from Nam Vay. When we get to the road, I see two young Lao-Theung women. They are far away, but I see they still walk at the bottom of the mountain. On their backs they still have baskets. At that time I am very, very sad. I imagine and talk to myself in my mind: “Eh! Now my father is sick and the political situation is desperate. But I still see you two young Lao-Theung walking along the bottom of a mountain. You are still young, and you go to pick up bamboo. Oh, my God! What will happen to you now? You don’t know anything even though we are crying. Even though we have tears on our faces, you don’t know anything, and you walk like that. Oh, no!”

We get to the road to catch a taxi, but there are none—no taxis, no cars. We are very, very surprised. Before, there was a lot of traffic on that road from Ban Son to Long Cheng. Many, many cars going up, going down. Now, no more—nothing. It is a kind of omen, like nobody is there, nobody is working. All the leaders, all the men, all the military—they have no power, no country, no future for Hmong. I am sad and I am scared—very scared and no destination. I think about suicide. Maybe we Hmong people will have to suicide.

At the road we wait, wait, wait for a taxi; finally we walk. We walk slowly, slowly because my father suffers. He is weak and sick, and sometimes he cannot walk any more. We have to take a rest. When we rest he takes American medicine—aspirin from the American medical clinic at Nam Vay—and I have to use Tiger Balm to massage his shoulders, his legs, his arms before he can start again. I massage him and say: “GO, my father! Get up and think about it. Now we have to go, we have to go, we have to GO!”

When we get to Ban Son, my brother is surprised to see us. My father asks for news, and my brother says, “I don’t know anything.” My father shouts at him: “You have a CB radio, and you are working here in this area. This is a common place for everybody to meet in Ban Son, and you don’t know anything? Why are you working here?! You have to open your eyes and open your ears!” My brother and my father take off and drive to Long Cheng to get more information. When they come back my dad says, “Now it is too dangerous for us to stay.” He tells me, “Blong, you go back to Ban Nam Vay immediately and bring all the family.”

Nao Thao Moua (far left) and relatives walking from Ban Son/Nasu to village on May 11 or 12, 1975. Photo by Blong Moua (Nao Thao Moua collection).

When I leave Ban Son to go get the rest of the family, I carry my sister’s camera with me. The camera belongs to my sister, but I buy the film for it even though it is too expensive for us students to have film or a camera—too expensive! But I love to take pictures starting in fourth or fifth grade in Sam Thong. My father always criticizes me and says, “You spend a lot of your money to take the pictures.” I say, “Someday you will know about that!” Because in school we learn about history. If you have to learn history, you have to take pictures to prove it. So I am the only one who takes care of the family pictures. That day, on my way from Ban Son to Nam Vay, I carry my sister’s camera, and I meet my relative, Nao Thao Moua.

NAO THAO MOUA (interjection): It is a hot afternoon. Blong meets our group on a small trail as we are walking back from Nasu to Phou Sang Noi. In Nasu we talked to relatives about what is going on, and we hear the news that the general is leaving. On the trail that day, Blong says he will take our picture with his camera, “because we don’t know what will happen in the future.” Blong says his family is leaving, but my family will stay, so I have no hope to ever see them again. It is a good thing for Blong to take a “memory picture” of us that day.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

When the American planes start to fly, there is a big jam of people around VP’s house. Those people are coming from Pha Khae, Nam Pha, Pha Khao. Thousands and thousands of people are lined up at the door. They want to know what is the plan, and they want to know the truth about what the general wants to do. Wherever he goes, they want to go. They are angry and worried, and they stay there all day. VP can’t even walk out the door. The house is surrounded by people, day and night. There is always security at VP’s house—Vang Nou, Vang Tou, a dozen bodyguards. If you go down there at 10:00 or 11:00 P.M., the people are still there, waiting for a word from VP because there are a lot of rumors. The people want to know if VP will stay and fight, or leave, or what is he going to do? What is the plan? Did he count them or not? Does he want them to go too? What are they to do? There is no communication from VP about what is the plan. Only a couple of people like Hang Sao and Tou Lu and Ly Tou Pao know. The others don’t know what’s going on.

MR2 has a few H-34 Royal Lao military helicopters with mostly Lao pilots. Now VP keeps a couple of the Lao helicopter pilots on duty all the time. It isn’t Sky that orders them to stand by and not go anywhere; it’s VP and MR2 that orders them. If it comes to the end and we have no other choice, then Sky can grab one of those Lao helicopters and fly it out with some Lao or Hmong pilots. But we are pretty sure that in the end we will have something with an American pilot because the U.S. embassy orders Jerry to make sure he gets VP on an American plane. It is the U.S. embassy that convinced VP to stay, so now the embassy has to be responsible for getting him out. Sky and VP know that in the end, it will be Sky that gets VP out. For Sky, we trust only ourselves and that our own plan will succeed.

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Following are excerpts from the transcription of an audiotape made by Captain Dave Kouba (Continental Air Services Porter pilot) and Captain Jack Knotts (Bird Air helicopter pilot) on May 12–14, 1975, in Long Cheng and Vientiane, regarding the evacuation of Jerry Daniels and General Vang Pao from Long Cheng. Retrospective commentary provided by Jack Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KOUBA: For the record, May 12, 1975. This is the panic of Vientiane.

KNOTTS: The American community in Vientiane was in panic. The embassy had not yet evacked the Americans out in special airplanes. Mostly they were families. A few of us were retained because we flew airplanes, right to the end—some Continental and some Bird Air.

KOUBA: Went to work at 7:30 A.M. I did go in the American compound and had a chat with Eric Nissen. He said, “Oh, never mind, all is well.” Eric has been reassured by the ambassador and everybody to “act strong and don’t panic,” like all the other Americans are at this time, including myself, because I don’t have my personal things out yet.

KNOTTS: It was anarchy. The police had ceased to function. These hoodlum-types were trashing some business places and some factories in Vientiane. They were just bringing the whole society to a halt. They were operating, I believe, under direct supervision and orders from the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese in bringing everything to a halt and causing a big chaos.

KOUBA: I was called out on flight later on to take Pat McHugh to Long Cheng to talk to Jerry Daniels. I was there for 45 minutes and talked to the three Meo cooks. They said that VP will be relieved tomorrow by one of his assistants, a two-star general. They all expect a communist takeover. Many tears. And they all expect to die rather than work under communism.

Four out of five of the friendly government ministers have resigned, so in other words, eleven out of twelve now are PL.

Two C-46 crews were called in for a briefing at Udorn. It was all about this code stuff, clearances, and all to take out of Vientiane and go to Long Cheng to pick up people and go to Udorn. Strouse hauled out 46 people to Udorn, came back in, landed. Somebody came up to him and said: “You’ve been in Long Cheng haulin’ out people. It’s already in the Bangkok Post.” A little bit of double-checkin’ revealed that this was not true, but the Lao already knew about it. Strouse and Rich have been told when they take off tomorrow morning, “If you crash with both engines out you’d better make sure you’re on the Thai side of the border.”

KNOTTS: Those machines were based out of Wattay in Vientiane, Laos, but they weren’t supposed to be flying to Long Cheng. They weren’t supposed to be going up there and doing this thing.

The Lao army was never really a supporter of the Hmong and General Vang Pao. To get the Lao government, which was now effectively under the control of the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese, to come up there to evac people—no, no, that wasn’t going to happen. However, it would have been not correct for the Lao government to allow some of their people, whom they looked upon mainly as their enemies at this point, to be picked up and taken away somewhere. So it was neither approved nor disapproved. It just happened. So the C-46 flights were kind of illegal flights—illegal, probably, by the protocols.

KOUBA: When it comes to VP, Terry Petersen says, “Well, only God knows that because one message you read that he sends to Udorn says, ‘I’ll never leave my people.’ The next message you read says, ‘Well, I’d better go to Tango Zero Eight [Udorn].’” So there you are. What is VP really going to do?

I reckon I should get ready for my 6:30 A.M. takeoff tomorrow for Long Cheng with Pat McHugh again. Tune in tomorrow for another change. The message tonight is everybody cool it in Laos. All Americans, don’t panic. Until I get my household effects out, I will be very uneasy. After I do, then I can sit back and laugh at everybody else.

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 12, 1975

Souvanna Ready for Red Takeover

VIENTIANE (AP)—Prime Minister Prince Souvanna Phouma yesterday virtually conceded communist victory in Laos.

“The upheavals which have agitated our country for 20 years have clearly resulted in a new situation.… It is necessary to look at the facts and prepare to arrive at an accord with history,” he said.

The United States Embassy in Vientiane urged the more than 800 Americans in Laos to remain calm, saying that Laotian officials had given assurances of protection after an attack on the embassy Friday by student demonstrators.

In his speech addressed to the nation as a whole, Souvanna noted “important changes have taken place which some had not expected so suddenly, but they are here. It is our great chance to preserve our country from further bloodshed which surely would take place if one continued to ignore the march of historical events. Our population understands the situation well by instinct. We must stop the fighting. The war has reached an end.”

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

Once the American planes start to fly we are very busy, working about 16 hours per day—all day, all night. I am so busy with radio ops, telex, and telephone communications—like a switchboard! Nobody else is trained for that particular position, just me and Jerry. One teletype is in his room, and one is in my room. At rush time Jerry helps me. He is a pretty good radio operator too.

Jerry and I are out on the airstrip every day talking to the American pilots about where they’re going to land, if it’s safe to land, or if they should take off. In one hand I hold the radio for the airplanes. In the other hand I have a mobile radio that we use to contact VP’s house from the little M-151 jeep. That jeep has a telecommunications center built into it. You drive anywhere you want to and the whole jeep is telecommunications. There is only one like that, and that is the Sky jeep. We are driving around between VP’s house, the Sky compound, back to the airstrip, staying in the jeep all the time. We see VP very often.

At the airstrip the people are all jammed up, waiting there until dark, until the planes stop flying. Jerry and I keep moving the whole time. We have no time to pay attention to those people, and no one bothers us either.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

For the first three days the C-47 loads slowly because we follow the list set for the colonels and their families. When the American planes come, they load faster than us because they don’t check the list, they don’t check the weight. They take whoever is waiting, so everybody just runs to the planes. There are a lot of people trying to push in on the American planes. Now it’s not like loading cargo—it’s men, real men, real people. The families all fight to get on the plane. When they do like that, the American aircraft don’t know if they are overloaded or not because a lot of people get on at the same time and they cannot stop them.

By afternoon, even the C-47 is overloaded. Now maybe 50 people fly, and we can feel that the plane is too heavy on takeoff. If we have just regular weight, we can go straight over the mountain ahead of us. If we are too heavy, we have to turn right and follow the river that curves along the valley. We follow the river a little bit until we get enough altitude to go over the mountain. We know we have to have full power to get over that mountain. Maybe six months or one year before another Lao pilot took off in a C-47 and maybe it was overloaded—and maybe he was drunk too, I think—and he crashed, and many people died. For sure we are overweight too, but maybe we have to try because there are a lot of people waiting. Everybody wants to escape, wants to fly, because they are afraid. We are overloaded, but if they are already on board it is hard to pull them out!

On one flight Colonel Shoua Yang’s wife has a lot of bags. When we take off, that mountain is in front of us. We are almost airborne but not quite yet. Colonel Shoua Yang’s wife says: “Oi! Maybe too heavy! If it’s too heavy we can throw something out!” But by then it’s too late. We put it to full throttle. If we are not airborne, we all die. Oh! I remember her saying, “If it’s too heavy we can throw something out!” We cannot do anything at that time—just stay calm and pray!

Capt. Ly Vong Yeng Nao Lynaolu

On the 11th and 12th I call all my children to make a seminar. I start when the situation becomes critical. When I talk, I talk to them like this: “Right now, the Vietnamese enemy is coming. If I stay, we stay, we get killed. So when the airplane comes”—I draw a picture of the airplane for them—“you don’t go behind to step on the ramp because the people will come to push you. You try to go to the side of the ramp.” I teach them correctly. And when I talk to them like this, they don’t believe me. But after teaching my children I tell them: “If all of you don’t follow me and my plan, if you don’t get into the airplane, me and your mom will go away and you will have no food. You will have no food to eat and nothing to drink. No clothes to wear. And also you will be thinking of me and your mom a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. You will cry all day, all day, all day, all day. Nobody will take care of you. You will die. You must know that.” When they hear these words, they are surprised. And I talk to them: “If you don’t follow your dad, your mom, like I say to you here, from now until forever you will never see us! You don’t see us, and we don’t see you—and no food to eat. When you die, the flies will eat you.” I tell them like that. “The flies will eat you. You know about that?” When I talk these words, all of them are scared, and they listen. Just one word! OK, they listen, and they will try to do like I say. They are afraid and they believe.

And then it comes to May 12, ’75. We are out waiting for the airplane early in the morning. The sky is still dark but clear. We prepared food for ourselves the night before. It is complete, and we carry the food with us to wait for the airplane. We stay there waiting all day long. All day long. And we conflict regarding airplanes all day. Approximately four airplanes come that day—not enough. That’s the trouble. Ho! Ho! I don’t know how to say it—if you are strong, you go in; if you are feeble, you drop down. Again we cannot get into it. On the night of May 12 we come to sleep in my brother Wa Khai’s house again.

When the big group is out waiting for the airplanes, there is a group that starts to break into some of the houses to steal things. Anything they want, they take it. Evil comes at that time. Better that you don’t see that. Oh, dangerous! But we cannot avoid it. Dangerous or not dangerous, we have nowhere else to go. Spies too, including our people too—internal spies and external spies. But the spies are just watching. They do not take any action against anybody. Thieves and spies—we don’t worry about that. We worry about our children and family.

Mrs. Nou Kue Ly, Wife of Pilot Ly Teng

I go to the airport to wait for my husband, but he doesn’t come. I wait at the airport, walk back and forth to my brother-in-law’s house to cook and sleep only. I am four months pregnant, so I am very tired. Also I am sad and scared because maybe my husband doesn’t want me and my children. Maybe he will just leave by himself. There are too many men who just leave their wives and children there—too many! I can’t sleep at night. I just think about what my future will be. What will I do? Who will I stay with? Will the communists take my children away and put me in another place? Will I die? All very bad things to think about. I think like that all day, all night.

I go to the airport at 8:00 A.M. on May 12. Oh, too many people stand there! Those families have husbands, and the husbands ask which flight for their family. Each family goes by the husband’s rank: colonel, commander, captain, second lieutenant, on down. The guard says, “If you want to go, write down all the names in your family.” Each family adds their name to the list. They follow the list until it is your flight. I say to the young guy with the paper: “My husband is low rank, and you will put my name at the bottom, so how long will it be? It will be a long time!” I tell him that, and he doesn’t answer me. He says, “If you don’t want to write your name, it’s OK.” At that time they are very mean, and I am angry too. I say, “I don’t want to write our names because you will leave me for the last!”

I am at the airport. At 9:00 A.M. I see the Lao pilot who flies with my husband. He knows my husband, and he knows me too. He says, “How long have you been here?” I say, “Two days already.” The Lao pilot asks me, “Your husband didn’t take you yet?” I say: “Oh, I don’t know where he is! My husband didn’t come.” He says: “If your husband doesn’t come to take you, then I can help you. How many people in your family?” I say, “Not only me and my children—I have lots of other relatives.” He tells me he will help me, but I don’t ask him which way. Go back to Vientiane? Go to Thailand? I don’t know. He tells me, “This flight, I will go talk to your husband.” Then he flies to Thailand. I don’t know if he will talk to my husband or not.

After the Lao pilot leaves, I think if my husband doesn’t come and everything is finished and I see the people leaving, then I will go back to Vientiane because my daughter, May, is still there, and I am worried about her. If my husband doesn’t come to take me, we have other relatives, Hmong Ly and Hmong Yang, who live on their farms in Vientiane. I don’t know how to go to Thailand, so I will go live with them over there. But I worry that maybe the Vietnamese will ask them questions, and the Vietnamese are very bad. If they know my sons’ father is a pilot for Vang Pao, the communists will kill them. The daughters they will save, but the three boys they will kill. I am so concerned about my children, especially my sons. I am so worried and unhappy, and I don’t know what to do. I am very scared, and I am very tired because I am four months pregnant.

We wait at the airport until twelve noon, and now the children are hungry. We take the children back to the house to eat. When I arrive from the airport my daughter, May, has come from Vientiane. Oh, I am very happy! Ha! And she is very happy to see me too. My daughter, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, and my nephew’s wife—finally I get everybody there. For sure there are more than 30 people at the house that day.

We are preparing lunch when my husband suddenly arrives. When I see him I am so relieved, but we have no time to talk. He tells me to hurry and prepare. Don’t bring anything except for the money and children and go. I say, “At least let the children eat first.” I don’t know if my husband eats lunch or not. I don’t pay attention! Everyone is hurrying to prepare while the children have a quick lunch.

I talk to my mother and my father. Both of them came to Long Cheng to visit me, and they stay in the same house with us. Now they know we will leave them, and two of my sisters want to go with me too. That is very sad. My mother cries, but I cannot cry. If I cry, she will cry a lot. We eat, then we go straight to the airport. I leave my parents to stay behind in their country, and I don’t know what will happen to them.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

My brother still lives in Long Cheng, so my family stays with him there. I am so busy working; I don’t feel anything about taking my family out. I just follow the orders to carry people out. The Lao pilot tells me that we will make only one more flight today. He says, “Why don’t you take your family?” I am surprised! Suddenly I realize: “Oh! We escape now! If I don’t take my family now, maybe they will be left behind.” But I don’t know if they can go. Will they take the high-rank families only, or will they take the low rank? I am only a lieutenant. My family is not on the list, and the list is not finished yet.

It is about noon when we prepare to land in Long Cheng. Before we land we circle down over the valley first. When we circle down, we are not too high. From the air I can see all the soldiers’ positions on the mountains. That is when I see the people. Long lines of people coming down the mountains, soldiers and sometimes their families too. Those soldiers should stay in their positions, but they don’t. They are walking down from Skyline and from other posts. Everybody wants to go because General Vang Pao will leave.

After we land, I go to get my family, and we fly to Nam Phong. When we get there it is almost dark. The first pilot says, “Your family came here all together?” I say, “Yes.” He says, “Why don’t you stay with your family?” I say: “No. Nobody will go with you as the second pilot.” He says, “Yes, your friend Moua Chue will go with me.” I stay with my family in Nam Phong, and I don’t go back.

Mrs. Maosay Ly Saykao, Mother of 11 Children

The airplanes start to come at 7:00 A.M. We wait for the American Jerry to tell everybody that the airplane is coming. Jerry has the CB radio with him. He reports to the people: “The airplane is almost here! Get ready! The airplane is just on the other side of the mountain! It’s coming right now!” The airplane comes, but it is too crowded! Full, like fingers on your hand! People and people are fighting to get in there. Three times we try to get on an airplane that day. No one has eaten. Our faces are pale and our lips are all dry, but we don’t dare to go home to cook. We are hungry; we are scared—so scared that we may not get onto the airplane! We just wait there, day and night.

Jerry Daniels, Long Cheng, 1973 (Mouasu Bliaya collection).

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

Why doesn’t VP face all the people, the soldiers, the officers who are waiting for the airplane? Because now there is talk about possible assassins from inside. People are coming in from everywhere, and there are too many strangers! We hear that rumor about assassins, and we cannot control who is nyab laj or who is our officer, good man or bad guy. You never know. The general is very aware of that, so he moves around. We know that when VP leaves, he will have to go out from someplace where nobody sees him leave.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

For those of us who work for Sky, one American C-46 is assigned to our families, but by now there are not too many Sky around.

I am working, listening to the radios. I hear when the Sky C-46 takes off and is on its way in. It will be 30–45 minutes before it lands. When the Sky family plane is on its way in, I go get my wife and kids and take them to the airport. The Sky plane is almost there when my wife says: “Oh! The baby is coming right now!” When my wife says that, all the Sky families pull back, and I drive my family back to the cafeteria at the Sky compound. The cafeteria is close to my office, so that makes it easier for me to be with her because I am still on duty.

My wife stays in one of the rooms at the cafeteria. The relatives help with the birth, and my son is born about 6:00–8:00 P.M., May 12, 1975! That night the whole Sky family is there in the cafeteria!

After my wife has the baby, Jerry and I talk together and plan to lift our families out on another C-46 the next day.

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

Security in Long Cheng is very shaky. There are rumors that the Pathet Lao and Vietnamese troops are coming, moving from Sam Thong to attack Long Cheng or coming from Vientiane to Long Cheng. The rumors say they are already on the upper hill around Long Cheng and maybe some communist forces are already coming from behind to circle the Long Cheng area. But they are not yet on the ridgeline.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

On the night of May 12, both Colonel Moua Tou Lu and Colonel Ly Tou Pao come to sleep at VP’s house. When they come to the house I see that both of them look very, very tired. VP asks them what happened. Both of them say that it is not safe to sleep in their houses any more. Their wives and kids are gone, and most of the soldiers who guard the area have left. Throughout Long Cheng, security is not very good. They don’t feel safe at home, and the only place they can depend on is VP’s house.

That night VP comes in and sits at the table with us. He asks who knows how to use maps, who knows how to walk from Long Cheng to Thailand. A few people say, yes, they can figure out our directions on the map. We discuss about how much money, how much rice, how many batteries for the flashlights and radios we will need. VP is part of it, and he wants us to spend some time planning in case we have to walk out. That’s what he says. Make sure whoever is willing to walk stays. If VP makes the decision not to leave until the very last day and there happens to be fighting or there is any problem and we don’t have a plane to get us out, then that’s what we can do.

If necessary, the group will be VP, Vang Nou and VP’s bodyguards, Xiong Moua, myself, Colonel Ly Tou Pao, Colonel Moua Tou Lu—and at that time, of course, we also include Jerry and his ten people because if he continues to stay for VP’s security, then he will have to walk with us. It will be around 100 people who will withdraw in a group. Our intention is to go straight to Thailand. No women or children—they cannot join us because it will delay the trip.

– 10 –

MOBS AND MOBS OF PEOPLE

(Tuesday, May 13, 1975)

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 13, 1975

Pathet Lao Near Full Control of Cabinet:

Loyalist Troops Immobilized

VIENTIANE (UPI)—Laos’ newly named acting Defence Minister, a member of the Communist Pathet Lao, yesterday issued a communique forbidding the movement of Loyalist troops or war equipment without his orders, and warning of punitive measures against any units which do not comply.

…Prime Minister Souvanna, in a radio broadcast, yesterday denied rumours of any disturbances in the country and urged the population to remain calm. Prince Souvanna said: “A group of profiteers have spread rumours of disturbances in Laos, especially in Vientiane. I ask you not to listen to these rumours.”

David A. Andelman, New York Times, May 13, 1975

Laos Leftist Says He Heads Forces

VIENTIANE, LAOS, MAY 12—…American Embassy sources said the embassy had received detailed evacuation-procedure instructions from Washington and had begun to eliminate nonessential documents from its files.

Brig. Gen. H. C. “Heinie” Aderholt, U.S. Air Force

I can tell you about the C-130. I’m the guy who set it up. I’ll tell you exactly the way it came about.

What happened was, as they were evacuating Long Cheng, I was the COMUS MAC-THAI [Commander U.S. Military Assistance Command, Thailand]. As such I had everything in Thailand under my command. On May 13 I got this call from Vientiane or Udorn. The guy did not identify himself by name, but he was associated with AID and the State Department, and he said the U.S. was abandoning the Hmong at Long Cheng. He used that word, “abandoning.” He wanted me to get the C-130s in. I told him I didn’t know if the aircraft was available. I got his number and said I would call him back.

American Embassy, Vientiane, Laos, ca. 1963 (George Dalley collection).

The Cambodian airlift had just terminated, but the contract with Bird Air was still open. MAC-THAI had the funds, so I called Bill Bird. Bill said: “We’ll do it, but you’ve got to authorize it. The C-130 airplanes are here, but they don’t belong to me, they belong to the U.S. Air Force.” I said, “I understand.” I called Howard Hartley, who was down in Utapao [Thailand] and was Bird Air’s manager for the Cambodian airlift. I told him that I wanted an airplane and a crew. He said, “Well, we have a C-130 airplane on the ramp that hasn’t been returned to Clark yet.” I said, “What about a crew?” He said, “I haven’t got a crew.” I said: “You’re kidding! I need one guy who can fly a 130.” He said, “Well, Matt Hoff is at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok waiting to board an airplane.” I told Howard to stand by, try to get the airplane ready, and I’d try to get Matt.

I called Marshall Suwai, the Thai air marshall who ran the Don Muang Airport. I told him to get himself up to the departure lounge. There was a guy up there that I needed to talk to, and I didn’t give a damn if he had to put him under arrest to bring him to a telephone to talk to me. So there was one quite agitated Matt when he came down to the phone because he missed his airplane. He was pretty hot, and I didn’t blame him.

I told Matt what the problem was and said, “You’re my last hope.” He said: “Well, you know you messed up everything. I’ll do it, but how will we get paid?” I said, “I’ll see that you get paid from the MAC fund”—the Military Assistance fund—“no problem.” He said, “How much will you pay?” He wasn’t trying to bribe me or run the price up. I said: “I don’t give a damn, Matt! This is a matter of life and death! Make it anything you want!” Out of thin air he said, “What about $5,000?” I said: “Good! We’ll pay every crew member $5,000!” I did not consider the amount to be excessive at all. Under the circumstances, I would have considered $10,000 or even $15,000. I told him to go do the job and that we would pay.

Then I called the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General George Brown. It was approximately 8:00–9:00 P.M. in Washington, D.C., and he was at home. I told him it appeared to me that the State Department had abandoned the Hmong, that they never intended to get them out. I would like to have the authority to divert the 130. He said: “General, do anything you want. Whatever you think you can put in there to help the Hmong, you do it. You have my support.”

So, within minutes of talking to General Brown, I called Howard to launch the plane, and he said: “Can I go too? Will you pay me?” I said: “Hell, yes! Get on board!”

I never thought any more about it because it was just something that interrupted my midmorning. I did it by phone—no big deal. The only reason I sent the airplane was because I’d known the Hmong since day one. I was there with Bill Lair and General Vang Pao when VP was a major at Pha Dong before we turned it over to the control of AID and Air America and CIA in Vientiane. Sending in the 130 was just something I did one morning as a matter of routine. I sent it because I was the COMUS MAC-THAI and I had permission from the JCS, General Brown. It’s that simple. That’s the straight poop.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

The U.S. mission in Vientiane could not go through air force channels to request U.S. Air Force C-130s. The belated authority for launching one C-130 finally came from Washington after the request was considered at the highest political level of the U.S. government. The order came through air force channels because they had to sheep-dip the aircraft—remove all the decals. That process may have taken as much as 24 hours. It was then flown by an Air America crew.

Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilot in Laos

I feel that the American embassy felt a great responsibility for the safety of VP. Phnom Penh had fallen; Cambodia had fallen. Just prior to this, Bird Air had a contract flying C-130s out of Utapao to Cambodia. This program of the C-130s out of Utapao was dismantled, and a month had passed when Jerry Daniels’s refugee-evacuation plan came into effect. Overnight they got one of these C-130s which was still available. They didn’t have a civilian pilot for it until General Aderholt found Captain Matt Hoff. Matt was the only C-130 guy that was available at the last minute. He got back to Utapao and flew nonstop from Utapao to Long Cheng on his first trip. He’s getting all this money for each trip. He’s racing back and forth. The rest of us pilots had ongoing contracts, and we weren’t paid anything extra.

Capt. Dave Kouba, Porter Pilot

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 13, 1975.

Next day, Tuesday, May 13, 1975: Departed Vientiane at 6:40 with Pat McHugh to go to Long Cheng to talk to Hog [Jerry Daniels]. A beautiful morning—you can see the big rectangular karst down there by Site 14 [Pha Khao].

Everybody wants out, of course. On the way back, Pat McHugh asked me about the weather for C-46s and 130s. I told him it was beautiful.

Two little Meo cooks were still up there, and they were asking me if USAID’s gonna come back today. I said I didn’t know. They’re almost all out of food now, but they’re still open, hangin’ right in there.

The vehicles of all these colonels that live up there were all parked on that ramp this morning, all full of household effects, everything they own. All lookin’ for that ride out.

One Lao Air Force DC-3 [C-47] took a load out while I was shut down on the ground. VP’s Baron took off just before I did. I don’t know who was in it. VP is still there. McHugh and Jerry went down to talk to him for about ten minutes. But the situation looks like today or tomorrow might be the last time that we are going into Long Cheng. Very, very sad.

Xiong Moua, Airplane Mechanic

It is May 13—almost the last day. Vang Chou and Moua Lia begin to worry that they might not be able to catch the plane because too many people are fighting to get on. That’s when Vang Chou talks to VP about me. VP sends someone to the airfield to call me to meet with him. I go back to VP’s house. Vang Chou is there. VP asks me, “Vang Chou says that you can fly a plane.” I say, “Yes, I can fly a plane.” Which I can. I had flown for many hours as a flight instructor for Bird and Sons. VP says, “How come you didn’t tell me?” I say, “I don’t think it is important to let you know that because you already have a lot of pilots and I am just a mechanic.” VP says: “Can you take my Cessna to Thailand? Can you take Chou and Moua Lia?” I say: “Yes. With your permission, of course I can.” He says: “You have my permission! Do it!” I say: “Fine. I can fly the plane, but I don’t know the tower frequency in Udon or Nam Phong. And I don’t know the bearing to Nam Phong—what degree I should fly.” When you are going to fly to any city, you have to have a compass to know where you are going. If you don’t know the bearing on the compass, you will end up in another town. Vang Chou says: “Oh! Don’t worry! When I went to Thailand for pilot training I flew from Nam Phong every day, and I know where Nam Phong is. I was trained there, and there is no problem. You can get to Nam Phong easy.” I had known Vang Chou for quite a while, so I say, “Are you sure?” He says, “Yes.” After that conversation, Moua Lia, Vang Chou, and I go straight to the airport. But I don’t trust Vang Chou on that, so I ask Vang Bee, the T-28 pilot. He is taking out some of VP’s family and relatives in the twin-engine Baron plane. He makes many trips, but he does not have any problems with the crowds of people. They are fighting to get onto the bigger planes during the evacuation, but VP’s small planes are just sitting there.

I talk to Vang Bee. The Baron is parked close to the Cessna, side by side. I say, “Vang Bee, what is the bearing to Nam Phong?” Vang Bee says: “You just hold to 180 degrees on your compass and go straight. You will hit it.” Then I ask Vang Bee for the tower frequency in Udon. Then I check to make sure that the battery is charged and that we have a full tank of gas.

Chou and Moua Lia are waiting at the Cessna. I climb up into the plane, and many people look at me. I climb up there, and they say: “Oh! He’s the mechanic. He’s just checking the plane. Maybe someone will fly it.” Vang Chou and Moua Lia climb up too.

It is almost noon on May 13. I taxi the plane. The people are waiting on the airstrip—very close. I taxi by them, but they do nothing. They think I am just preparing it and testing it. I taxi, I put it on full power, then we take off. It had been about two years since I had flown, but it is very easy, very familiar. From the time I talk to VP until the time I take off is only 15 minutes.

I avoid Vientiane. I fly southeast of it. The weather is very good, very clear. When I cross the border at the Mekong River, I dip my plane down to about 1,000 feet to avoid detection by the Thai radar. I know I don’t have any flight plan and I don’t have permission to go to Thailand. It is 10 or 20 minutes before they catch me on the radar from Udon. They say, “Identify yourself and pull your plane up to 5,000 feet.” I pull the plane up, and I give them my plane’s number and tell them my destination is Nam Phong. They don’t ask me any further questions. They can tell from the radar screen what kind of plane I have and that there is no trick I am pulling. At this time I am still very far from Udon.

We fly all the way to Khonekhene. Our air speed is about 120 mph, so it takes almost three hours to fly there. After three hours we see the Nam Phong Dam, but I can’t see any airfield. I ask Vang Chou, “Where is the airfield?” Vang Chou says, “Well, I remember that it is around here somewhere.” We look around for about 15 minutes. Then my fuel gauge starts to tell me that I’m close to trouble. I say: “It’s not here! You said you have been training, flying, landing, and taking off at this airfield for almost a year. There is the Nam Phong Dam. Where is the airfield?” He says: “I don’t know. It’s somewhere around here.” Vang Chou can’t find the airfield in Nam Phong, so I turn the plane toward Udon. That’s about 80 miles away.

The fuel gauge is going down. By now it is almost empty. I fly along the highway from Khonekhene to Udon. It is late afternoon, and there are not many cars running on the road. If the fuel tank empties, I will land on the highway. That’s why I follow the road. But it happens that the fuel is just enough to get to Udon.

By the time we get to Udon, the fuel gauge light is blinking and flashing. I call the tower and say: “Udon tower this is Papa Golf Uniform. Request for emergency landing.” I point the plane down and say: “Mayday! Mayday! Papa Golf Uniform is out of fuel!” They call back and say, “Land it!” First time, I don’t make it because I am not very familiar with the 180-C Cessna. The first time I try to land, it seems I pull the plane up just before I touch the ground. When I realize that, I pull the plane up, then I pull the throttle down and drop down again. Second time I hit it.

The fire truck comes out to meet us with water squirting out, sirens and lights flashing. I told them that my fuel was out, so they run like that to make sure I don’t crash-land. And Noi, the Thai guy, runs up and opens the door. When he sees me he says, “Where is the pilot?!” I say, “Yeah, I am the pilot.” He didn’t know I could fly. Ha! That’s how I got to Thailand.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

I go to the airport with Xiong and I watch. Vang Chou and Moua Lia get on the Cessna with him and Xiong takes off.

By that day we lose control. So many people are at the airport, and as soon as a plane arrives, people just run and climb into it. Things are out of hand. I see a family push a little kid onto a plane and finally they close the door. The mother is still on the ground! That little kid is sent to Thailand with no relatives! What a situation!

People put their money into boxes and bags. A lot of people do that. Then they throw the bag up in the plane to make sure their money is already on the plane before they try to get on. Somehow the door closes. Ha! All the money is gone, and the people are still down there. People crying, yelling. That is a true story! And of course nobody really knows what happens to that money.

Other people put their money into suitcases. Someone carries a suitcase of money, and then it opens, and the plane blows all the money all over the airport! I see the suitcases open, and the plane blows all those kip! Another guy gets on the plane, and his money is still on the ground. After he gets to Nam Phong, one of the kids brings the money over to Nam Phong. Then they fight over that, over who has the right to that money. See? Anything can happen!

Lt. Chang Ger Yang, Bodyguard for Col. Tou Long Yang

When the airplanes come, all the other families can go, but Colonel Tou Long’s family is still in Vientiane. He gets mad. “Why is my family still there? Why doesn’t someone bring them here?!” Tou Long feels very angry—so mad, so sad. We make breakfast and ask him to eat it. He says: “No! I don’t want to eat! If you are hungry, you eat it!”

Finally on May 12, Tou Long’s family flies back from Vientiane in the green dragonfly helicopter [nyoob hoom tshuab ntsuab]. When Tou Long’s wife comes, Tou Long tells her she has to evacuate to Thailand. His wife asks, “What about our property?” Tou Long says: “Why do you have to worry about those things? Our lives are worth more than that!” She asks him again, “What about everything here?” He yells: “No! I don’t care! We will get the ducks and chickens and kill them all!” You spend your money and time to raise the ducks and chickens, so you don’t want to leave them behind for nyab laj. Tou Long is so angry and upset. He kills the ducks and kills the chickens. We eat them for dinner and eat them for breakfast. There is plenty to eat!

The next day Colonel Tou Long’s wife and children fly out.

Maj. Ly Chay and Mrs. Sao Mee Vang Ly, Parents of Baron Baby

MAJOR LY CHAY: Oh! A lot of people want to go in the airplanes. If it is just myself, maybe I can go too, but I have a wife and children, so I cannot go. I am worried because our children are too many and too little: six children, two adults. The oldest child is 13 years old. The youngest child is two years old. And one more baby is on its way!

MRS. LY: In Long Cheng, we don’t fight to get on an airplane. My baby is due any moment, so we don’t fight.

MAJOR LY CHAY: On May 11 I go to Vang Pao’s house to talk to him directly about sending my family to Thailand. Nai Phoun Vang Pao is related like a father-in-law to me. I talk to Nai Phoun, and he says we have to stay.

The next day I go back to Nai Phoun’s house to ask again. He says: “Too many people! Not only you! Everybody wants to go! Later I will look for something for you.”

On May 13 we are still in Long Cheng. My family goes to stay at the airport. The big C-130 did not come yet, but we know that if the big airplane comes, maybe we can have a chance. If not the big one, then maybe we can’t go because we have too many children and there are a thousand-thousand people there.

Nai Phoun’s son, Chu Vang, comes to the airport and sees us. We say: “Oh! You go to tell your father we have to go!” Chu says: “Oh! It is hard! You have too many children, and your wife still is having another baby! But I will go ask my father.” Chu goes by himself. Maybe two hours or maybe one hour later he comes back to the airport and says, “You go in the Baron airplane, OK?”

My wife says she is feeling that she will have the baby very soon, but I don’t know exactly when. I think about from Long Cheng to Nam Phong—how far to fly? More than one hour to fly, I think, but not all day because the little Baron has two engines and flies fast like the T-28! We have to take the chance and go because I don’t know when the baby will come out.

We walk to the airplane, and the eight of us get on the little Baron. We have nothing with us except the children. There are too many children, but they are small so two or three can sit in one chair. They are not heavy, but it is crowded in the back of the airplane, for sure! I ride in the front with pilot Vang Bee. We leave about 10:30 A.M.

MRS. LY: When we get onto the airplane I know the baby is coming soon. I am already having pain, but it is not yet contractions. Just some pain. I am not really thinking about myself because I am too scared of the situation. I am more concerned about having to leave our home and leave our country. When we leave, I think we will come back, but I don’t know when.

My husband and pilot Vang Bee sit in the front of the plane. I sit in the back, in the front row of the passenger seats, and the children sit behind me.

When we take off, I sit in the chair. Not long after that, I feel the baby is coming, so I put a piece of plastic and a cloth down on the floor, and I sit on that. My husband is in front with the pilot, and nobody is there to help me. The water comes out, and the baby is born. I deliver the baby by myself. That is the first time I do by myself, but I am prepared! I carry scissors and string. I cut the cord and tie it with the string by myself—pretty easy. Maybe 10 or 20 minutes to deliver the baby—not too long—and I don’t have any problems.

That piece of plastic is probably one yard and a half. The plastic and the cloth are enough to catch everything. When the baby is born, the “baby’s shirt” [placenta: lub tsho menyuam] comes out just before the border between Laos and Thailand. The “baby’s shirt” and everything is on the plastic. I roll it all up and put it in my bag to carry it. There is no fresh water to clean myself, but I have a little blanket to cover my new daughter.

When we land in Nam Phong, I walk off the plane with the new baby. People are surprised when they hear the story. They say: “Oh, how do you do that? I never see like that!” Then my cousin picks us up and takes us to where they are staying. My husband digs a hole in the dirt outside, and he puts the “baby’s shirt” in there. Then he puts more dirt on top of the hole. That is the Hmong custom.

MAJOR LY CHAY: If we are at home in Laos I would bury lub tsho menyuam under our bed. That is where we put lub tsho menyuam for a daughter. But we are moving around, and we don’t have a house of our own. In Hmong custom, when we bury lub tsho menyuam there is no ceremony. But three days later the baby is named, and we do the ua neeb spirit ceremony at that same time.

My wife’s relative, Colonel Wa Seng Vang, names the baby. Wa Seng names the baby Paj Huab Cua because she was born on the airplane. Her name is about things up in the sky—“clouds in the wind.”

MRS. LY: Her name is Paj Huab Cua because she was born in the clouds and in the wind. But right after Wa Seng names her, everybody says: “You were born in the airplane called Baron so we just call you like the airplane. We call you Baron. Baron!”

Capt. Vang Bee, Code Name “Fackee,” T-28 and Baron Pilot

Ly Chay’s wife is pregnant for nine months. Usually the woman who is pregnant for eight or nine months, she doesn’t want to fly because the air pressure is too dangerous for her. But Ly Chay’s family cannot get on the big airplane, so General Vang Pao says for me to take that family to Thailand. I say: “No, I cannot do that. His wife is pregnant about nine months. Probably that baby will be born in the air!” Vang Pao says, “No problem! No problem!” I say, “OK, if you say no problem, I will let his family go.”

That morning Ly Chay sits inside the airplane, and he is crying. He feels sad because outside there are hundreds and hundreds of Hmong people waiting for an airplane—waiting all around Long Cheng airport. They are all crying, and everybody is sad at that time.

After we take off from Long Cheng, if it’s good weather, it takes only 20 or 30 minutes to pass Phou Khao Quoi. But that day there are too many clouds and bad weather. We are inside the clouds, above the clouds, under the clouds. We go left, go right. It takes about 40 minutes for us to pass Phou Khao Quoi; then south of Vientiane, over the Mekong River, we have clear skies and can fly at the normal altitude of 9,000 feet.

Ly Chay sits on my right side in the copilot’s seat, and he is holding one child. His wife sits behind me, and she is moving around. She says nothing, but I hear her open a case, and she pulls out a big piece of plastic to cover General Vang Pao’s airplane. I tell Ly Chay: “Oi! Your wife probably gets a new baby right now!” He says: “Oh, I don’t know! I don’t know! We have no chance, we have no room!” Oh! In my life I never hear the people talk about a bad situation like that! But the baby is born easy, I think—right over the Mekong!

After the river it takes us about 50 more minutes to go to Nam Phong. When we touch down in Nam Phong, the Thai camp commander comes to see me. He says: “Hey, pilot! Good!” He says that to me because we came from Long Cheng and when we touch down in Nam Phong, we change the total number of passengers! The Thai commander says to me: “I don’t know in your culture, but in my culture this is good for you. In Thai culture, if someone is born in your car, born in your house, or born in your airplane like this, you are very good!” The Thai commander says that to me, but I don’t know about that. In Hmong culture, that’s a big problem. Hmong never let another woman give birth inside their house. Hmong culture is like that for thousands and thousands of years. Hmong never let them do that. But the Thai commander says that’s no problem for Thai culture—very good for Thai culture. He says, “You give them a little bit of money to celebrate their child.” So I give 10,000 kip to Ly Chay, to celebrate his daughter.

After that I go back to Long Cheng, and Colonel Tou Long Yang says, “Take my family too!” I say, “No!” General Vang Pao says, “No!” Tou Long says: “No! I want! I need! Now the Vietnamese come too close to Long Cheng. I need to move my family out as soon as possible!” Vang Pao doesn’t want to talk any more. He says for me to go ahead and take them, but I am scared because Tou Long’s wife is big. Same as Ly Chay’s wife—pregnant nine months too! We go and I am scared, but nothing happens in the air. After we touch down in Nam Phong, two days later Tou Long’s wife has the baby—another daughter!

Capt. Les Strouse, C-46 Pilot

Al Rich and I figure that we can carry 35 passengers coming out of Long Cheng. Even 35 is too many for safety, but I think all the loads are between 65 and 67. Sixty-five is much too much. At 65 there is absolutely no question that if you lose an engine, you can’t get out, not even through the gap. You’re dead.

There are so many people—5,000 or 6,000 waiting for planes at any one time—absolutely mobs and mobs of people, pushing and shoving, even pushing other people off the ladder. It’s so disorderly. I don’t think we pilots are afraid we are going to be harmed, but we are afraid they are going to mob the airplane to the point where we are all going to be stuck here forever and nobody is going to get out. Then we’ll have to evacuate by foot.

Because of the mob of people, on a couple of flights our C-46s go way down the runway. Instead of loading up on the ramp, we load up down by the tower to avoid the crowd, then taxi up the ramp, turn around, and take off. We do that because we are trying to break up the crowd that is up at the north end of the runway. Al and I decide: OK, if we load down by the tower, we can pick up a load without being mobbed. Then everybody’s going to run down there thinking that’s where we’re going to be next time, so next time we go up to the ramp. We’re trying to keep the people off balance. What else can you do when thousands of people are milling around trying to get on the airplanes and you have only one guy, Jerry, on the ground?

I fly for three days, May 12–14. I have an all–Thai crew. My log-sheet says Lima Site 20-Alternate × 3 or × 2. That means three trips or two trips that day.

I keep flying for those three days because that’s just what we do. I flew in Southeast Asia for eleven years—on a three-year contract with Air America. You just get used to doing these things, and also it is a personal challenge. You get home to Vientiane in the evening, and you’re sitting in a bar, and you feel like you’ve accomplished something—not spinning your wheels, not putting marks on a board for somebody. You feel like you really did something. It was a job, and we were paid well, no question about that. But if you didn’t get your personal satisfaction out of it, you’d walk away.

Maj. Xiong Yang, Wing Commander

The Pathet Lao and Vientiane know that when the general moves out to Thailand, it should be with the two choppers. If the Lao choppers fly up, then the Pathet Lao will use the T-28 to bomb the choppers because the general is inside.

On May 13, Jerry and everybody talk about that. We say: “Danger for the last time when the choppers move out. There will be an accident on the last day.”

The general and Jerry know that it will be danger for the general. They change the plan. Now they will not send the general in the Lao chopper—but they don’t tell me that. I do not know their new plan; I only know there will be danger for the Lao choppers.

I talk to Jerry because we want the American CIA’s protection for the choppers. He says: “If you have a problem when the choppers take off, call on this radio frequency. The Air Force F-4 jets from Udon will fly cover.” I don’t know if that frequency is the Udon center or where, but if I call, they will send jets to help us. We don’t have much time to talk, but Jerry says like that. We plan that to protect ourselves.

– 11 –

PEOPLE GO LIKE ANTS

(Tuesday, May 13, 1975)

Her Vue, Groom

My wife is Lao. We were married in Vientiane on May 7th according to Lao culture. On May 11, we go by car to Long Cheng to do the Hmong hu plig ceremony. We have three days to do the ceremony. That is Hmong culture, so I know that exactly. For the wedding hu plig, the bride and groom have to stay in the man’s father’s house. Nothing happens on the first two days, but on the third morning you do the hu plig. In Long Cheng we will stay at my Uncle Boua Ya Vue’s house. We will do the ceremony there because when my father died, Uncle Boua Ya kept me and my brother.

Uncle Boua Ya’s family knows I will come to Long Cheng after I am married in Vientiane. But they don’t know exactly what date I will show up. There is no telephone, so there is no way to get in touch with my family in Long Cheng, no way to tell them when I am coming. By the time we get there, the planes are taking people to Thailand. Oh, it’s a bad time to go to Long Cheng!

On the 13th, everywhere there are soldiers’ families. All the people know now that we lost. That day, Vue and me go to Colonel Moua Gao’s house in Long Cheng. Moua Gao’s wife doesn’t want to leave, so almost all the relatives go to Moua Gao’s house to talk and share with his wife. His wife does not want to go. She says: “You just go! I don’t want to go!” We say: “Go, go, go! Now, go!” Moua Gao doesn’t know what to do. He walks back and forth, back and forth, like in a movie. He doesn’t know what to do because at that time he has three wives in Long Cheng. The other two already go with him, but this wife won’t go. After Moua Gao leaves, she watches them until they are almost gone, then quickly she jumps up, and Vue and me have to hurry and drive her to the airport. Oh, we see a lot of people out at the airport! That day Moua Gao leaves on the C-130 with all three wives together.

I go back to Boua Ya’s house, but we don’t have time to do my hu plig ceremony because my brother, May, and my brother-cousin, Vang Neng Vue, and his family all prepare to fly away.

Vang Neng is going to get on the airplane. They already pack, then we dig a hole in the dirt in the middle of the living-room floor. That hole is about 16 to 18 inches deep. Vang Neng puts one record-player in there—a recordplayer, metal plates and dishes, a gun, bullets, hand grenades. They wrap them up in plastic and put them in there, all together in the same hole! They already had that experience a couple of times before when there was fighting in Long Cheng and they had to move out. If there is something you still want to use when you come back, you have to dig a hole like that to keep it safe. It’s not that you bury things that are very special, but if you come back you can dig them up and use them again. I know they will get on the airplane very soon because they bury their dishes. Now I know we cannot stay and do the Hmong wedding ceremony because the time is very dangerous. The communists are the winners. I must leave that strange place right away.

My wife and I drive down to Nasu. That night all the people in Nasu are moving around. Some go, some come. Some come to Pha Khae, to Nasu, to try to prepare to cross to Thailand. Some go to the jungle. Some go right, some go wrong.

That period of time is like water in a bowl. People just go like ants! If you touch the anthill, the ants run in every direction because they don’t know which way to run. People go like ants when they don’t have a leader. They don’t know how to do because nobody tells them, nobody controls them. If no leader, it is like that. They just use their own idea. They go like crazy people! Go there, go here, go there.

It takes my wife and me all the next day to get home to Vientiane.

Mrs. Nai Vang Moua, Wife of Pheng Moua

We hear rumors, but mostly we think it will be temporary, like in the past. In the past when something happens in Long Cheng, then we escape out to another small village. Just get out of Long Cheng because you know that if something happens, it will happen there. It’s better to get away from the hot spot, get out of that place, just pack and go—no real information, no real idea. It is such a rushing time! You see people leave, so you leave too. I take a taxi from Long Cheng to go join my husband in Vientiane.

Pheng Moua, Dong Dok Student

After my wife comes from Long Cheng and I hear about the situation there, I take a taxi from Vientiane up to Long Cheng to check on my sister. I am a student, so I show the checkpoint soldiers my student ID and say I am going home. I can still go through quite easily. But if you are not a student, if you don’t have an ID, then you have to have a travel letter from the authorities in order to pass through the checkpoint.

Hmong refugee families loading into army trucks (Galen Beery collection).

As soon as I get to Long Cheng, I go to Mouasu’s and Moua Sao’s house. Their house is empty, and it seems people already broke in and took things. I see picture albums and pennies all over the floor, pennies that Mouasu and his wife brought back with them from the United States.

Long Cheng is in chaos. I already knew it would be serious in Long Cheng, but I didn’t think it was going to be this serious. When I see the chaos, I tell my sister to leave Long Cheng quickly and go to my parents in Ban Nam Vay.

Capt. Ly Vong Yeng Nao Lynaolu and Mrs. Ly Vong

CAPT. LY VONG: It comes to May 13th, now. May 13th, 1975. It’s daytime. Oh, how do I think? I think I will die. No chance to escape. In my life I help people a lot. I like people a lot. For the people in the world, I say I do my best. If I have no life to save and the enemy will catch me, that is all right.

On May 13th we go to the airport early. Maybe it is 5:00 A.M. when we go there. Five thousand, six thousand people conflict in the area together. It’s like bees—bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, bzzz. Everyone is staying in a circle near the rock mountain at the top of the airfield where we park the airplanes. My family is there too, and by now I forgot my dream from a few months earlier—that one airplane will be landing over there where no one waits.

I am waiting inside of the rocky mountain—sitting down, talking, hungry. Oh, I cannot remember the last time I ate! We cannot have a meal and eat until we are full. Hungry, eat a little bit, hungry, eat a little bit. Only eat a little bit—never full.

Suddenly at 2:00 P.M. somebody touches me—bup! No person can touch me like that, only God alone. God plans to help me. He doesn’t let me see him, but he stays close by me and gives me advice. The sound comes to my ear but—not very clear, the sound! Like a dull sound—tisk, tisk, tisk—to my ear—tisk, tisk. When I stop breathing, it is clearer. “Ly, the airplane will be over there 100 percent. One thousand percent it will be there.” God touches me, and now I remember that dream perfectly. And I smile. I don’t see anything, I don’t hear anything more. But I start walking, making conversation with people. And then I return to talk to my wife. I start to persuade my family to move out.

“My dear wife, I’m so hungry now.” If I talk openly people will know, right? I camouflage. “My wife, I am so hungry. We go to the house to prepare food.” I say I am hungry, but in fact I will tell my family to wait over there where I saw the dream plane. And my wife answers me: “Don’t do like that, my dear husband. We wait here until dark. If we don’t have a chance to get on an airplane, we will return to the house to cook.” I try again to talk to my wife: “Please listen to me. I got disease. I want to eat now!” I am not really sick, but I have a gout problem so I trick my wife and say, “If you don’t follow me, I’m not strong enough to walk.” I trick my wife because my wife turns to oppose me. She says: “Don’t do like that! If we do like that, maybe we don’t get the airplane to go.” My wife talks like that. I say: “No. Believe me. I got disease.” My wife cannot answer me. Then my wife says: “OK. We go. We go to cook in the house. But make sure you don’t leave us behind. Don’t escape!” My wife talks to me like that! I say: “Are you crazy? I’m still here! Why would you say that to me?” I trick her to move from that area.

We walk down in the direction of my brother Wa Khai’s house. We leave the top of the airfield and walk down to where I see the airplane in the dream—not far. We move away from the big group of people and move just a little bit down past Vang Pao’s house.

Now we are near to the location that I saw in the dream, two-thirds of the way down the airfield from the top. I stop. I talk to my wife. “My dear wife, do you want to go cook by yourself or do you want all of us to cook? Or do you want our dad and our mom to cook for us and we stay here?” I say that, and my wife answers me: “I don’t know what to do. Right now you are the boss. You are the leader of the house in everything. You do what you want, I will follow you.” My wife answers me like that. I say: “All right, all right. If you agree, we’ll place your suitcase down here and discuss which way is good.”

MRS. LY VONG: In my basket I have hot water and sweet rice and a little meat. I have some clothing in the suitcase but not much. We cannot carry much—just one change of clothing for each person. My oldest son carries the teakettle. I put some rice in the teakettle and gave it to him to carry. The other children do not carry anything. Also I have my silver in the suitcase—one silver necklace [xauv], silver coins, and just a few silver bars [nyiaj choj]. The silver necklace was mine when I got married. My mom gave it to me.

Pa Da, my oldest daughter, is about 12 years old. At 12 she is not really strong, but sometimes she carries the suitcase and sometimes she carries my youngest son, Cheu Xysy. He is only seven months old. I tell my daughter: “If you carry the suitcase, and you don’t get on the airplane, I will go and you will get the money. If you carry my son, and I go, you will have to take care of him, find food for him.” I tell her that, and she cries. She says: “Oh! I don’t want to do that!”

CAPT. LY VONG: That is the way we push Pa Da. She must be careful. Even if there is conflict she must get in.

I ask my wife, “In your basket we still have sticky rice?” I talk to her like that, and she says, “Yes, we still have sticky rice.” In fact, I’m not hungry, but I do this show for people who do not understand. And then I say, “OK, if you still have rice, give each one of us a handful to eat—a handful to stop the hunger.”

So we eat, and we discuss, smile, and wait there for the airplane in my dream. My eight children, me and my wife are 9 and 10, 11 is my young brother-in-law, Lo Tou You, 12 is my mother-in-law, 13 is my father-in-law. We sit there, all alone, just my family. It’s something incredible! And the other people—friends, relatives—they come to see us. They are really, really thinking about us. They are not waiting for the airplane. Maybe they plan to leave, but maybe they cannot, due to money. And they don’t know the situation in Thailand. They just sit down like in a dream. They don’t know how to go anywhere. They just come to see, and they pass by and see us waiting for the airplane. They cry, or they make conversation with us. They say: “If you have a chance to go to the other country, please remember us behind. Please think about us. If you go, and all of you die first, we are left to be the seed. Or, if you go to the other country, and we stay behind and we are captured by communists, all of us captured, so you become the seed of our Hmong.” We discuss like this. We discuss something incredible, with tears running down.

It is May, so at 5:30 P.M. it’s not dark yet. The sun is still in front of the sky. At 5:30 P.M., some people who come to conflict over the plane are on their way home. They go and burn firewood to cook. Smoke shows up everywhere in town. At least 1,000 or 2,000 people return home. But the top of the airfield is still completely full of people, still buzzing like bees, still more than 5,000 people there! No one knows if there will be more planes or not. No one knows. We just wait.

And at that time a C-130 shows up in the sky. It lands down at the top of the airfield, and it returns to park in the area that I saw in my dream. Now everything in the dream shows up correctly. And on that airplane—my family goes in first.

When I get into the airplane, my third son doesn’t show up. And my wife tells me: “Please! Right now all my children are here except Chi Sa Ly. Chi Sa Ly is not here.” Chi Sa Ly is still young, maybe five years old. He’s very small but a very hot head. My wife talks the first time, and I pretend not to listen because I don’t want to get out of the plane. If I go out, it is danger for me. I decide to lose one boy at that time. First time, I don’t go out. And my wife talks to me the second time: “Please! Go ahead. Go out and take a look around for Chi Sa Ly. If we go, who will give him food? Right now we are all here. If it’s just you and him, you have the time to return.” My wife talks to me like that. She thinks if I go out to find Chi Sa, there are only two of us. We should have a chance to get back into the plane to fly out.

MRS. LY VONG: I think my husband is taller than most Hmong people, so if he goes out of the airplane and he cannot see Chi Sa, then he can get back into the airplane by himself alone. That’s OK. But I want him to take a look for our son.

CAPT. LY VONG: Second time, I don’t go out. By the third time she talks, I don’t know what to do. I breathe big and short, big and short. And then I talk to the copilot. Both the pilot and copilot are American. The copilot sees that I carry a .38mm pistol but I wear civilian clothes. I wear civilian clothes because there are some dangerous people around, some spies. Some of us don’t want to wear our uniforms.

I talk English to him. “Dear sir, right now I have one son who is lost. He has not shown up here, so I will go out. You carry my family to Thailand.” When I talk English to him, he knows I am a good person. And he tells me: “Why do you want to go out?! If I were you, I wouldn’t go out.” He talks to me like that. When I talk to the copilot, the plane is not full yet. The people are still far away—running but not yet to it.

I go back to my family, and my wife talks to me again. She does not pressure me, but she is very, very worried about Chi Sa. I return to talk to the copilot again. I say: “Now it is necessary to go out. I must go out to look for my son. But please, you carry all the rest of my family with you to Thailand.” The second time I talk to him, all the people are coming close and some are getting into the airplane.

When the airplane parks, the people see my family run into the airplane. Then the people run too. And, oh! The Vang colonels—they are hiding one military GMC truck between Samkadee and Vang Pao’s house. When that airplane stops, they use the truck to—brrrrrrrrr—drive out from the Vang Pao area and drive right to the airplane. The truck is full, and everyone stands up—at least 40 people.

The GMC will race down to back up to the airplane. The pilot will open the ramp just a little, and the Vang Pao people will run into the body. The C-130 airplane is too high, right? Maybe ten feet high—too high for people to jump up from the ground. That C-130 comes to pick up the group of people close to Vang Pao’s heart. That plane is for whoever Vang Pao loves, whoever he favors. The Vang Pao people plan to do something confidential like that. The truck comes, but they have no chance to do like they plan. Before the truck comes, the airplane drops the tail down. The people on the truck have no chance to get on the airplane like they plan because the people on the ground run into the airplane first. A few people from the truck get into the plane, but the Vang Pao people cannot go as a group. They have to split up. We stir them, and they have no chance to go as a whole family. Now it is not just those five families; now whoever conflicts first can go first. That’s it. The Vang plan does not work, and they cannot fly out all together.

MRS. LY VONG: I know they hide in Vang Pao’s house. When we get to Thailand, one colonel’s wife says she lost her money when she left the house. Five million kip was in a suitcase, but it dropped out. She gets mad. She says: “The people! How come there are too many! It’s because of them that I lost my money! We hide in the truck and in Vang Pao’s house, but there are too many people! If those people die, it’s no problem, but I lost my money!” She says that, and I say nothing. I hear that story from her, but I don’t care about her money! We fly in the plane together and she tells me that story when we get to Nam Phong.

CAPT. LY VONG: When I talk to the copilot some close-by people are getting on, some Vang families are getting into the plane, and the other 5,000 people are running. The copilot returns talk to me. He says: “If you want to go out to find your son, that is OK. For myself, I don’t want you to go out. But if you want to go out, God bless you.” I still remember his words! And then I go out.

When I try to go out of the airplane through the side door under the wing, then my son shows up at the tail of the airplane. But I cannot see him. My wife tries to yell to me, but nobody can hear anything, so many noises. The airplane—wheeeee!—who can hear? Nobody can hear. She tries to grab me, but she cannot grab me because of the people between us.

MRS. LY VONG: When he gets off the airplane he turns to look at me, but he cannot see me. I try to yell to him, but he cannot hear me.

CAPT. LY VONG: The plane is full of noises—the engines and people talking. I am so angry—too many problems! Everything is too fast and too many problems!

My father-in-law is already in the airplane, but when I get out of the airplane, I see my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law, Lo Tou You, are still outside. My brother-in-law is very young, only three years older than my little son, Chi Sa. I see the people push my mother-in-law and Tou You up against the tailgate ramp. At least 100 people are pushing on them. The ramp is too high for my mom and brother-in-law. They stick at the end of the ramp. If the pilot wants to close it, he can’t close it. If he wants to open it, he can’t open it.

I see the people are pushing my mom and my brother-in-law right against the ramp until it seems that everything in their bodies is broken. They push and push, push and push, push and push, push and push. They act like crazy people. They shout: “Hurry up! Hurry up! Go in! Go in!” They are yelling and mad like bees—angry! My mom is yelling like she is going to die, but no one can hear her. They step, step, step, crush, step until my mom and brother-in-law are pushed from the end of the ramp to on top of the ramp. My mom is sort of sitting down and lying down on the ramp. There are other people on the ramp also.

The plane is full. Very full! More than full! At least 300 people are on that plane. Big, small, big, small—300 people at least. If you go into the airplane and you die a few minutes later, it is OK. The people are happy to die from crushing each other. Maybe it takes only 15 or 20 minutes before the plane is full. Full! Three hundred people all together, big and small. And the pilot wiggles the tail ramp up and down, up and down. He is trying to close the ramp so the people will run away, run away.

My mom and my brother-in-law are still there—on the ramp. The copilot tries to get everyone on the ramp into the airplane. But, by the way, my bad little brother-in-law is standing there, and he jumps off the ramp to run away. There is too much conflict, and he is scared. Too many people pushing, so he jumps down. And my mom goes down from the ramp to grab my brother-in-law’s hand to pull him into the airplane.

r-r-r-R-RR-RR-RRR-RRRR. Oh! The wind is coming from the engines—blowing, blowing, pushing, pushing—a very hot wind from the engines. The wind feels like it is ready to burn people. It is so hot and dusty, but you don’t think about it. People who do not hold their hats—they blow away. Trash blows and dirt blows—a heavy wind.

The airplane is getting ready to go. The ramp is almost closed, but the copilot will wait to take my mom and brother-in-law into the airplane. When the people see that the airplane will accept my mom and my brother-in-law—they run again, they push again, and then the copilot has no choice. The airplane is closed, finished.

I’m still outside. I am watching all of this, and it is too complicated! I am about 15 yards away from them, but there are lots of people between us. I can’t get to them—too much going on! So I, my mom, and my brother-in-law are left outside of the airplane when the rest of my family flies out to Thailand.

After the plane leaves, I look everywhere for my son, Chi Sa. Nobody sees him. I say: “Oh! He must have gone in the airplane.” I say that because I don’t find him anywhere. He never shows up in Long Cheng.

MRS. LY VONG: On that airplane there are too many people! Standing room only! Completely full. All the people are mashed together, and it’s very, very hot in the airplane.

When the door closes, the people inside the plane are quiet. Some of them lost their children. Maybe the wife is in but the husband is out. The families are separated. It feels very serious inside the plane.

I don’t know if my husband is on the plane or not. I think he should be on it, but I don’t know. When I get to Thailand, I find out he is not on the plane. They say, “Tomorrow two planes will go.” I think if it is only him, he will come tomorrow. But I don’t know about my mother and my brother.

My father comes with me on that plane, and he is very sad. I tell him: “Please don’t be sad. Tomorrow if my husband comes to Thailand and my mother and brother don’t come, I will take you back to Laos. We will take a chance, and we will go back.” I tell him that. I pray to God, “Why did I tell my husband to go out?” I feel so guilty. I told him to go out and now he is not here.

Lt. Col. Vang Neng, Sala Phou Khoun

On May 13, I try to catch several C-46 flights with my family, but we don’t get in. I am so frustrated. Because of the frustration, Colonel Vang Thai and I come back home from the airport. We believe that most of the colonels have already left and we are the only two left behind. I feel the danger of the situation for us, but we don’t talk about it. We are more concerned about the safety of our families.

Because there is so much frustration. Vang Thai and I decide that we will forget about the evacuation. We talk about leaving our wives and children behind to stay with relatives and two of us will take off to the jungle because we are the ones who will be persecuted by the communists. We say, “We will leave the family to go out there and be a deer.” “Be a deer” is a Hmong figure of speech. It means you go out and you have no place to live. You just move from place to place, wander around. We will be a deer, and we will resist. The Hmong idea or the soldier’s point of view is, “If you come and search for me, I will kill you because if I don’t, you will kill me.”

Vang Thai and I are still talking when a message is sent to us by General Vang Pao. His message says: “Don’t worry. I will have one plane pick you up at the gate instead of up where all the people are fighting.” All of our families’ belongings are still in the jeeps, so we go to the general’s house. It is full of people. I tell the general that I want to wait for my soldiers to come in from Sala Phou Khoun before I leave, but General Vang Pao says: “No, you’ve got to go. Leave everything else behind.”

We are at the airport when the first C-130 plane comes in. A big plane. I have four soldiers who are also my relatives. The soldiers fight for my family to get on the airplane, but even then, we don’t get on. I am still at the airport when my brother-in-law, Vang Yer Xiong, comes. Vang Yer Xiong is the first of my soldiers that I see walk in from Sala Phou Khoun, and I am glad that he gets to Long Cheng safely. He comes to the airport and reports to me that most of the men seem to have fled and are on their way home. When I hear that from Vang Yer, I don’t feel better at all! I don’t know what went on, how many of the soldiers survived, or what happened to them. I feel guilty about those that I left behind. When we talk about them, tears come, and I would like to cry. However, there’s no time for crying. My family and I are already packed and ready to be airlifted.

Vang Yer and I talk for a couple of hours. Very late in the afternoon the big C-130 airplane comes again. Again, people run to it, and I am fighting to get on. I am separated from the rest of my family, but I carry my retarded son on my back; he is nine years old. He can hear, and he can walk, and he can do everything like a normal person, but he cannot talk. In my heart I realize that if I ever leave that child behind, I will never forgive myself for the rest of my life because that child will suffer so much. I carry him because of his age and because there is so much pushing and shoving. I don’t know where the rest of my family is, but that’s the flight I finally get on.

What is my emotional reaction when I leave Long Cheng? I am very, very disappointed and very, very depressed. I have visited Bangkok before. How is my family going to live over there? There is no income; there is no place for us to live. We are leaving behind a good life, and now we are going to another country. How will we live? It is a big sad emotion, and I feel very, very hurt.

Not until we get to Thailand do I realize that all nine members of my family made it onto that C-130.

Lt. Vang Yer Xiong, Sala Phou Khoun

I find Colonel Vang Neng at the edge of the airport, waiting for a plane to land. He is ready to take off. I stay there with him for an hour or two to discuss the situation. I want to know—if everyone is leaving, what are my wife and I supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go if my brother-in-law leaves? I am quite mad. Quite mad! Mad and sad—mad because they are abandoning us, sad because when the country is good, we stand side by side. Now the country is falling apart, and they are all running and leaving us soldiers behind. I yell at Neng about that.

At the airport, all I see are the lower-rank soldiers. All the leaders are gone except for Vang Neng. We talk for a couple of hours, then he flies to Thailand. After that I don’t stay to try to get on an airplane. My family is not there, so why should I try to get on an airplane? I return home by taxi to Pha Khae. Then from Pha Khae I just run to Phou Bia!

2d Lt. Nhia Tou Vang, T-28 Pilot

Around 5:00 P.M. on the 13th, my brother, Colonel Vang Neng, goes on the C-130. That evening I drive his jeep to Nam Yin, to our daddy and mama’s house, close to Pha Khao. I take my family to Nam Yin that night because I’m scared to stay at brother Neng’s house in Long Cheng. It’s too dangerous. There are snipers around, and if they are mad at my brother, they might come and kidnap me or kill me if I stay there. Those snipers are not Hmoob Liab; they are the general’s soldiers. They know that all the leaders are taking off, and they are angry. Maybe they will try to kill the leaders’ fathers and brothers who are left behind. We are scared that something like that might happen, so we protect ourselves and take my brother’s jeep to Nam Yin.

Mrs. Maosay Ly Saykao, Mother of 11 Children

On May 13 the soldiers announce to everybody that only the high-ranking officers like colonels can go—only the officers and their families. General Vang Pao’s Hmong soldiers keep the other people back with their guns. They say, “You stay; I go!” They say like that.

All day we wait. Late that day, almost at nighttime, one more airplane comes. It is a big airplane, but at that time everyone is so scared so everybody runs. There is one old man who almost gets to the airplane. He is on the ladder, but other people rush to the airplane, and they make him fall down. They punch him, then they run over his body. He is dead when his family takes him back to his home. Dead! Really! He is dead and he doesn’t wake up for five hours! Now he is in France. He’s not dead yet! His name is Neng Thong Ly.

After the last plane leaves, we are really mad and sweating—sweating mad and hungry! We did not eat all day. We don’t have another plan. If the airplane doesn’t come back to get us, probably we will die. That’s our only plan. We cannot take a taxi to get out of Long Cheng. There are a lot of enemy soldiers on the road.

That night the soldiers lie to us. They say, “The airplane will come tonight.” So there are a lot of people who spend all night there, sitting and waiting. Nothing ever comes. But late that night we hear a lot of crying. Crying! Crying! Crying! There is some kind of an accident for some Hmong people coming into Long Cheng. All night we can’t sleep because everyone is crying—such a loud crying sound! Everybody at the airport hears it. We can’t sleep.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

My family leaves on the morning of May 13th, and I stay with the general and the Npuas [Jerry “Hog” Daniels]. I’m the last employee at the Long Cheng outpost, and by now it is the rush hour! I drive with Jerry to the airfield and to VP’s house, back and forth. And I stay in the radio room and listen to the radio. The telex is on all the time. It’s coming dut-dut-dut-dut-dut—all coded. There are a lot of “flash” messages coming through. “Flash” means it’s got to be answered in five to ten minutes. We talk to the embassy people in Vientiane about whether or not we should stay. They say: “Make sure you’re still there unless it’s very critical. Then get on a plane or get out of town.” We talk to them every minute, and we always hear the same thing from the embassy, the U.S. mission to Laos: “Hang on longer if you can. We are still moving things out of here.” The Americans are really asking the general to hang on. He is the key. They say, “Don’t let him leave until we get everything out.”

Hang on. That’s the order. No matter what, Jerry has to do it because the embassy assigned Jerry to VP and MR2. That’s the death order. Jerry will stay with VP until he’s dead or alive. Jerry never talked about his orders, but we know that. We see it is his deep order to stay with VP all the time and make sure he is safe. Jerry is like the best bodyguard. He is a good friend personally with VP, and at the same time he is the person assigned to MR2—marked for death for MR2. That is his job. I remember when the enemy attacked Long Cheng in 1971–72. We were up at huab-tais tsev, the king’s house. The rest of the Americans were out to Vientiane already, but Jerry was there all night, all day. Jerry is the only American person that VP can trust and see all the time, day and night. For Jerry it is duty, duty, duty first. Real deep duty!

Late on the 13th the American C-130 lands. It is almost dark when the C-130 pilot radios to Jerry: “This is the last flight for today. If you’re ready, we are here to pick you up. This may be it! Otherwise just hope for tomorrow!” Air Ops in Vientiane says this may be the last flight, and we’ve got to leave. On the other hand, when we talk on the radio to the embassy, they say: “If you can hang on and be safe, stay. If the communist troops are too close and you have no choice, then get on that C-130 plane. But if you think it is still safe, then hang in there.” We get two different messages.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

During the evacuation Jerry was asked to have VP hold on because VP and Jerry had to leave at the same time. That had to be delayed as long as it was prudently possible because all hell was going to break loose in Long Cheng when they left. You could not dare risk taking another plane in after that. It was a touch-and-go thing. That’s why a calm, cool professional who could be trusted had to be there in the final stage. Someone who would be cool in a very, very stressful situation. It was a gamble, but it was a gamble we had to take, and Jerry fully adhered to all instructions. Again, all of this took place very quickly because of the events and forces that were forcing the issue.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

While the C-130 sits on the airstrip, Jerry and I are at the compound, and VP is at his house. We radio to VP that this C-130 may be the last plane. The words that pass between VP and Sky are, “Are you sure the road is OK?” There is only one road to the south, and for several days the new government and Chao Monivong slowly keep coming closer and closer up the road to Long Cheng so they can take over. Daytime is normal, but when it gets dark they move closer. We are getting more and more pressure from the communists, and we hear that tanks are coming, but we can’t confirm that. Hang Sao is still on the job. He is the one who contacts the MR2 tahan for field reports. It’s good he is still there. Otherwise we would have left earlier because so many rumors say the tanks are coming closer and it’s not safe to stay. The rumors say a lot of different things because nyab laj create stories to scare you off.

There are also pro–Chao Monivong people in Long Cheng who want to drive us out as soon as they can. If we stick in there for another day, another day, then they might do something against VP. But late on the 13th, MR2 intelligence says, “Well, it’s still safe to stay.” To VP, it seems we can hang on for another night. VP would like to find some alternative way to leave, and Jerry is concerned too because too many people are jammed at VP’s door—400 or 500 people during the day! The majors, the captains, they come to the gate and say: “Hey, not only you fight for the country! We do too! You’ve got to increase the number! If you go, we go!” By now the whole town wants to go! It will be a problem for us to get VP out of his house. How can we get him out and keep a low profile? How can we keep him safe?

The C-130 hangs in there for 30 minutes. It is fully loaded and lined up ready to take off, but it just hangs in there waiting, waiting, waiting. VP is the one to make the final decision about what he’s going to do. Everyone is tied to the general. The embassy, Jerry and I are all tied to him too. Jerry and I are ready to jump anytime VP is ready, but VP says, “Not yet,” so we let the C-130 take off.

After the C-130 leaves, then we drive the jeep down to VP’s house to discuss the plan. He says, “If tonight passes over to tomorrow, then I will be ready to go.” Definitely the very last flight will be on the morning of the 14th.

It’s easy to talk, but it’s not easy to come up with the real plan for how you are going to get VP from his house to the airstrip without people seeing him getting on the plane and leaving. We’re going to have to play some trick because there’s no way he can leave in public view—no way! It’s unsafe and cannot be done like that. We plan that we may have to use the helicopter to land on top of VP’s house to take him out. VP’s safety has to be secured.

It is a very serious night, a dark and pressured time. So many tahan at the gate, so many people at the gate—a very serious situation. They want to know what is his plan? What will he do? VP can’t announce he will leave. They don’t want to hear any word that VP will leave because the people there want VP to stay.

After we meet with VP, we go back to Sky and communicate with the embassy that there’s got to be some other alternative, some other way to get VP out the next day. VP cannot leave straight from his house. It’s got to be somewhere else. For flexibility, we have to have a Porter airplane and a Jet Ranger helicopter. The embassy agrees to arrange for that.

Capt. Dave Kouba, Porter Pilot

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 13, 1975. Dave Kouba’s retrospective commentary (1990) is given in indented paragraphs.

It’s now seven minutes past 4:00 P.M. on May 13th. I just got a call that I’m on a 6:00 A.M. takeoff tomorrow. Overhead Long Cheng—land and pick up Jerry Daniels and take him to Udorn, plus whoever else wants to go. They are fighting now at Ban Son—272. Came up the road this afternoon, goin’ right through it so they’ll be headin’ to Long Cheng. I hope they aren’t up there by the time I get there tomorrow morning.

The takeover of 272 took place very fast. It was 100 PL, I guess. They didn’t necessarily come in tanks—vehicles of some kind. And there was a little bit of rifle fire but not very much. They were talkin’ to the telephone operator at 272, and he kept tellin’ Vientiane: “They are here! They are here now, and they are lootin’ the USAID warehouse.” That’s about all I gathered.

There’s goin’ to be a mob on the ground when they find out that the PL went through 272 already and they can make Long Cheng by tomorrow morning. Nothing’s been done about any other evacuation at Long Cheng. So it looks like she’s all over.

Tomorrow I’ll be goin’ to Udorn, and I can mail that registered package—that is, if I get Hog out and everybody else in one piece. And myself.

Later. 9:00 the same night. After another briefing, it seems as though five airplanes are shuttling out of Long Cheng tonight into Udorn or Nam Phong, I’m not sure. There’s a solid overcast tonight, so it should be nice and dark up there. I’m sure Rich enjoys this. Rainville too. They’re supposed to continue up until 11:00 tonight. I wish them luck.

They wanted Al Rich and Les Strouse to go up there and shuttle all night—flying at night out of Long Cheng instead of waitin’ until the next day. And the two captains said there was no way they were going to fly a C-46 in and out of Long Cheng at night. They weren’t goin’ to do it. There were no landing lights at Long Cheng. No! Hell, no! And comin’ down in there at night with no go-around is stupid-silly. Crazy!

I don’t know who proposed that. It was supposed to be such big hush, hush secrecy. The C-46 pilots wouldn’t do it. And I wouldn’t have either. It’s hard enough doin’ it in the daytime!

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

The C-130 starts to fly on May 13th. The 130 is much bigger than the 46. It has four engines, so it is also more powerful; it takes off in a shorter distance and doesn’t have a problem getting over the mountain in the daytime.

We think about putting lights up at Long Cheng that night because if it’s only one C-130 and two C-46, how will we lift out 2,500 people? With lights we can shuttle at night too. But we don’t do it. The pilots say it is impossible because of the mountain at the end of the airstrip. That is the real problem.

– 12 –

THREE CHILDREN

(Tuesday, May 13, 1975)

Maj. Chong Ge Yang, Father from Nam Pha

In 1975 I am married and have nine children. My family lives in Nam Pha, near Pha Khae. I am stationed in the area of Phou Pha Sai. Phou Pha Sai is at the front line, but we are not fighting. We are there for neutrality purposes, but we do feel the pressure that the Vietnamese are coming. We know they are pushing closer and closer to Long Cheng.

After a week without receiving any supplies, I call on the radio to find a helicopter to pick me up and take me to Long Cheng so I can find out what’s going on. When I get to Long Cheng it is the morning of May 13th. I see that most of the leaders’ families are gone, and a lot of the soldiers complain to the general about why can’t our families go too?

In Long Cheng I go talk to Colonel Shoua Yang. He suggests that I go join my family near Pha Khae because the general has ordered a C-130 to come pick people up. Shoua Yang will contact me when the C-130 plane comes in. When Shoua Yang suggests that to me, right away I leave Long Cheng in a taxi.

There are a lot of people in that taxi going to Pha Khae. Everybody is getting out of Long Cheng as quickly as they can. When the taxi is around the Hill of Vang Fong, I see the first C-130 flying into Long Cheng. When I get close to Pha Khae I see it come a second time. That afternoon and evening are the first two trips made by the C-130.

When I get home to Nam Pha all of my family is there. My oldest son, Su, who studies in Vientiane, just got back to Nam Pha one day before me. We fix dinner, we sit down to eat, and I talk to the family and the relatives. We are thinking maybe we should stay in Nam Pha.

While we are eating, Shoua Yang sends a message that the C-130 is going to be picking up people all night long and that I should go back to Long Cheng. When we hear the news we don’t even finish eating. We take only the very important things like money, jewelry, and clothes to change into. Other than that we leave everything behind.

In my family there is my oldest son, Su (17 years old), son Tong (16 years old), daughter Shoua (12 years old), son Thai (9 years old), son Bee (6 years old), daughter Ah (4 years old), and son Ber (3 years old). All of these children are from my first wife, who passed away a few years earlier. From my second wife, Yer Vang, there is my son Wang (2 years old) and daughter Youa (8 months). In our household there is also my son Tong’s wife, Ah Vang. Tong and his wife just got married three or four months earlier. Some other relatives will go with us too: my youngest brother’s wife and his one son, my sister, Ying Yang Vang, and her daughter and son-in-law. All of us will go together in the jeep.

My younger brother, Chang Ger, will go with us as the driver. My older brother, Sao Lue, and his family and the family of my younger brother, Chang Ger, will stay behind in Nam Pha. There’s not enough room in the jeep for all of our families to go together in one trip, so Chang Ger will return for them later.

Everyone packs into that one jeep—all 18 of us! That is a very powerful jeep, and it is in good shape. That’s why we can carry so many people. That jeep has two long benches that run along the back sides. The older people sit on the benches. The kids and a lot of clothes and boxes are put on the floor in the middle of the back.

I am sitting in the back of the jeep. There is no more room anywhere so my oldest son, Su, stands outside on the back bumper, hanging onto the frame of the jeep so he won’t fall off.

When we head back to Long Cheng it isn’t dark yet, but it is getting there. At that hour we do not see any more planes going to Long Cheng, but there are lots of cars and people on the road. Right after Pha Khae we turn on our headlights. By the time we get to the Hill of Vang Fong it is completely dark.

At the Hill of Vang Fong we stop to take a break. We are thinking of resting there for the night, but there are a whole bunch of taxis coming by. The taxi-drivers and the people say there will be lights on all night around the airport and you will see planes coming in. The planes will come all night long until 8:00 A.M. the next day. Then the evacuation will be finished. After we hear that we decide to continue on.

We go again, but we don’t go fast—only 10 or 20 mph. We have so many people in our car and the road is bumpy and hilly, so our car is pretty slow. There are a lot of cars ahead of us and behind us. All of those are civilian people, not soldiers. Just people who want to get to Long Cheng to get on the C-130. After a while the cars ahead of us are the distance of one city block ahead—not far away. We can still see them clearly because their taillights are on. And for the cars still in back of us, we can see them pretty clearly too.

By 8:00 or 8:30 P.M. it is very dark and we are in a hilly area that the road winds through; that area is considered to be the outskirts of Long Cheng. As we pass through that hilly area, we don’t know exactly what happens, but suddenly we hear the gunfire of M-16s shooting at us without any warning.

When the gunfire starts my brother stops the car. He thinks if he stops the car, they will stop shooting, but they don’t. The bullets are still coming in, flying at us from all directions.

I am sitting at the back. My oldest son, Su, is standing outside of the jeep on the right side of me. Su is hit. He is shot in the head and when he falls into my lap he doesn’t make a sound and he doesn’t move at all. Or maybe he does make some sounds, but because of the guns firing I don’t hear anything. I have the feeling he is dead.

At the same time, my second son, Tong, is sitting on the left side of me, right next to me along the wall of the jeep. Somehow a bullet hits Tong, but it doesn’t hit me. It should hit me because I am sitting closest to the window in the back. I should block my son. But I think I bend forward a little, and the bullet goes behind my back and hits Tong right on the side under the ribs, because maybe he is leaning back against the wall. When he is hit I hear him making noises, and he says: “Oh, Dad! It hit me!”

When Su and Tong are hit I shout at my brother, “Step on the accelerator!” because the bullets are still coming in. We take off, and I yell for a flashlight. My daughter, Shoua, is sitting on the other side of the jeep and she hands me the flashlight. I get the flashlight and I want to look at my sons, but it all happens too fast. I can’t use the flashlight because the car is moving so quickly and the road is so bumpy. The bullets are still flying, and everybody hits the floor of the jeep and tries to hide. We shout to each other: “Is anyone shot?! Is anyone hit?!” Everything is moving around in the back, and I can’t use the flashlight to look at Tong.

I think it is the Vietnamese who shoot us because there is no warning of any kind. We are afraid it is nyab laj, so we speed up to get out of that area as quickly as we can.

After we get out of that hilly area we go about half a mile to a flat area where the sound of the gunfire stops. Chang Ger slows the jeep down a little. As we slow down, a second set of gunfire starts flying at us again. This time a bullet hits one of the front tires. When the tire is hit, the jeep spins, squiggles, and bumps into another jeep head on. The headlights from our jeep shine on a set of soldiers standing about three feet away, next to the other jeep. They are pointing their guns at us. I immediately recognize the first lieutenant among the soldiers.

BEE YANG (interjection): I am only six years old, and I am in the back of the jeep. I am so scared. Maybe the children younger than me don’t know what is going on, but everyone older than me is speechless and crying.

When I see the first lieutenant, I focus on him because he is the ranking officer with the soldiers. When he comes to the back of our jeep and sees it is me, he says, “Oh! It is you, Major!” I ask him, “Why do you shoot me?” He says: “I didn’t know it was you. It was a mistake. I didn’t know it was you.”

When I first talk to the first lieutenant, I am still in the jeep with my oldest son on my right side and my second son on my left side. Then I get out of the jeep, and I turn back to pull the children out. When I turn back, the first lieutenant steps closer and takes my handgun from the holster on my belt.

There are a lot of people in the jeep, so everybody gets out and we do a head count. We count, but we can’t find my daughter Shoua. I know Shoua just gave me the flashlight. I still hold it in my hand. I go back to the jeep, and I see that Shoua is on the floor. She was hit during the second attack, and that is where she died. When I find her in the jeep I shine the flashlight on her. She was shot through the head, and I see that her head is all blown up.

I return to the first lieutenant and ask if the men who fired on us the first time are also his men, and he says yes, those are his men too. Then I ask again, “Why are you shooting at me?” He says he doesn’t know why. My brother, Chang Ger, asks the same question, and he gets no answer either. We keep asking “Why?” The first lieutenant says a lot of things, but he doesn’t answer our question.

I don’t know if the first lieutenant thought we were nyab laj or not. He doesn’t say. When the shooting started, then all of a sudden there are no cars around. I don’t know why there are no cars around, since there were a lot of them going back and forth. My impression is that the soldiers stopped the cars behind us and let the cars in front of us go through to Long Cheng.

We pull Su and Tong and Shoua out of the jeep. Su and Shoua are already dead, but during my conversation with the first lieutenant, Tong is still in the process of dying; he is bleeding to death.

We lay Tong at the side of the road. His wife is with him. Tong is crying out and moaning. He doesn’t really say anything, but he is in great pain. He makes a whole bunch of noises, then he passes away only a few minutes after we pull him out of the jeep.

MRS. YANG (interjection): When my husband is talking to the first lieutenant I check on the three children shot and also check on everybody else because some of the others are shot also. My husband was shot, my son Wang was shot, and also my sister-in-law, Ying Vang.

My husband was holding Wang on his lap. A bullet went right through my husband’s left ear. Another bullet scraped Wang’s head and took off some of his hair. My sister-in-law, Ying, was hit right on her knee. So a lot of people are hurt and bleeding.

I am carrying Youa, the baby. I am checking to see who is hurt. By the time I get back to Tong, Tong already passed away.

The reason the jeep stopped is because one of the bullets hit the front tire. I ask the first lieutenant to have his soldiers put the spare tire on and carry the three bodies to the general’s house, but he resists. He tells us to stay where we are and he will go to the general’s house to talk to the general first. Then he will come back to pick us up. I say, “No, you cannot leave my family here.” We don’t know if we can fix the car. The windows are all broken, and we don’t know if the gas tank is hit or not. The first lieutenant says he wants to go to the general’s house first, and he refuses to take the bodies of the three children. I say, “If you don’t want to take the dead children, then take some of the people who are still alive, and my jeep will carry the ones who are dead.”

While everybody is out of the jeep, my brother, Chang Ger, fixes the tire with no help from the soldiers. When the tire is fixed, the dead children’s bodies and some family members go in my jeep with Chang Ger. I ride in the first lieutenant’s jeep, right next to him. It takes about 10–15 minutes for our two jeeps to go straight to the general’s front door.

The first lieutenant drops off my family members at Nai Phoun Vang Pao’s house, and then he takes off and disappears. He never comes inside, and to this day, I have never seen him again.

When we get to the general’s house, there are a lot of colonels and majors there: Ly Tou Pao, Moua Tou Lu, Shoua Yang, and many others. Also there are a lot of lower-ranking soldiers inside of the house. They all come to the door to see what happened.

My brother, my wife, and I go into Nai Phoun’s house. Nai Phoun comes downstairs to ask what has happened. I tell him we were shot by his first lieutenant, and three of my children are dead.

Nai Phoun says: “I didn’t order this. Who ordered it?” Shoua Yang says, “I didn’t do it.” Tou Lu says, “I didn’t do it.” Then Ly Tou Pao says: “I did, but I didn’t order the soldiers to shoot. I only order them to watch the road and see if there is anything suspicious.”

The general is upset. He yells a few words to the people there. He says, “Why was I not informed about this?” He tells them to be more careful about what they do, since there are a lot of automobiles that go back and forth to Long Cheng. He says that since the state of the country is in turmoil and because the people need to get out of Long Cheng, I and my family should be patient. When we get to Thailand, we will deal with this situation. Nai Phoun says that we should bury the children that night. He will give us the caskets so we can bury them. Nai Phoun talks to us for about five minutes before he goes back upstairs.

After the general goes upstairs, I and my family leave. Physically, I don’t know what I feel. Emotionally, I am paralyzed from losing three children in one night, in five minutes. Mentally, I know only that my mind keeps asking, “Why? Why? Why?”—over and over again.

We walk from Nai Phoun’s house to Samoson, close by. Samoson is the building where we put the dead. If pilots or high-ranking soldiers are killed in combat, their bodies are put in Samoson for the time being. That’s why we take the children there. It is the normal place to put the bodies.

Tong Yang died on May 13, 1975 (Chong Ge Yang collection).

Su Yang died on May 13, 1975 (Chong Ge Yang collection).

Shoua Yang died on May 13, 1975 (Chong Ge Yang collection).

The family goes to Samoson. About ten minutes after we leave the general’s house, Neng Youa Vang and Zong Chue Yang come and tell me that Nai Phoun ordered them to come and persuade me to bury the children no matter what. The general has ordered Zong Chue to have his soldiers make the caskets.

Twenty to thirty minutes later Tou Pao offers 50,000 kip to help with the burial. He doesn’t come to Samoson to offer the money personally, but he has some soldiers give it to Chang Ger so my brother can go back and bring our relatives from Nam Pha to Long Cheng.

There is electricity in Samoson. We take the bodies inside so we can see to clean them. We cannot clean them the way we would like to. We can only use towels to wipe their faces, and we put new clothes on them. The lights remain on all night long, and all night we cry and cry, thinking to ourselves, “Why is this happening to us?”

I don’t know what ever happened to the plan for the airplanes to come that night. I didn’t care about that any more. I only care about my children—not about anything else going on.

It takes Zong Chue’s soldiers almost all night to build the three caskets. By the time they finish, even though Nai Phoun gave us the wood to make the caskets, I still don’t want to bury my children. I would prefer to have another day so we could do a proper burial ceremony. I really don’t want to bury the children that night, but the general says we don’t have much time. In a way, we are asked; in a way, we are ordered.

The soldiers do everything. Some soldiers make the caskets, and others dig the hole for the grave. The general wants the children buried right at the front door of Samoson. I don’t know the general’s reason for wanting the bodies buried there. Mostly I think it is just because of the limited time we have. It is already 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. Besides, we can’t go anywhere else because it is too dark.

Only the family members who were in the jeep are there for the burial. The children are buried all three in a row.

Right after the burial Chang Ger drives back to Nam Pha in my jeep. We don’t want to leave without my brother and sister, and he doesn’t have much time to go get them. We clean up the broken glass a little so he can drive, but there is still blood all over the floor and the benches. Then the general sends two soldiers with automobiles to pick up my family at Samoson and take us to the airport so we can fly to Thailand the next morning.

Col. Ly Tou Pao, Chief of Staff, MR2

We always have troops stationed on the top of Phou Mok ridgeline; Phou Mok is the north front that faces the enemy. But we never had troops block the south side of Long Cheng. You can go freely on the road from Long Cheng to Nasu because that road is in the rear and we know those are our own people. The first time we put a roadblock up on the south side is on the night of May 13 because we get information that the Pathet Lao will attack from Nasu that night. We send troops out to watch the road to make sure the Pathet Lao trucks don’t come through.

That night it happens that we have some people come by jeep from the countryside to Long Cheng. The soldiers try to stop the jeep, but maybe the driver is frightened, maybe the driver doesn’t know if that is a Pathet Lao group or a Vang Pao group, and the roadblock people don’t know if that jeep is our population or the Pathet Lao either. Maybe both sides don’t know. Maybe the soldiers yell to him to stop, but the driver just runs through and keeps going. That is why our troops make a mistake and shoot them.

After his family is shot, Major Chong Ge Yang comes to the general’s house. They are crying too much so I say, “Stop crying,” and I give them 50,000 kip to help bury the children that night.

VP already has maybe 10 or 20 caskets in the Samoson building. Those caskets belong to VP personally. He ordered and transported a very special wood from Muang Mok after the peace accords were signed. That is teakwood [thwj suab], the number-one tree in Laos for caskets. Thwj suab is a very big tree, very soft but very strong! It can stay in the ground for 100 years without rotting. VP says, “Just use my caskets for the children.”

I am there when the children are buried at 3:00 in the morning, but the general stays in his house. He cannot go outside because you cannot tell who is who and which is which. Who is your man, and which is the enemy? They are all mixed up.

After the burial I try to sleep, but I don’t sleep well.

– 13 –

SURVIVAL ONLY

(Wednesday, May 14, 1975)

English-Language Bangkok Post, May 14, 1975

More Generals Fall in Lao Purge

VIENTIANE (UPI)—The collapse of virtually all rightist influence in the Laotian Coalition Government continued yesterday with a purge of more loyalist generals and the grounding of the rightist-controlled air force—except on express orders from the Defence Ministry, now headed by a Communist.

…Communists in Laos took advantage of the momentum arising from the fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh, and rampant inflation, to extend their control over the country. Most diplomatic observers believe the Government will adopt increasingly communistic policies, now that the leading rightists have left the Government.

Yang See, Code Name “Glass Man,” Sky

On May 13 I get a final call at the embassy from Jerry on his long-distance CB radio. Jerry says, “I will be leaving tomorrow.” He does not say what time, and I do not know if Vang Pao will leave on the 14th too.

Over the radio I tell Jerry: “Now we are in the process of trying to get people across the border to Thailand. We will try to set up a camp in Nong Khai. Whether or not it is a good idea I don’t know, but I have to help people other than those on your list.” I think Jerry has mixed feelings about this. He has no orders to emigrate the Hmong people. There is no policy for emigration of the Hmong. Jerry knows it is done on my own initiative, but he is not very pleased with what I am doing because he did not think I would break away from him, cease to be his employee, and go ahead to undertake my plan. His fear is that I might involve him and his Agency when facing questions about my undertakings. But I never intend to do so.

On May 14th, I am still in Vientiane. For two days the two Thai contractors and I have tried to talk to the Laotian Coalition Border Patrol Police because I want their help in getting the people across to the Thai side. But the commander asks for 2.5 million kip! Too much! We cannot afford that, so we decide to hire 50 of those long fishing boats with engines at the back. We ask them to stand by at Tha Deua. Then we go back to Vientiane.

It is late when the two Thai contractors and I drive around to the 20 houses where the Hmong have been gathering. Almost all are in the vicinity of Vang Pao’s house in the small Nahaidiao district in Vientiane. I knock on the doors and tell the people: “Tomorrow we are going to ship you out of Vientiane. You get to the Thao house. We will start moving at 3:00 A.M.” Shoua Lue Thao’s house is where most of the people are staying. There are almost 200 people at the Thao house that night.

At 3:00 in the morning on May 14, I send one Thai contractor to the Lao morning market, Talat Sao, to get all the taxis that bring the merchants to the market. He sends about 30 cars to the Thao house, and I fill every car with people. It is still dark, and the people are quiet. We move quickly because we are very afraid that if it takes us too long we will be spotted by the police.

I am the last person to leave the Thao house. When my taxi gets to the riverbank, I get in the last boat and go. When I get to the other side of the Mekong it is 5:00 A.M. I see that our Hmong people are jamming the entrance to the Thai Dam camp. There are about 300 to 400 Thai Dam, all refugees from Vientiane, and 300 to 400 Hmong lined up along the road standing in front of the camp. The Thai Dam people do not want the Hmong people to come into their camp, not even for a temporary stay. So at 8:30 or 9:00 A.M., I take the two Thai contractors with me and we go to see the governor of Nong Khai. I explain the situation to the governor, and I say: “It is unfortunate that these people have to cross the border to save their lives. As you know, the Thai Dam have already come here to ask for your hospitality. The Hmong people need the same hospitality under your supervision.” The governor says: “Well, I have no place for your people right now, but there is a deserted temple. Take your people there, clear the temple, and have your people stay there for a while.”

We go back and take all the Hmong refugees to that temple called Wat Samakhee. That is the first camp we start in Nong Khai on May 14, 1975. That’s history!

Capt. Ly Vong Yeng Nao Lynaolu

My family is gone. On the night of the 13th–14th I sleep at brother Ly Fu’s house. I sleep until about 2:00 A.M. At 2:00 A.M. I cannot sleep. I wake up. My mother-in-law and young brother-in-law wake up also. In the dark of the night I talk to my mother-in-law. I say: “My mom, if you want to look at me, look at me. If I want to look at you, I will look at you, because this is the last time. The reason I say like this is because if I stay here with all of you, I will get killed. That is a fact because I am a military officer. Absolutely I will get killed. All of you, it doesn’t matter, the communist enemy doesn’t do anything to you. If I die, I die first. You, maybe you die five years later—maybe, maybe not. But me, I die first, so I have to go. I have to go. I tried to help all of you for three days, but we did not succeed. Today is the last day, the 14th. It is the last day. The last day! I must go! I cannot wait for you.”

American C-130 after takeoff from LS 20-A (Long Cheng) (Blong Moua collection).

So my mom says: “Oi! My dear son, don’t escape! Don’t leave us behind! We will attempt as much as possible to go with you.” My mom is intelligent, yes? And that early, at 2:00 or 3:00 A.M., we come to sleep in the airfield where two or three helicopters are parked about halfway down. We go to sleep over there near the helicopters. I don’t really sleep, but I lie down on the ground and have one blanket to cover me. The patrol officers drive by very often. They pass by every 30 minutes. They have their headlights on, but everything else in Long Cheng is dark, dark. They patrol—they go back and forth, back and forth. Except for the patrol cars, it is very quiet out on the airstrip.

There are only three of us in that area—me, my mom, and my young brother-in-law. The patrol officer comes and says to me that if it was not me, maybe they would chase me out. But they come to see it is me, so they don’t know what to do. They don’t want to talk to me, but they cannot avoid me. They cannot push me because it is me. They say: “OK, I would like to let you know to stay here. Beyond this area, nobody passes. If anyone passes from this area forward, they will get killed. It is very dangerous.” They tell me like that. I say OK. But I imagine, I try to figure it out by myself. There must be some reason why they say something like that. I think when I sit up, and I think when I lie down. There is no time to stop thinking. I must think. Dag, dag, dag. Maybe they say wrong. Dag, dag—they cheat us! I catch it like that. They are lying! Maybe there are officers there who escaped from a dangerous area, from Vang Pao’s house, and they moved to that side. Maybe Vang Pao’s house will be attacked, and they try to move away, move to the other side. I just guess that in my mind. And when the dangerous area explodes, when Vang Pao’s house explodes, the airplane will rescue them from some place outside. I just guess by myself, but I don’t know.

Everything is quiet even though there are still 5,000 to 6,000 people at the top of the airfield. It’s still dark, and I wait until we can almost see the people moving around. I wait until then, and I tell my mom: “Mom, you and brother stay here. Don’t move! If I move away, and there is an explosion somewhere—Boom!—or if you hear gunfire, maybe I am dead. You open the helicopter and get in. And if it flies, you can fly out, OK? And the second thing, if I am gone for 30 minutes, and I don’t get killed, I will come back. If over one hour and you don’t see me here, that means I got killed, and you run away.” I talk like that to my mom and my brother-in-law. I know that if that helicopter flies, it must go to Thailand. Any military plane or helicopter must go there. That is why I put my mom and brother-in-law in the middle of them. And my mom says: “OK. In everything we will follow you. But make sure you don’t leave us behind!” She doesn’t cry, but she is very nervous and scared.

If she can do or not do like I say, I don’t know. I cannot help that situation. Maybe they will see the people going some way—then they should just follow them and go. Just do their best to be safe. There is no plan, no place to run. It accumulates like that.

At that time I try to walk down to the end of the airfield. I want to observe the situation and know if someone is there.

When I go there, I see there is a group of 200 to 300 people who come to hide and wait for an airplane. See? To wait for an airplane! I am not surprised. Everything goes like I think. They are hiding behind the paj iab bushes at the bottom of the airfield so no one can see them. That group of people is people who Vang Pao likes. I tell you the truth. Special friends are hiding over there. That group tries to cheat the big group waiting at the top of the airfield. They don’t let them know their plan. But God helps me to imagine what area will be best.

The first person I meet is Colonel Shoua Yang. He is on patrol all night. I saw him several times already, and now I see him again. It is almost light enough to see people but not quite yet. Colonel Shoua Yang drives a car and plans to chase me out. But when he sees it’s me, he laughs, he smiles. He already warned me, but I pass anyway, and he cannot do anything. “Now what are you doing, brother-in-law?” He tells me like that. I smile, and I say: “I do like you do. Whatever you are doing, I am doing that thing.” I tell Shoua Yang like that. And then Shoua Yang smiles and passes on.

I keep going, and now General Vang Pao comes. Maybe Vang Pao comes to try to chase me out. He comes from the south end of the airfield, not from his house. He is out there on the airfield so early in the morning, driving a green military jeep, all alone. Vang Pao says: “What are you doing here, brother-in-law? Why do you come here? For what?” I say: “What are you doing? I want to do like you do. Whatever you do, I do like you do.” I talk to General Vang Pao like that. I can do so. I knew Vang Pao since I was young. I was a guerrilla from 1946 until 1953—fighting, drop the gun, fighting, drop the gun, fighting until ’53. Vang Pao and I lived in the same county, in the Nong Het area, and he married my sister-cousin, True Ly. Our family and Vang Pao’s family lived like we were the same family, just different last names.

Then I say to him: “Don’t do like this. In the whole war when the situation was serious we worked together and helped each other, but now you will escape by yourself. You will go alone, and you will let the whole world die. Is that true?” What I know is that Shoua Yang’s family, Hang Sao’s family, Tou Lu’s family, Tou Pao’s family, and Cher Pao Moua’s family will fly out and leave everyone else behind. I know that exactly. And the CIA wants to do like that. I say: “Impossible. Starting in 1960 you need more people to fight. The CIA, the U.S. government, collects all the people who have the age of 13 or 14 years. They collect them all together to fight. But at the end of the danger, they need only five families to fly away? That is not right. Everybody should go because everybody fought. Not just the general and the colonels fought.” And Vang Pao says, “Do you want to go too?” I say: “Sure! For a man like me, why would I stay here? For what reason would I stay in Long Cheng?” I say like that, and he says, “Oh, if you want to go, you go over there.” Then he drives on past me, past the helicopters where I dropped my mother and brother-in-law. I don’t know where he goes after that. Then I return to get my mom and my brother-in-law to follow me over to where the group of people are hiding.

The first secret location was the GMC truck hiding next to Vang Pao’s house, and the second one is in the paj iab bushes, where 250–300 people hide. All night they had been gathering there. When I go to the paj iab, there are the five families that Vang Pao loves.

The first line is Colonel Cher Pao Moua, Vang Pao’s father-in-law, and behind him, Colonel Shoua Yang. They stay in one line. And in the second line is Colonel Nhia Lue Vang. And the third line belongs to my family and my cousins—to the Ly families. Ly Tou Kao, Ly Cha Ly, Neng Tong Ly. I don’t remember who is after the Ly line. And when I go there my cousin, Ly Tou Kao, whispers to me: “Ah, brother, brother! Come here! You stay here! Around 6:00 A.M. we have one C-130 that will be landing here to carry all of us to go to Thailand.” I say, “Yes,” and my mom comes to stand up with my cousins in the third line. But when I go to there, I imagine, I guess, I calculate that there are three or four lines. There are people lined up behind the leaders of each line. At least 50 people in each line—men, children, wives. Which line has a chance? Then I think the first line has more chance. That line has more chance! And maybe it’s possible that the second line has half a chance. And the third and the fourth lines, no chance at all to go into the airplane. I look around, then I change my mind about where to stand.

I come back to the third line and open my eyes straight to my mom. Then I go to the first line. My mom doesn’t follow me. I stand there for a while. I return to look straight to my mom again, and I go. My mom doesn’t follow me. First time, second time—a secret look. My secret look does not succeed, so I have to open my mouth. I return a third time and say to my mom, “Go with me!” And then my mom complains: “Ahhh! We can stay here. It’s OK. Why do you still move? The things are so heavy!” My mom blames me like this. I say: “Don’t talk. Just follow me.” And my mom follows me. And when my mom follows me, I stop and I talk to my mom. I say: “Right now is the last chance. We must go until we succeed. If this time you don’t pay attention to go, no way. This is the last chance.”

When we go to stand in the first line, I talk quietly and secretly to my mom and young brother-in-law. I say, “When the group of people here breaks like bees in a hurry, you go to the plane.” Now my mom knows that I will leave them behind. If they don’t rush, I will leave them, absolutely 100 percent.

And then at 6:30, almost 7:00 A.M., the C-130 airplane comes. It is a U.S. military plane with an American pilot. Phewwww!—it lands and passes by, and then the airplane slows down and turns and comes back to us. It taxis the length of the airfield to come and pick up the people. There’s a strong wind from the airplane propellers. Phewwww! Four propellers and they don’t turn off the engines. And when the airplane returns, the wind blows, and all the people break up like bees. Break up like bees! The people don’t even wait for the airplane to stop rolling. People are running before the ramp is down. The airplane makes a lot of wind, and you have to push against it.

When I start to run, my mom is scared and she tries to grab me, to grab my belt and hang onto my pants! Ha! Ha! She knows! I am the one to jump up and carry my young brother-in-law into the airplane. I tell him: “You go out, you die! I warn you!” We don’t worry about anything except survival. I carry nothing else with me.

But my mom! She is stuck against the ramp again! I tell you she’s a crazy lady! To catch the airplane you must wear pants, trousers. Do not wear a skirt! When you wear a skirt, you can’t get your leg up because you are ashamed. You cannot go up high! Crazy lady! She is wearing a skirt. I didn’t tell her not to wear a skirt. There are too many problems, and each person must know by themselves. A thousand words I have talked! A thousand times I said what we must do! And then she is stuck again, and I don’t know what to do.

My uncle, Colonel Ly Cha Ly, says: “You have to put that lady up! We have nowhere to go! If you leave her here, she blocks the way. She is a barrier! Get her up onto the ramp!” Ly Cha Ly is standing on the ground next to my mom. He’s also trying to get into the airplane. Sure! He is a colonel too! He tells the words, but he does not help me to get her up. He says to the group of people who push my mom: “He needs to get that lady up! We have no way to go in!” He says like that to the people behind her. He tells them to push her up. Oh, chaos!

I am up on the ramp already. I reach down to grab my mom under her arms and around her waist and p-u-l-l her up into the airplane. And I get dizzy also. I am not strong. I am still sick with the gout problem. But that time, I succeed. And on May 14, ’75, at 6:30 or 7:00 A.M., I fly out of Long Cheng to Nam Phong.

I survived. I know that we have a God who helps the good people 100 percent. The bad people, no chance. In the past history they say that the bad people will ride on horses and the good people will carry heavy loads. They say like that, in the past time. The evil people govern the world. They say like that. But that’s wrong. The good people will ride on the horses, and the bad people will carry the heavy loads at last. That’s a true story and something amazing and incredible. And no people see it, just me. I see the story like that. That’s the story of my personal leaving from Long Cheng.

Mrs. Maosay Ly Saykao, Mother of 11 Children

The last day in Long Cheng, I do not eat or sleep for one day and one night. I don’t have my bag with me any more. Now we don’t carry anything. We go early, early to the airport. There are a lot of people out there—people so close together! Even if you pour a bowl of water over people’s heads, it won’t drip down to the ground!

The security guard says, “Now we are going to pick up the parents who have sons in the army and also those who have sons who study in the United States.” I say: “I go! I have two sons in the United States! One stays with Jerry’s mother in Montana, and Jerry wants me to go!” Shoua Yang says: “No! You can’t go!” He says the airplane is already full—that there are already five lines of people waiting to get on the airplane. He tells us to go to another place.

After Shoua Yang tells me like that, I grab Shoua Yang’s hand and say: “No! Nai Phoun told me that I have to come here! He said I have to come and wait here because I have two sons in the United States already!” Then Shoua Yang asks me, “Nai Phoun told you that?” I say: “Yes! He told me to come here!” Shoua Yang thinks about it a little bit. Then he says: “OK. You go to the fifth line to wait for the airplane.”

I did not really see Nai Phoun, but I need to go on the airplane, so I just lie to Shoua Yang! I am a smart lady! Shoua Yang tells me to go to the fifth line, but I tell my husband: “We don’t go to that line. We stay in the third line. When you see the airplane come, you just rush to the airplane. If you don’t rush, then we will be left behind.”

We wait in line, but we don’t know where the plane is going. The rumors say: “If we go by plane, the plane is going to America. We are going to the United States.” That’s what the soldiers tell us. I say that to you, and you say that to everybody, but nobody really knows.

We make a line waiting to go to the airplane. About 6:00 A.M. the big airplane comes in. There is a Hmoob Muas [Moua clan] lady in line behind me. She says: “It’s not your turn! Wait, wait, wait!” I wear a big overcoat, and she holds onto my sleeve. She wants to keep me there. I think about it, and I don’t want to get lost. I say, “Forget it!” I pull off my overcoat and leave my sleeve in her hand. I let it go, and I run to the plane. I don’t carry anything. Just my body and the clothes I wear on my body. We just take our lives and forget everything else. I hold my two daughters by their hands, and everybody runs to the back door of the airplane. So many people are bumping into me. Push, push, push! They push me! “I stop you, and I go first!” “No! I stop you, and I go first!” It’s too hard!

There are too many people. I hold the hands of the children, and when we get close to the airplane, my husband just pushes the children into the plane. I try to crawl in from the side of the ramp, but it is too hard for me. Finally my husband pushes me through that small space. We all squeeze onto the airplane.

There are so many people! The people don’t listen. That plane is just for my husband and me and the special people. But when that plane lands, the others just rush to it. They rush into that plane, and their faces turn green like a dead face! Do you know what I mean? They wait there all night, and they get cold and tired so their faces turn green.

When I get into the airplane I have only the clothes that I wear—nothing else! Even if I packed clothes and other things, they want only people to get into the airplanes. They don’t want anybody to bring anything else. The Thai kickers say: “We will carry only you. No clothes. Nothing else.” Those Thai men will take only the humans. Humans are OK. The suitcases, the bags—they throw them out. I don’t even have my purse—no jewelry, no nothing! Even my xauv necklace I left at Bliayao’s house. If anyone brings their possessions into the airplane, the two Thai kickers throw them out to make the plane a little bit lighter. When the people are full in the airplane, the suitcases are all over the airport. Then the Thai men even push some people out of the plane. That is a very big American airplane—the biggest airplane! But still they push some out!

The airplane fills up very fast. Maybe 25–30 minutes. It is so crowded inside! It’s very crowded and very hot. There are no chairs, so we just sit on the floor. When the doors close, everybody in the airplane looks like they feel sad. Sad faces. But all of my family is near me, and I can see all of them. I think that now I am free and I am going to the United States. But instead we go to Thailand!

Pheng Moua, Dong Dok Student

By now the people don’t care about the lines. They run, and if the women wear skirts it is too windy out there. Their skirts fly up over their heads, and they have to pull them down, pull them down. Then they don’t have time to get into the airplane! People run to the back of the plane, and they get stuck on the ramp. The people behind step on those people who are stuck there. You must climb over whoever is in your way.

People panic and fight for a spot on the airplane: “My family first!” “My family first!” At that time actually it is not an evacuation at all—just a stampede.

Blong Moua, Lycée Vientiane Student/Photographer

The evacuation of Long Cheng: at that time a Hmong man doesn’t know anything about the future, about the destination, about where we will go. Will we survive, or will we be killed by the Pathet Lao? We don’t know where the Pathet Lao are. Maybe they are already around Long Cheng. They can kill us at any time. Only the tears, always the tears, always the tears on your face—everybody, everybody!

On the morning of May 14, I see one C-46. When it lands, it turns around at the head of the airport. It stops moving, but the engines are still running when one American shows up in the door of the plane. The American opens the door at the same time that one major’s group drives out of the waiting area at the head of the airport. At that time everything is too confused—too confused! Many small cars, many trucks going around. Oh! And at the airport many, many, many thousands of people.

I see that major is bringing his military camion, his ten-tire truck. He brings it full with the whole family, but the major is not in the truck; he is on the ground with four or five soldiers. I hear the major say to the American: “You have to evacuate us from here! You have to put all my family in that plane!” The major is very angry. He tells his soldiers to take their arms and prepare and point them at the American. I see that, and I hear click-clack as the soldiers prepare their guns to fire. They point their guns at the American, and I say: “Oh, my God! You Americans help Hmong people, and at the last minute you have to be killed by Hmong too? No!”

I am only 18–20 feet away from that conversation. I am very afraid, but I have the camera with me, and I want to take that picture too—the whole thing! The American, the major, the soldiers with their guns up—the whole thing! I know how to frame that picture, but I decide that it is not too safe for me. I am scared because they have the guns. If they have guns, I don’t want to get involved with them. If I take that picture, I am scared they will kill me. I let it go!

American C-46 during final evacuation of Long Cheng, May 1975 (Roger Warner collection).

They prepare their guns to shoot, but they do not shoot them, and it seems the American is not scared. He talks to everybody. He says in English: “Be cool. Whatever happens, we have to help you. But cool down!”

I see that happen, then I think: “Oh, the officers order the American to put their own families into the airplane. They are military, and they have guns. They can take their whole family in the camion to get into the airplane easily. This is not fair to us, to the civilian people! We civilian people, we have to step on each other to get in. We have to fight!”

After they point their guns at the American, I run away. I go to join my family at the head of the airport because I am scared.

Jay Ge Yang, Lycée Vientiane Student

From a letter to the author, dated December 5, 1994, regarding the evacuation on May 14, 1975.

C-130 loading from tail ramp during final evacuation, May 14, 1975. Photo by Blong Moua (Jay Ge Yang collection).

In the picture, I am the tall young man with a backpack on. This picture was taken while we were fighting to get in the U.S. C-130 to flee to Thailand as a result of the U.S. withdrawal from the Indochina War, which was and is still or will probably be remembered as one of the biggest and most historic losses in U.S. foreign policy regardless of its status as a world leader. There are a few major factors that contributed to this loss for the United States and its three allies, South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. These major factors are corruption among all levels of government officials, lack of a solid and strategic national organizational structure, a wide gap between the rich and the poor people (which contributes to social, political, and economic injustice), and the lack of leadership with vision and wisdom who could understand world events and modify their policies accordingly for the good of the Indochinese and people around the world.

A brief history of our fleeing to Thailand: on the night of 5/12/75, all the people who were fighting along with the United States during the war and could be in danger of their lives if they stayed, agreed that all would be gathering at Long Cheng Base and be picked up by the U.S. C-130 at night. As the nights of 5/12/75 and 5/13/75 passed by without planes coming, then people were told that 5/14/75 will be the last day that U.S. planes will come. The people then rushed to the airport and fought their way into every flight that came. You can see from the picture how panicked people were and how hard it was to get into the plane as thousands of people rushed their way inside the very last C-130.

My grandfather was 70 years old and was probably the oldest person among the panicked people that day. He was lucky enough to get inside the C-130 but not strong enough to withstand the push from the panicked crowd. He then fell on the floor, and people kept walking all over his old, weak, and defenseless body. As I, who was probably the tallest young man among the group, saw the situation deteriorate, I then fought my way in by jumping and walking over people just to save my dear and old grandfather from this hell. With some extra effort and power, I was able to get to him, protect him, and pick him up from the floor even though half my body was still outside the C-130 while it was taking off. For a few moments of last but powerful effort, I then was able to pull myself inside the C-130 before it reached the sky.

Capt. Vang Bee, Code Name “Fackee,” T-28 and Baron Pilot

I land the Baron in Long Cheng in the morning. At 9:00 A.M. I am standing by the plane when General Vang Pao brings his father-in-law, Nhia Chu Moua—May Song’s dad. He brings him, and before Nhia Chu goes inside the aircraft, the general says to me secretly, “Don’t come back to Long Cheng again.” I say, “Why?” He says: “I will try to be out of Long Cheng before noon. After this trip you don’t come back to Long Cheng! They will kill you!” I say OK. I make only one flight that day, and I never go back again.

Mrs. May Song Moua Vang, Niam Ntxhoo, #6 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

After I already leave to Thailand, VP says to my father that everybody has to leave the country. My father loves the country very much. He doesn’t want to leave, but VP says, “You have to go!”

My dad and mom and older brother go to the airport and fight to get to the airplanes! My mom and my brother succeed, but my father still stands at the airport. Two days later he comes back to talk to VP again, to say he cannot get on the airplane. My father is always shy! VP says: “This is the last day. I have to help you!” VP puts my father into the Baron to fly to Nam Phong.

You know what? When my father came to Long Cheng, he carried a suitcase from his house in Nam Luang. The suitcase has jewelry, silver, money. He tells my older brother, Chu Fu, to carry the suitcase. My brother says, “Dad, you carry the suitcase.” My brother thinks that dad has the suitcase. My dad thinks my brother has the suitcase. Probably the suitcase is at the house. Then everybody goes, and nobody carries the suitcase!

When everybody gets to Thailand they ask each other, “Where is the suitcase?” My mom says: “Oh! My first son and my husband! I trust you to carry the money!” Everybody is sick because they lost all the money and everything in that suitcase! Too bad! My father is going crazy over that.

General Vang Pao (right) handing out school supplies in Ban Boua Mu, 1972. Nhia Chu Moua in center of picture (Mrs. May Song Vang collection).

– 14 –

A CAN-DO OPERATION

(Wednesday, May 14, 1975)

Capt. Jack Knotts, Helicopter Pilot

Regarding the evacuation, I think that Jerry Daniels basically conceived it. Yes, it would have to go through the embassy in Vientiane, but it has always been my understanding that Jerry Daniels came up with the plan of how to bring General Vang Pao out of Long Cheng safely.

This idea of Jerry’s evacuation plan of Vang Pao is cooked up sometime probably late on the afternoon of May 13. It is all sort of off-the-wall. The plan is explained to me in the middle of the night when I am called up about 2:30 in the morning by my chief pilot, Bobby Nunez. I say 2:30 A.M. but, hell, it could be 3:30 A.M. I mean, it is in the middle of the night. I have an apartment at Papa Wu’s International House. Nunez comes in. He says: “Jack, here’s what you’re going to do in the morning. Here’s your takeoff time.” He gives a short brief as to what it is. Captain Dave Kouba, a Continental Porter pilot, and I, a Bird Air helicopter pilot, are to launch out of Wattay at crack of dawn—like 6:00 A.M.—and proceed to Long Cheng and there to contact Jerry Daniels. Jerry is the only American still up there. This mission is for the purpose of bringing General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels safely out of Long Cheng. After all, VP and Jerry can’t just walk down to the ramp in the middle of 10,000 or more Hmong people and climb on an aircraft and fly away. It would be—well, it would be a bad scene. People probably would be shooting and getting killed. So the plan that, I believe, is Jerry’s plan is that there will be a refugee evacuation going on at the same time as a diversion for getting VP out.

After Nunez leaves, I don’t go back to sleep. I mill around and get dressed. Well, this is a secret mission. I’m not going to talk to anybody about it, but it is also very loose. It is between what you might say professional and experienced people. Between us, you don’t have to sit down and write a big long outline. You know what the guy wants done, and so you’re going to do it. If this was a proper full-blown military operation, there’d be all kinds of codes and rigamarole. But this is a can-do civilian operation with minimal fussing around.

Captain Dave Kouba, Continental Air Services Porter pilot for evacuation of General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels, May 14, 1975 (Jack Knotts collection).

I see Dave at Wattay. We take off together. I fly the Bell model 206 Jet Ranger, a small helicopter. There’s a pilot seat in front and a copilot seat, which is usually used for a passenger, and three seats in the back. Dave and I are up there by 6:20 or 6:30 in the morning. We land, and Dave puts his Porter over on what we call “VP’s Ramp.”

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

I see VP in the house about 6:00 in the morning. This morning VP is quiet; VP gets quiet when he is depressed. He doesn’t want to talk to anybody, and he looks tired. I know VP isn’t happy. Even though he knows that Jerry did everything he could possibly do, VP does not seem to be happy. He did not get what he wanted from Vientiane. If the CIA maintains itself in Long Cheng, if the Americans stay and back up the Hmong and back up VP, I think we would not lose our country easily. But everybody pulls out, and there is no way that VP can stop it. The only person who stays with VP is Jerry. He isn’t angry at Jerry personally, but he is angry at the Americans because of that situation. I think he and Jerry already made a decision that this is the final day, but I have no idea about that, no idea at all.

When I meet VP in the morning, I ask him what he wants me to do. He says, “Go back to the airport.” I want to know where VP is going to go. Is he going to stay home, or is he going out someplace? He doesn’t want me to ask him that at all. He just says: “Don’t ask that question. When the time comes, you will know what you are supposed to do.” VP doesn’t want us to look for him. I am totally confused. For several days I have felt that VP doesn’t know how to get out of Long Cheng. That he doesn’t have a plan as to how to leave. It makes me feel that my father is not safe. That’s why I want to stay near him. But VP tells me to go to the airport to continue my duty by putting people on the planes. So I go to the airport.

On the last day the crowd at the airport is larger. People are everywhere, gathered together in small groups of 100 or 200. They are still there, waiting in line, hoping they will be on the plane. Also there is a large crowd of people who stand outside of the fence at the airport. They are wandering around, and it seems they have lost their hope. I don’t know what they are thinking about or what they plan to do. And there are still a lot of people in town and in the market area. If you count everyone together—it is 40,000 to 50,000 people.

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 14, 1975, by Dave Kouba and Jack Knotts on the airstrip in Long Cheng while watching the evacuation. Retrospective commentary by Kouba (1990) and Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KOUBA: Well, Jack, what do you think about the imminent fall of Long Cheng? We’re on NBC now, so you go ahead. Speak up.

KNOTTS: Well, it’s a cryin’ shame.

KNOTTS: I remember those words so clearly. We’re at Long Cheng standing beside Dave’s Porter. We’re talking. It is all so sad. There is more to my thought than the immediate day. It is sadness for the abandonment of the Hmong people. Which I still feel very strongly. In fact, if I dwell on those past days, I get so cotton-pickin’ angry at Washington, D.C., and our government. It is a crying shame for the Hmong. That conversation is very extemporaneous. Dave just shoves that mike in my face.

KNOTTS: We’ve got a C-130 here on final. Landing lights just came on. Dave’s got his telephoto on his Nikon, and he’s going to get a shot of it coming in. This could be the last bird coming in. We’ve had two C-46s this morning, plus this 130 was in here bright and early. The C-130 got up here before we did, but we heard it on the radio as we were flying up. We knew he was out and coming back. We timed the 130, and he took one hour and 20 minutes to make the trip. We’re not sure if it’s 1 hour 20 to Udorn or Nam Phong. Now he’s back. It’s about 6:30 A.M.

KNOTTS: In my estimation what Jerry’s plan is on May 14 is to have the C-130 make maybe one or two runs, preferably one, the C-46s to make one run, for Dave and I to get up here, get VP and Jerry out, and the whole thing would be called off. By 7:30 in the morning, or earlier, it would be all done. Those people who were led to believe that they were going to be evacked—and there were hundreds and thousands of them on that ramp, it was just a sea of humanity up there—they were just going to be left. And this is what was so sad about the whole damned thing. I think on the final day there was no intention to carry on hour after hour.

C-130, piloted by Captain Matt Hoff, at Long Cheng airstrip, May 14, 1975. Photo by Blong Moua (Yang Toua Chiachue collection).

KNOTTS: You look around the ramp here—abandoned suitcases, clothes all over, shoes, trash of all kinds. It’s really a mess. A mob scene up on the main ramp. There’s—I estimate—I don’t know—five, six, or seven thousand people up there. All streaming toward the one C-130—trucks, jeeps, and people walking, carrying all their personal possessions. The back doors have now come open, and the mob is surging up around the aircraft. Matt Hoff is pilot, and he gave us a big thumbs up as he came by. He’s doing a real great job.

KNOTTS: At the time that the C-130 comes in, or even the C-46s, the people don’t pay any attention to Dave and his Porter or me and my helicopter. They aren’t concerned about us, but we wonder how long that will go on. We don’t have any fear for ourselves, but both of us are anxious. The situation is not a normal, polite situation. It is fraught with a helluva lot of potential danger. But after all, we’ve been doing this for a number of years, and it is, in a way, just an extension of the routine thing.

KOUBA: It looks like they’re not going to fly the T-28s out, huh? Is that four of them sitting up there or three?

KNOTTS: They have them spaced out on the main ramp. It really looks like they’re going to leave them.

KOUBA: Yep. Look, they can’t hardly hop that 130, Jack.

KNOTTS: The runway comes down, and then the ramp goes off in an L shape up behind the karst. That is amassed with people. It is a very, very severe turn right at the head of the runway. When Matt gets up there, he has to turn around slowly and people just have to get out of the way. They are running around under the wheels and everything else. Matt puts the ramp down in the back, but he doesn’t stop the airplane. The ramp is up more than a foot off the ground. That is up a little high for them to hop up but the airplane never stops rolling. He’s taxiing slowly, and they’re filling the aircraft as he moves. It is chaos! And he can’t taxi down too far because he won’t have enough room to get off.

KOUBA: I think we ought to try to get out between this flight and the next one.

KNOTTS: I think our plan is good to try to get our birds cranked up while there is a big bird in here so we won’t get mobbed. Our birds are all that’s left.

The weather this morning is not real great—sort of typical Xiengkhouang-area weather for this time of year. Right now we’ve got maybe a 4,000-foot ceiling. Ragged clouds, but it’s fairly decent.

OK, the C-130 is filled now, but the people won’t leave the rear of it. Matt has revved up the engines and pulled ahead a little bit. The blast has sort of discouraged some of them. They’re starting to move away.

KOUBA: It’s hard to get the door shut, see. Matt is talkin’ to his kickers back there. He needs good kickers to get the damn door shut. That’s the problem. I know they are awful damned busy. You get all those people mobbin’ on the back of it, and then you can’t shut the door ’cause everybody thinks you’re goin’ to take on one more person.

KNOTTS: There he’s closed the door. Crank it up there.

Hmong people running to board the C-130 airplane during the final evacuation of Long Cheng, May 14, 1975 (Chee Yang collection).

All right, the doors have finally closed, and the C-130 is slowly taxiing forward right near the head of the runway and starting to turn around to line up. He’s moving down the runway and here we go…. That’s really beautiful, all that prop wash going off the front, huh?

KNOTTS: By the time he gets to just before VP’s house, he pours on the coals, and down the runway it goes and they take off. The air is humid. As those propellers dig into the air—you’ve seen con [condensation] trails on airplanes, it’s the same thing. The prop wash, the con trails, are coming off the C-130’s propellers on takeoff. Oh! It’s very dramatic-looking and makes it exciting, like a movie.

KNOTTS: There goes the 130.

KOUBA: I hope we’re out of here by the next time he comes back.

KNOTTS: Matt said it’ll take him about an hour and 25 or 35 to come on back. Let’s set our watches and sort of work on it.

Maj. Chong Ge Yang, Father from Nam Pha

We get to the airport around 4:30 A.M. None of us adults have slept. We are still wearing our bloody clothes. Even though we have extra clothes with us, no one thinks about changing their clothes.

Around 5:00 A.M. we see Nai Phoun at the airport. That morning Nai Phoun orders the people who guard the evacuation to put our family in the first airplane that comes.

At 6:30 or 7:00 A.M., one C-130 plane arrives. When the plane lands, we are supposed to go in first. We are holding onto the little ones’ hands, but everybody just rushes in and nobody can control it. We can’t get on. We try to get on three different planes, then we decide not to try again. We already have three children dead. We don’t want to lose anybody else.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

After the American C-130 left, the Lao C-47 plane comes, the two-engine Dakota. On that last Dakota the kicker, the guy who works the back door, is Moua Chue, a T-28 pilot. When the plane stops rolling, Moua Chue opens the door and starts to pull people up into the plane from the ground. Mr. Moua Chue shouts: “This is the last flight! We are here today because we volunteered to be here! This is not an order from anyone, and we cannot do it any longer! This is the last plane!”

When he announces that there will be no more planes coming, everybody goes crazy. Some of the people try to pull their relatives up into the plane. Others try to stop them from getting into the plane. A couple of times I see people who get on the airplane and kick and push other people out because they want to let their own families get up on the plane. The crowd is very angry.

Moua Chue keeps calling me to get on that plane. I happen to know Moua Chue very well. He says directly to me: “Come on, Chu! Get up here! This is the last one.” He reaches his hand out to me because he wants to pull me up. I am going to grab his hand and get on the plane, but then I realize, “Oh, no! My father is still at home!” At that time I don’t know where VP is, so I decide to stay. I tell him, “Go ahead.” He says: “You will have to walk for one month before you reach Thailand! Come on!” I say: “Just go ahead and take off! If things get out of hand, then people might shoot your plane.” He wants me to get on the plane, but I have made my decision. I don’t want anything to happen to VP. He looks at me and says, “See you!” I think I might not have a chance to see him any more, but I know that I make the right decision. He closes the door, and I have a couple of tears drop from my eyes because I don’t know what will happen in the next couple of days. I think: “Well, it’s time. Now I will be beside VP for one or two months.” I really believe I have to walk out like everyone else. I really think that! I don’t know that Jerry and VP have a plan.

After the C-47 takes off, I drive my jeep back to the house. When I get to the house there are still 30 of Vang Nou’s guards on duty, still securing the area inside the fence. I go inside the house, but I can’t find VP. I ask Vang Nou, and he says that VP is with Jerry. Then Vang Nou says he will go with me up to Jerry’s office. When Vang Nou and I leave the house, just Vang Nou’s soldiers are left there. We leave the house and go up to Sky, the American compound up on the hill.

I walk inside the Sky office, and Jerry tells me, “Your dad is here.” VP comes out and says to me and Vang Nou: “You go back to the house to get my briefcase. After you get the briefcase, drive to the market and wait down there.” Jerry’s office is up on a hill, and the market is down below it.

To be honest, I don’t know exactly what is going to happen when he tells us to go back to the house. The only thing I can tell is that VP will not return to the house any more. That must be the final trip that we are making.

We go back to the house for the second time. We return to the house less than half an hour after we left the first time. But when we go back I see some new faces of soldiers at the house. The guard at the gate has a different face. I stop the car, and he acts very normal and pretends he belongs to the house. He salutes, but I see he really doesn’t know who I am. Then he asks in a very calm voice: “Where is the general? Is he coming back?” I speak quietly to Vang Nou and ask, “Who are these people?” The engine is running, and the guard can’t hear what I am saying. Vang Nou says: “Keep cool. Don’t say anything to these people that is not necessary. Pretend that you don’t realize who they are.” We park, and Vang Nou says: “Go in the house and get VP’s briefcase. Don’t take anything else. We don’t want these people to know we are leaving.” He warns me that I should be out of the house as quickly as possible. We act very normal as if nothing is going on.

Inside, the whole house is empty. Vang Nou goes halfway up the stairs to the second floor and waits there, just in case someone follows us, while I run to VP’s room. VP’s door is unlocked. I go in and grab his briefcase. I want to get my briefcase too because my passport and my student visa to the U.S. are in there. With that, I can fly out at any time. I can also destroy the whole plan if I stop to pick it up. I have to let it go. All my clothes, my passport, my money, all my suitcases—I can’t take anything out because I don’t want the soldiers to know we are leaving.

When I leave the house in Long Cheng, I leave everything behind. I even leave the door open so the people can come in and take the payroll money. For all of the soldiers in the whole of Military Region 2, the payroll is maybe 500,000 U.S. dollars worth of Lao kip. But we have completely lost control of the payroll system, so boxes and boxes of money are stacked up in a corner of VP’s room. That money belongs to the people—the widows, the soldiers still on duty. For sure the families need the money. Since the payroll department is totally collapsed, my father intends to leave the door open for people to come and take whatever they want before the communists move in. I am in there for five minutes at the most before we get out of the house.

When we walk out, one of the soldiers comes and again asks very nicely: “Where is the general? Is the general coming back here?” Those new soldiers are just waiting for VP, not for me. We tell them: “Just stay here and don’t leave the house. Don’t let anyone else in. Very soon VP will come back.” They say: “Yes, sir. We won’t go anywhere.” Vang Nou and I have to lie for security. When we drive away, Vang Nou tells me, “None of those soldiers belong to me.” He is upset because all of his troops are gone. He says, “When we see your dad, we will tell him it is not safe for him at the house.”

Those new guards are very young Hmong guys, and I don’t think they are from the Long Cheng area. They are sent to catch VP. I hate to call them assassins, but that is the way I see it. That is what they are going to do. Whoever ordered them to replace our troops must have a plan. Otherwise they are not going to be there.

When we leave the house, I have VP’s briefcase with me. I drive the jeep to the bottom of the hill at the foot of the American compound. That is a market area. Most of the businesses are closed, but you still see some shops open. When Vang Nou and I pull up in the jeep, VP runs straight down that hill and gets in. VP and Jerry have made all the plans, but I don’t know anything until it happens.

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 14, 1975, by Dave Kouba and Jack Knotts in the Sky mess hall. Retrospective commentary by Kouba (1990) and Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KOUBA: Well, Jack, here we are havin’ dinner or breakfast or whatever—breakfast, dinner. Shit, I’m a little bit excited myself, you know.

KNOTTS: This is our last meal at Long Cheng.

KOUBA: Last meal at Long Cheng: good service and spam and eggs.

KNOTTS: The mess hall is up in the Customer compound. The whole compound is referred to as the Puzzle Palace, from time to time. The Puzzle Palace is a term that some of us use referring to the Pentagon, perhaps, or some high headquarters from where the edicts come down. It isn’t exactly derogatory, but it verges on that. We call it the Puzzle Palace, and we hope they figure out the puzzle so the rest of us lower on the totem pole won’t get stamped under by the elephants!

KOUBA: The bug-out plan is in process and should be executed within the next 45 minutes—have eight people goin’ out.

KNOTTS: VP and Jerry already planned the passenger load. They’ll lay four on you and four on me. When we switch, you’ll have eight.

KNOTTS: Bird Air somehow got crossways with the Thai government, and they won’t allow us to fly choppers across the Mekong into Thailand. That’s why on this evacuation we have to switch passengers to have the Porter from Continental take them into Thailand.

Captain Jack Knotts with Mrs. Mai Thao Vue and her daughter during the evacuation on May 14, 1975. Captain Knotts was the Bird Air helicopter pilot for the evacuation of General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels (Jack Knotts collection).

KOUBA: VP is edgy. He’s ready. But old Hog—I’ve never seen that guy get excited yet. Have you?

KNOTTS: No, not really.

KOUBA: He assured me that there wouldn’t be any shootin’ or anything, at least not from the friendlies. But you never can tell if they see him driving up that road. Ha! You have the idea that old Hog and VP are goin’ to be the only two here. We land, and my God, there’s 7,000.… I wonder if Jerry knows when the next airplane’s comin’ or if there is one?

KNOTTS: I don’t think there’s any rush—20 minutes or so. The C-130 won’t be back until 10:00 or maybe a little later if he has to refuel.

KOUBA: We don’t want to wait that late. But if there’s not another airplane in between now and then—we’ll have to go out by ourselves. We don’t want to do that—no way.

The one C-46 sounded bad. You aren’t going to see them right back here. That 130 has a better chance of gettin’ back before they do. So the only thing we can hope for now is one of them C-47s. Let’s go over and ask Jerry when are those C-47s comin’ in.

KNOTTS: Yeah, let’s hang right with him now, so we don’t have to be looking for one another.

KOUBA: Well, here we are in Hog’s office. VP has just left. The plan has been changed a little bit, hasn’t it, Jack?

KNOTTS: We are at the Puzzle Palace, the stone building, the war room, where there is some security. There is a big map on the wall. It has been the Customer’s operations office for years. We wait a few minutes before VP comes in. VP, Hog, Dave, and myself have to coordinate and set up so each of us understands clearly how we are gonna do this evacuation. It is important that no one else is aware of what is actually going to go on here. It has to be very secret, for all our safeties. We stand up and talk it out. We never sit down around a conference table. Mainly it is me doing the talking so that I understand exactly what they have in mind and they understand exactly what I can do with the helicopter and the timing and the exact position where I am going to pick VP up because all this is going to be flown at a low altitude and masked behind the hills so it is not seen by the Hmong who are down on the ramp.

The whole conversation is in English. VP speaks English very well. He understands what we are saying, and we understand him. Everybody is clear.

For the short period that the four of us are in discussion about the actual plan, to my recollection we are the only ones there. But the building itself is a turmoil of people out in the hall, in the other rooms. It is just a slamming of doors, loud talking, comings and goings. Oh, it is chaos! Everyone is seeing that their ammo is loaded in the chamber!

KNOTTS: I’m going to take VP right now. He’s going to drive up to the dam behind the king’s house. I’m going to land there and pick him up and move him to another spot, across the river. Then he will wait there. I come back here and land and wait to take Jerry out—because he cannot leave.

KNOTTS: Just south of Alternate the river comes down and at that point it is running in an east-west direction; then that river curves and goes south toward Site 272 [Ban Son/Nasu]. On the other side of the river is a small ridge and an old lima site—Lima Site 337 [Phou Khang]. That’s where I am going to put VP off. He will wait there with his bodyguards while I go back and get Jerry. They don’t want to go out together. The two of them cannot leave at exactly the same time. It’s got to be presented in a more casual arrangement. One is still there while the other one goes. If both the principals, both Jerry and VP, get into a vehicle together, all eyes, all 10,000 eyes in Long Cheng, will be on that vehicle. Where are they going? It will signal something.

KOUBA: I don’t know about getting VP up to that site with all these people.

KNOTTS: And one other thing: all the people are going to wonder why the chopper leaves and then ten minutes later it comes back.

KOUBA: I’ll bet the word’ll get around that someone took him somewhere.

KNOTTS: Well, I’ll go behind the hill. They won’t see me land over there. I can keep hidden behind the hill, but they can hear the noise, maybe.

KNOTTS: The hill is the small ridge that runs along parallel to the runway. The ridge runs right behind the king’s house. There is a road, a trail, that can be driven up to the king’s house, and then there is a small lane that proceeds on past the house and goes up over the ridge to a little water cachement area that is down on the other side—an earthen dam that I judge is wide enough to land on. That’s the pick-up point.

KNOTTS: Let’s walk down, Dave.

KNOTTS: We walk from the war-room office back down to the runway.

KOUBA: Famous last words, Jack. Hog said, “Oh, there’s no problem.” …Right there in the garden…

KNOTTS: …Well, there’s some of his own people…. Then Hog says, “Oh, there’s a couple of huckleberries around here.”

KOUBA: The audio on that part of the tape is no good, but the huckleberries we are talkin’ about is that VP is afraid some of his own men might shoot him if they think he is goin’ to bug out and not take them with him. They don’t want to stay behind. If VP is goin’, everybody wants to go, of course.

KNOTTS: Huckleberries would be Hog’s term for a questionable or possible bad guy amongst the good guys. A questionable person, a huckleberry. It is like saying, “We’ve got a security problem,” in code. It had been referred to that way before. It was not a general, everyday-used term, no, but it was in the language. That was probably Hog’s own term. I guess there were huckleberries up around Missoula, Montana. I mean real huckleberries! The huckleberries that Jerry Daniels is referring to here are out in the crowd or down on the ramp somewhere. They are uncontrollable, undisciplined, excitable types.

KNOTTS: Now, Dave, what did VP say again?

KOUBA: He said, when I was tryin’ to get a place to switch, he says: “No. There’s no place. After today it’s all communist.” So this finishes our flyin’.

KNOTTS: I guess we’re making the last flight out of here.

KOUBA: Yeah. Those damn USAIDers down there in Vientiane, sittin’ out there, happy-go-lucky, damn sakes, they think everything’s all right.

KNOTTS: If they could see this place right now they’d have second thoughts.

KOUBA: Yeah.

KNOTTS: …God, I’d like to hear the sound of a C-46 coming in. Wouldn’t you? There’s just too many loaded weapons here. They’re everywhere you look.

KNOTTS: We’re standing there part and parcel of this mass of humanity, this milling about. Practically all the men from 13 or 14 years on up have a weapon. It’s possible that they could, as refugees are apt to do at certain times, panic and rush the aircraft. Dave’s Porter is a small aircraft, and my Jet Ranger helicopter is smaller yet. If they rush that helicopter, they could tip it over, destroy it, and cause big problems.

KOUBA: Well, shit, VP’s not ready to go after all.

KNOTTS: We just had a note delivered down to hold off for a while.

KNOTTS: The timing is going to be delayed a little bit. We can surmise that this is a very traumatic thing that is happening here, especially for VP, to leave Long Cheng and be carried away somewhere. He isn’t eager or in a hurry to get on the aircraft and get out of there. He is, you might say, even dragging his feet. He doesn’t want to leave.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

Vang Nou and I see my dad run down the hill from Sky. VP gets in the jeep, and I tell him about the new faces at the house. He tells me he already knows that. I believe that’s why he refused to return home and also why Jerry didn’t want him to go there.

VP says, “Drive up the hill out of town to our fishing lake.” There is a lake, a big fishing pond that VP had built, up on the hill behind the king’s house. I drive, and he takes my hat and puts it on his head. That hat bends down and just covers part of his face. He wants to make sure that no one recognizes him. Also he takes all his general’s stars off and throws them away because you never know what will happen. Now we are not worried about the new soldiers at the house; we know we will not go back there. But VP worries that we might see some people on the road. The fishing pond is not in the city. We have to go out in the hills and go past the king’s house. That area is isolated, and anything can happen. Some Pathet Lao might already have moved into that area. The only one they are looking for is VP, not the rest of us. That’s why we try to avoid having anyone recognize VP.

When we are about halfway out to the fishing pond, one man tries to wave us down. He is a villager, unarmed. No one else is around, so VP tells me to stop the car when he waves to us. That man talks to VP, but he doesn’t know who he is talking to. He asks, “Is the boss still in Long Cheng?” VP says: “The boss left already. There is no reason for you to go to the city. Go home.”

I drive on up to the fishing pond. We wait there for two or three minutes until a small helicopter comes and lands beside the jeep. That is a CIA helicopter—an American helicopter with an American pilot.

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 14, 1975, by Dave Kouba and Jack Knotts. Retrospective commentary by Kouba (1990) and Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KNOTTS: You see how much time passes. Dave and I are waiting in Long Cheng from 6:00 something in the morning and here it is 9:45. The whole thing was supposed to be over by about 7:30. We were there for a long time, and Dave and I didn’t know exactly when it was going to click off, so he’s positioned at his aircraft and I’m positioned at my aircraft so that we’re ready when the time comes. In the meantime these refugee planes are flying all these people down to Nam Phong.

Long Cheng valley as seen from the top of Skyline ridge (Phou Mok). Head of airstrip is at far right. The zigzag road going up the mountain on the far side of the valley is the road to the king’s house (Yang Toua Chiachue collection).

KOUBA: Well, it’s getting a little hotter here. While Jerry is talkin’ to me at the airplane, one guy comes up there and says: “This guy’s pretty upset because he wants to get his family out. He’s mad about the 46s not parkin’ up here or down there. He says if we don’t get them out, he’s goin’ to kill somebody.” Old Hog, cool Hog, he says, “Oh, no biggy, no biggy.”

I tell Hog, “We need to make the big move when that 130 comes in. Forget about them 46s—whether they get here first or after.” I remind Jerry again. I say: “Let’s make it now. When the 130’s on the ground.”

KOUBA: I push that idea of a diversion. When Matt comes in again I say, “Hog, we need to go.” Hog, hell, he’d have stayed there all day, I believe, if I hadn’t have pushed him. Because, like I said, he isn’t afraid of no mob scene or nothin’.

KNOTTS: It is so traumatic to think that this is actually the end of years and years of struggle. There isn’t, from Hog’s standpoint, that sense of urgency to get the devil out of there as there is for Dave and me.

The time comes to leave. I’m sitting on the ramp in the chopper, waiting. Jerry comes down in a jeep and hands me a note with a call sign on it, “Little Man,” a reference to VP’s son who is at West Point. I never actually use the call sign, but if it has to be used, it would be a verification that you are talking to the proper people. It seems they finally have themselves organized up there.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

VP has already left the Sky compound. Now it is time for Jerry and me to leave. I leave everything on and running so it won’t make people suspicious, so they won’t think, “Hey, this guy’s going to leave!” It is a kind of camouflage so no one knows if we are gone or coming back. I leave the door open, and we just walk out. When I go, I carry a whole case of beer from the compound because Jerry tells me: “Hey, this is the last minute. Carry the Oly for us to drink!” Seriously! I carry 24 cans of Olympia beer. I take that beer with me, and Jerry drives me down to the Porter.

When we get to the Porter, the American pilot is there. Also Lieutenant Vang Neng and his wife are already in the plane. I sit in the front next to the pilot. Jerry does not get on the Porter with us.

Head of runway at Long Cheng. At lower left is Sky compound, the market road, and General Vang Pao’s house (Steve Schofield collection).

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 14, 1975, by Dave Kouba and Jack Knotts. Retrospective commentary by Kouba (1990) and Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KOUBA: Hog put the four people on that are goin’ with me in the Porter. They are the radio-gear people or personal aides. I don’t know if they are VP’s aides or Hog’s aides.

KNOTTS: I see you start to crank, I start to crank, then Jerry comes to my window, and he says: “I can’t go with you from here. It would be too obvious.” Jerry can’t get on with me with all these people watching. He says: “After you move VP, meet me behind the king’s house. In the little saddle back there.” So I say, “OK, Jerry.” He says, “Give me about ten minutes.” Then he gets back in the jeep and drives away.

KNOTTS: I am concerned that the thousands of people there will wonder why this chopper is cranking up with no passengers on it. They might rush me. But I crank up, and everybody is orderly. Dave is loaded up, and we both take off. I am right on his tail. We take off ahead of the C-130.

The plan is, I am to fly off out of sight in the distance so I go east to Site 14 [Pha Khao], which puts me out of visual range and probably out of engine noise from Long Cheng. Site 14 is miles away. From there I go south toward Site 53 sort of behind Checkpoint Peter, and there I climb up. I orbit at a fairly high altitude. From there I can see this small pond of water and the laterite earthen dam. It stands out. My eye is on that dam because from there is going to come the signal.

VP and I had made this arrangement in our meeting up at the Puzzle Palace. He would signal me with a signal panel which is made of a sparkly aluminum reflective material. The pilot can pick up the flash signal. That’s what VP and I set up.

So I’m milling around out there for some time. VP and his bodyguards drive up around the king’s house. There’s a road that comes up over the top of the ridge and comes to this pond with the laterite buildup. Now they’re over the top of the hill. From the backside of the ridge you cannot see the millions of people down on the runway, and they cannot see you. I’m out there orbiting. VP knows about where I’ll be. And, boom, up comes the signal. Well, I know that’s VP. I drop down until I’m very low. I’m right at treetop level. I’m headed in, and I’m tree-toppin’ it. Trrrrrrr—it’s quite a ways yet, maybe three or four miles or more back toward Long Cheng. I’m masked from the runway and from the ramp area because I’m behind the small ridgeline that is behind the king’s house. That is the point: to be masked behind there. I come across at treetop level and pop up and land on that laterite earthen dam. There stand three people: VP and two bodyguards.

VP’s bodyguards have plenty of weapons but no luggage. They can’t leave with suitcases and all and make it evident. It has to be a casual thing—like they are just on a look-around. If VP has anything at all with him, it is a small briefcase that contains papers.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

When we reach the fishing pond, VP, Vang Nou, and I all get out of the jeep. I think that after we leave, the communists will come and drive the jeep, so I want to set a hand grenade and booby-trap it so it will blow up when they start the engine. But my dad says, “Don’t do it in case it is Hmong people who want to use the jeep.”

Vang Nou and myself have two M-16s. Also Vang Nou has two pistols, and I have three pistols. For our own protection I try to take as many as I can. I loaded them all so that when I finish shooting one, I just throw it away and use the second one. I’m also wearing 200 rounds of ammunition for the M-16. VP has a little pistol in his briefcase—that’s all.

At that time I am still eager to become somebody. I have a future ahead of me. Like kids do, I still want to prove to my father that I can do something. That’s why I am never afraid. Actually it is because I don’t know what is going on when we evacuate. If I know what is going on, I might be a little shaky! But I don’t know what is going on and I look up to VP all the time, so nothing bothers me.

The fishing pond is on the lower part of the mountain. The helicopter comes and picks us up, and we fly up to the village of Phou Khang, right on top of the mountain behind the king’s house. By air, that village is so close that we are there in maybe one or two minutes.

In Phou Khang, VP gets out of the helicopter and says to everyone standing there: “You can leave or you can stay. I am going! Whoever remains here will be contacted by us in the near future either through a paper or by radio. Somehow we will find a way to communicate with you.” He says they should wrap their guns in plastic bags and hide them, bury them. They should hide their guns in case we return and want them. He says that because in his mind, he thinks he will return to liberate the country. VP gives them money from his pocket. Then he takes some money out of my pocket and gives it to those people, so I am totally broke except for 250,000 Lao kip that I cannot use in Thailand.

Peter Song Xiong, Sam Thong College Student (Muang Cha)

On May 14, I am at my home village of Phou Khang when the general comes in the little American helicopter; we call that helicopter nyoob hoom ntses because it has the shape of a fish. Oh, there are a lot of people out there to see him! Almost the whole village goes out there!

Mr. VP gets out of the helicopter. I don’t remember who else is with him; I only want to look at VP. He doesn’t go far. He talks to the crowd and says: “Now I’m leaving. I have to leave, but you have to stay. I might give you information after that.” He might give us information. That’s why the old people don’t want to go to Thailand because Mr. VP comes to Phou Khang and talks like that. He doesn’t say, “Oh, everybody has to leave!” He doesn’t say that. Then he hands out money. Mr. Vang Pao gives my dad 5,000 kip from his pocket because he worked as a tahan ban before. Then he talks to his relatives, Xao Chia Vang and Chong Cha Vang, and gives them some money. Those two live there in Phou Khang.

Mr. VP is in Phou Khang for maybe five to ten minutes only.

Capt. Dave Kouba and Capt. Jack Knotts, American Pilots in Laos

Transcription of an audiotape made on May 14, 1975, by Dave Kouba and Jack Knotts. Retrospective commentary by Kouba (1990) and Knotts (1994) is given in indented paragraphs.

KNOTTS: I drop VP off at 337 [Phou Khang], then I ziggy in very low.

KNOTTS: “Ziggy” means you’re low-leveling with the helicopter. Maybe there’s a big tree in front of you and you go around it. That’s a ziggy.

From 337 back, I low-leveled it, trying to keep the helicopter out of sight and out of the attention of the refugees down on the ramp. I pop up across the little pond, pop up over the hill into the little saddle behind the king’s house where the helicopter is actually fairly well masked from the eyesight of the people on the ramp.

KNOTTS: I land right there in that saddle behind the king’s house. There isn’t anybody around. I just sit there waiting for Jerry to come up. I don’t think Jerry will leave the main ramp until the 130 takes off. But then the 130 just stays there on the ground for so long. I think he’ll blast right to it, but he just stays there.

KNOTTS: I’m sitting behind the king’s house, and I can see down to the ramp. I think the reason why Matt hangs there so long is because there are probably soldiers demanding to get on board by threatening people with their weapons. There are problems in the back, and they can’t close up the door. And I have to say that two or three minutes at that point seems to us like forever.

KNOTTS: I sit there, and I think if a local jeep comes around there with a bunch of soldiers on it, I—I—I’ll be about to shit in my pants.

KNOTTS: That spot is masked to some extent from the runway, but people could see me coming over that hill there and Jerry is to be there, which he isn’t. I’m sittin’ there behind the king’s house with the rotor running. It runs and it runs, and Jerry doesn’t come and doesn’t come. There is a little bitty trail that comes up, just a path through the weeds. There are some soldiers walking. They’re going along this trail, and they’re looking at me sitting in this chopper with the rotor running. I know they’re wondering what the devil is going on. Well, it is a nervous situation because they’re all carrying weapons.

I don’t know how long it is. Maybe I wait as long as ten minutes in actuality. But to me it seems like ten hours, and I am getting more nervous every second. All this time Dave’s out there orbiting, just waiting to know.

KNOTTS: Finally Jerry comes around the corner in his white-and-blue Ford Bronco. He parks. And then he won’t get in the chopper. He doesn’t want to leave yet!

KOUBA: Mr. Cool.

KNOTTS: Yeah. He gets his briefcase out of the back, and then he starts talking on the radio.

KNOTTS: Jerry talks on the radio to someone back at the Puzzle Palace. He is very slow and deliberate about what he is doing. And of course I want him to run like hell and get in the chopper. In my mind I’m saying: “Come on, Jerry! Come on, let’s go!” Because there are those young soldiers walking up the trail along the ridge. They are about 14 or 15 years old, and they have M-16s. They have stopped and are watching what we are doing.

KNOTTS: He messes around and messes around and finally—and this is a very bad thing for Jerry because he’s been there so long—he salutes. He comes to attention, just like he is saluting the jeep. But he is really saluting 10 or 15 years of hard work that turned into nothing and the whole thing. He salutes the jeep, and he turns around and walks over and gets in the chopper. All he has is his little briefcase, and he holds it right on his lap.

I edge off, and there is that gaggle of soldiers walking out that road that goes back of the king’s house, back up around the hill. Just as we lift off and we are just sort of hanging there in the air, we haven’t really started flying yet, two of these soldiers drop their M-16s off their shoulders and take ahold of the lever and throw a round into the chamber. And my heart jumps in my mouth. I think they are gonna let us have it.

KNOTTS: I think, “Holy smokes, here it comes!” I can’t get that helicopter moving. It is just standing still! Oh, I’m just speaking figuratively. It is going, but to me it is standing still. I want it to go faster than a bullet! But the young troopers never fire at us, and we pop over the ridge to 337 to pick up VP and his bodyguards. After we lift off from 337, I’m talking to Dave on the radio. I say: “OK, Dave, I’ve got them. Here I come.”

KNOTTS: I take off from 337, and when I’m near the bottleneck, I don’t know where Dave is. I’m chugging along there under pretty good power, and I keep thinking that Dave’d want to go ahead of me, you know? Finally I call him. I say: “Dave, where are you? I’m out over the Nam Ngum lake at 2,800 feet.” He says, “Well, I’m right behind you.”

KOUBA: I want to fly over that karst north of 218 [Nam Pha Noi]. This is more of a safe area because I don’t know who is on the road comin’ up from the south. When I get over the road, I veer away from it just in case there are small-arms fire.

As we head out, the C-46 is overhead, and he calls: “Hey, Dave! Hey, Dave!” They aren’t supposed to go in and land unless they have contact with Hog. We hear them callin’ us and callin’ Hog. We say to abort a couple times, but they don’t hear us. So things get screwed up because of radio communications. That 46 comes in after everybody is gone. He lands without talkin’ to anybody because his radios aren’t workin’.

KNOTTS: Dave and I are in eye contact with one another in the air. He makes his approach to 113 [Muang Cha]. It’s a laterite strip that sits by itself with just grass and pasture around it.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

While we are in the air, the Porter pilot talks on the radio to the helicopter pilot so we can land at the same time in Muang Cha. The Pilatus Porter is a small plane, so we land easily. We see VP and Jerry jump off the Jet Ranger. A couple of naikong are there in Muang Cha, and they walk to within 50 yards and shout to VP, “Yawg hlob, koj tuaj los? Eh, koj yuav tuaj mus qhov twg?” They want to know where VP is going. VP and the rest of his group run straight to the Porter and jump in.

Capt. Jack Knotts, Helicopter Pilot

We have to transfer because Bird Air cannot fly into Thailand at this time. Dave takes off from 113 in the Continental Porter, takes them across and down into Udorn.

I am empty now, so I pick up and take off to Vientiane. I don’t have any strong feelings except I am well aware of what is happening in a historical angle. I am saddened for this thing, but my thoughts are to carry on and complete the mission back at Wattay.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

At Muang Cha we get into the Porter and join with the others. Now it is Jerry, VP, Nhia Vang, Lieutenant and Mrs. Vang Neng, Captain Vang Nou, myself, Amonsack—the Thai police officer who worked with VP—and the American pilot.

When we get on that Porter plane, a case of beer is already there. Jerry opens up the beer and passes it around, one bottle for each person. We are busy drinking when VP turns and yells at us. He says, “We are losing the country, and you are celebrating!” Nhia and Jerry and myself say: “Come on, general. This is the last minute. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so drink for life!” VP says, “Well, I don’t care.” Then he turns around. I think everyone has a beer except for VP.

When we are on the plane, I look at Jerry and he seems to be happy. It seems like he has completed his mission. I think he got what he wanted by getting VP out safely. He knows that things could have gotten worse. The way it happens, he flies on the plane and we open the beer. I think he is pretty happy about the outcome.

The only person in that plane who seems to be worried is VP. For the rest of us—nothing, nothing at all. We aren’t happy; we aren’t sad. In our minds we believe that VP knows what to do. We will stand by. We might leave today, but we might return tomorrow. That’s what we think.

We didn’t realize that we were losing the country. At that time I had the idea that this was just part of the game and the game was not over yet. That is why I didn’t have a bad feeling at all.

That plane takes us straight to Udon. Whoever is left behind has to walk out from that day on.

– 15 –

FIND YOUR OWN WAY OUT

Tou Doua Kue, Hmong Student Association

When we see the American helicopter fly out from the king’s house, I am quite sure that is the general leaving. Three Lao helicopters fly out, and the C-130 leaves at the same time. Then the airstrip is quiet. Only cars and trucks are still running. Do you know what I do? I take the jeep and drive by myself to take a very close look so I can remember Long Cheng—a last look! I drive around and look at the people—those I know and those I don’t know. There are a lot of people still there—people running, people scared, people that don’t know how to conduct their lives any more. They are cramming into taxis and trucks, getting out of town. Houses and shops are abandoned. People breaking into shops and stealing things, destroying the shops and shoplifting in the market—these are not the Pathet Lao who are coming in to destroy the town—these are the Hmong who live in Long Cheng.

It is so strange. Somebody takes several rolls of calculator paper and drives from the Sky office all the way to south of the airport. And that calculator paper is flying around! Like you are decorating for a party! Streamers! So strange. Somebody has played with those and made them look like party decorations.

Personally, that is the saddest moment of my life. I tell myself: “Take a very good look, Tou Doua. Whatever you can remember you can carry in your mind like a camera.” I drive around for about 45 minutes. My emotions feel sick! I hurt. My stomach feels so nauseated. I know that in all my life, I might not have a chance to come back again. That is the saddest time for me. I don’t cry because I am beyond crying.

I assume the general’s helicopter is going to be the last plane, but then another plane comes in. I see one American plane land when I am driving on the other side of the road, heading out of Long Cheng to Pha Khae.

Captain Allen Rich seated at controls. Captain Rich was one of only two C-46 pilots in the final evacuation of Long Cheng (Allen Rich collection, Air America Archives, University of Texas at Dallas).

Capt. Les Strouse, C-46 Pilot

I am the last airplane. Al Rich and Matt Hoff are southbound together, more or less. They are already on their way out when I go in. I’m half an hour or 45 minutes behind them because by now they are somewhere near the Mekong River. They didn’t tell me that they shut it down. Not until just before I land do I get the message of a shutdown from Kouba in his Porter or Knotts in his helicopter. I figure, “Well, we’re here so we’ll do it.”

It’s the last flight, and we already have more than our quota. The kicker’s got the door blocked, trying to keep more people from getting in. He’s trying to pull the ladder up, and they’re trying to pull the kicker out of the plane so they can get in. I think we owe the people something, but when they mob the airplane, I figure to hell with it. It’s not worth my life for theirs. So we rev up the engines and just blow them out of the way. There’s so much wind that they can’t hang on, and we’re gone. I pick up that last load of people and go on home.

Blong Moua, Lycée Vientiane Student/Photographer

The last plane leaves, then there are no more planes—not in the sky, not on the ground. But most of the people decide to continue to wait and see if some airplane comes or not. The people say: “Eh! This is the last chance for us! Why don’t we wait here?”

View from Sky compound towards airstrip. The large building with peaked roof across the valley is a Buddhist temple (Wat Long Cheng) built in 1969-70 (G. R. Jenkin collection).

A big crowd is still there after a couple of hours. Everyone is talking, asking: “Eh! What’s going on? Maybe we don’t have a chance.” Then late in the afternoon, maybe 3:00 or 4:00 P.M., some Hmong shouts: “Now you have to evacuate! VP’s soldiers on the mountains are very angry because all the leaders left Long Cheng!” They say: “You have to evacuate immediately. The soldiers will bomb Long Cheng!” That is not the Pathet Lao; they are our own Hmong soldiers. VP’s soldiers will bomb Long Cheng from the big guns that are on the mountains around Long Cheng—at Phou Mok and other places, because the soldiers are very angry. They say if they come from the mountains to Long Cheng, they will shoot all the leaders who are still in town because they don’t tell them the truth. Now everyone is scared, and people start leaving immediately.

Yang Yee is my brother-in-law. His job is to repair the HT-2 radios for Sky. Yang Yee wants to go get his clothes and his personal belongings before he leaves, so he takes me with him to the Sky base. We go into the radio communications room, where there is every information from Vietnam, from Thailand, from everywhere. Oh! Many types of radios or computers on all the walls! All kinds of electronics systems that transmit, receive all the communication. The radios are still turned on, all the machines are still running, and I hear the English language. They talk together and communicate together in English, but nobody is there—nobody in the whole Sky compound. When I see this room I say: “Oh, my God! Why didn’t Jerry turn off the radios? If they leave them on like this, if the Pathet Lao come in they will hear the secret information.” There are only tears in my face when I see that. I think, “Now, no more, no more.”

Everybody else left already, so we do the same. We leave everything the way we found it. This is the first time I see that place and it is the last time.

Mrs. May Yang Vang, Pog [“Grandma”]

On the last morning at the airport there are so many people pushing and rushing into the airplanes. At that time the women who carry children on their backs, they don’t even remember to feed their babies. Day after day the baby is almost dying, but the people just rush. People even forget about going to the bathroom unless it is an emergency!

We wait for an airplane until dark. We can’t catch a plane, so we walk back to Pha Nao to spend one last night in our house. We are too scared of nyab laj to think about living in that house again. It’s really sad to leave, but what can you do? You can’t stay in Long Cheng. All you want to do is survive. All we know is to go forward, don’t look back.

1st Lt. Cha Phia Chue, Absent Without Leave

When the airplanes fly the people to Thailand, for Vang Pao’s soldiers, everybody has a gun and everybody is angry. They come from the mountains, from the mountain camps. They say: “How come the general makes it like this? He doesn’t call to me or him or her for us to go together! Oh, no good!”

After the general leaves, Long Cheng is finished! There are no more planes—only people crying and crying. Oh! All the naiban, tasseng cry, cry and walk around in the road—the old ladies, old men, crying! “Oh, we don’t know about our lives! How can we do in the future? We have no leader!” Oh, everybody is crazy. I hear people cry and say, “Oh, my country is lost!”

At that time one very stupid guy, one colonel, says: “Hey! Listen! I have the patrol radio, and at night I call General Vang Pao in Thailand. In a couple of days he will come back! Prepare and make strong. We will fight!” That guy makes everybody feel strong, but he is lying. I think if our leaders leave the country, they will never come back. To myself, I say: “Oh, this time, no good. No leader. I must find guns.” Oh, ho! M-16s. I am planning for the future because I have no choice.

I have one cousin, Moua Ly, who worked with Colonel Ly Teng. After VP leaves, my cousin says: “Go to Colonel Ly Teng’s house. I have six M-16s buried under the garbage near the banana tree. You take the guns home to the village.”

I go to Colonel Ly Teng’s house early at 6:00 A.M., but, oh, I am scared! I dig under the garbage, and I take out six M-16s all clean, all wrapped up in plastic. I break down all the guns, and I hide them in an empty 45-kilo rice sack. Oh! My heart is making noise—pum, pum, pum! Am I lucky or not? If they catch me, I go to jail. I tie the rice sack to the khib on my back, and I leave Long Cheng.

Six guns are heavy in your hand, but on your back they are not heavy. And even if you think heavy, you turn around, and there’s trouble behind you—Oh! The Pathet Lao! Then you walk very fast! Not heavy at all! That’s how I get my M-16s, my life insurance policy for the future!

Maj. Chong Ge Yang, Father from Nam Pha

After the planes stop landing in Long Cheng, we decide to return home to Nam Pha. We stay in Nam Pha for two weeks. Then we leave to Thailand.

After we leave Laos, I hear different stories. Some people say they went back to Long Cheng and the graves of my children had been dug up. Others say that the graves were undisturbed but that the dirt mound above the graves was flattened and the rocks placed around the edges were gone. To this day, I am not sure what happened to the graves of my three children and whether or not someone took out their bodies.

– 16 –

THAILAND

Mrs. May Song Moua Vang, Mrs. Chia Moua Vang, Mrs. Xia Thao Vang, and Mrs. Pai Lo Vang, Four Wives of Gen. Vang Pao

MAY SONG MOUA (Niam Ntxhoo): When we see VP in Udon, everybody is just crying! We don’t say anything. We are just so happy.

CHIA MOUA (Niam Txiab): We are so happy he is still alive! We had no news about him. Now we know he is alive. That is enough. We don’t need to know anything else.

PAI LO (Niam Me): Everyone is so happy to see Nai Phoun. We thought he might not make it. We are just crying and so happy to see that he is alive.

XIA THAO (Niam Loj): My husband doesn’t say much. I know he has a lot of things he carries inside, but his actions are normal and usual. We already kind of know what happened, so we don’t talk about what’s going on in Long Cheng. For myself, I don’t cry. But for sure everybody is very sad and worried. Even if we don’t cry, we have a lot of concern about the situation.

MAY SONG MOUA (Niam Ntxhoo): We see that VP is alive but everything is different. We know we lost our country, and mostly we don’t want to leave the country. Many times we have been refugees, so we understand already that life is going to be sad—no future, no place, no house, no food. Nobody likes the refugee life! It’s very difficult to start over, you know?

That day VP is very quiet. When we see him, everybody is so quiet and crying, and we just hug each other. We see him for two hours only. It’s a hard time to talk.

Capt. Jack Knotts, Helicopter Pilot

Ever since that day, I’ve thought about the evacuation and that situation in Laos many, many times. It’s been many years, and I’ve thought of it thousands of times. I never took it lightly. I believe I had a proper understanding of the emotions of the people involved and the situation as it had been caused by the U.S. government and what was required because of the sticky situation between even the Lao government and VP’s group. I’ve always felt that I understood it pretty well, and it’s always saddened me.

From the Hmong standpoint, to save themselves, yes it certainly made sense that they had to be evacked away from the hazard. But in my estimation, my judgment as I understood the situation that morning, the evacuation was solely as a cover to get VP and Jerry safely out of Long Cheng, and there was no intention of taking thousands and thousands of Hmong out of Laos. They wanted to run two or three loads, quickly get VP and Jerry out, and then call it off. But here’s the duplicity of the whole thing: they led the whole Hmong group to think that this evacuation was going to go on for days more and maybe they were all going to be taken out. No. Then when the thing got started that morning, VP drug his feet. He didn’t want to leave. After all, this was a very traumatic thing for him, and it was for Jerry too, to be truthful about it. VP didn’t want to leave. If he had done what the plan was and gone right away, straight away, there wouldn’t have been very many refugees—which is what the embassy and the Americans wanted, I believe. Maybe VP did it on purpose. I don’t know; only VP could answer that question. By dragging his feet during the evacuation, there were quite a number of flights. So a lot of people got out.

The Thais were very angry about this whole thing. So now what to do with them? Well, they were brought to the United States and wound up here as displaced people.

Nhia Vang, Code Name “Judy,” Sky/USAID

When the planes stop, the Hmong from MR2 just go on the road. They walk like a stripe coming down, north to south. All the civilian lowland Lao say the Hmong are phi-ba, crazy. They say: “The crazy Hmong walk from Long Cheng! What do they have to follow VP for?”

In truth, we expect that only 2,300–2,500 will leave. We do not know that everyone is going to try to follow VP. That is not part of the plan. But people hear that VP left, and so they leave too. That’s because the population depends on VP so much.

Two days after we arrive in Udon, a few of us who work for Jerry go back to the border to assist the Hmong refugees. Oh, already so many are coming across! From Ban Son, from Long Cheng—some hire taxis and get down to Vientiane quickly. People I saw in Long Cheng on May 14 are already coming across the Mekong River two days later. As long as the road is still open, they can go fast.

Blong Moua, Lycée Vientiane Student/Photographer

On May 16 we are in Vientiane, ready to leave to Thailand. On the way to the port at Tha Deua, we pass Souvanna Phouma’s house. It is early in the morning, and there are some Royal Lao military around his house. We say out loud to them: “Bye! Bye! We are leaving now!” We wave our hands and arms good-bye to them! I am not scared. I feel happy and free. I think: “Now we are leaving and you are left behind in Laos. You know nothing!”

The guards are surprised to see me wave and say bye-bye to them. They look at me like I am a crazy man. Ha! At that time almost all the Lao people think the Hmong people are crazy. But actually the Hmong people do the right thing.

Right after we cross the Mekong River and arrive at Nam Phong on May 16, VP comes to visit to see who is here, who is there. VP sees my father and says: “Oh? You are here too, Zong Doua? I think we need only the military families, but now you are coming too?” VP is surprised. At that time I don’t know why he is surprised, but later on we find out. It is because, according to them, the Americans would like to have only 2,500 military families—military only. So why do we civilians come to join them?

At all the meetings at Nam Phong, VP or Ly Tou Pao or the other Hmong officers say: “Yes, it’s true that we need only 2,500. Now, every Hmong comes, and it makes it hard for us to get out.” When the leaders say that, everybody is just quiet because we are already there. We are in the Nam Phong camp, OK? What can they do? They cannot do anything even if they complain about us! Ha! They are not very happy, I know. They still need 2,500 people—only the military families with the high-ranking officers.

But I want to ask a question: why 2,500 people only? With all the Hmong who worked with the CIA, with the Americans, with VP, 2,500 people only is not fair to us. When they fight, they want the Hmong at Long Cheng and the Hmong at Bouamlong to fight the communists, but when they leave, they leave them behind? No, I think that is not fair. VP and the CIA have the power to get more than that out.

For the 2,500, I think that most of the Hmong people still remember and complain about that number. If you have only your wife, your daughter, your son—maybe 2,500 is OK. But what about your brother-in-law, your mother and father, your extended family? You cannot decide about that. So even today, more than 20 years later, people still remember that. If the general and his former officers talk about returning to Laos, the Hmong say: “Eh! Your 2,500 people—where are they now? Who are they? They have to help VP return to Laos!”

But forget about that. Now we are in the United States, and the only person that most of us Hmong people respect is VP. We honor VP because he is the only Hmong who helps the Hmong in many, many fields—in education, in military, in construction of villages, in construction of roads. VP is the one who takes care of the Hmong people. I still remember that at Bouamlong we didn’t have any civilian teachers come from the Laotian Minister of Education. VP is the one who gives us some military soldiers to be our teachers. Then later when Sam Thong falls to the Pathet Lao, VP has to order the Minister of Education to take all the Sam Thong students who pass from the 6th grade to 7th grade to go to Fangeum High School in Vientiane and be supported by VP only. That’s how we Hmong students got to Vientiane.

If VP leaves, there is no future for the Hmong. Truthfully, you cannot imagine how very, very poor we were in Laos.

Chu Vang, the General’s Son

When we get to Thailand I see VP starts to show some reaction about returning to Laos. He wants to know if the Thai government and the CIA will back him up in returning.

Part of that is because I think maybe both the Thai and the CIA gave him some kind of—not exactly a promise but some kind of a hope. “Play the game, withdraw, and later you can go back as a new face. Don’t fight as a Laotian general. When you are still in Laos you belong to the Lao government.” Both the Thai and the CIA want to pull him out of Laos because VP’s intention is to fight, for sure.

When VP gets to Thailand he tries to influence some of his personal friends in the Thai government and the U.S. government to give him the green light to return to Laos. But people who used to favor him, people who used to listen to him, seem to back off and pretend they don’t know what’s going on. He is turned down by many of his friends, and he is very, very disappointed. But this is not friendship any more. This is government to government. I think they are ordered from the top.

The new government of Laos and the Thai government negotiated to send VP out of Thailand right away. That’s the only way the new Lao government can control the Hmong. You see, the only person who can change the whole situation is VP. No other person can do it. So as soon as VP is out of Laos, it cuts out half of the problem. But from Thailand, VP still can return any day. The new Lao government wants to make sure that he will not create some kind of resistance activity. His people are still in the Long Cheng area, fully armed. So, for the safety of Thailand, the Thai forced VP out. He did not want to leave yet. His real intention was to return to Laos, with or without the U.S. But once he got to Nam Phong, he was so pressured by the Thai. They made sure he was not going to get out of line. Then it was too late.

When VP left Thailand in June 1975, a lot of people were willing to go back to Laos. People were planning, people were preparing. They were waiting for his order. Nobody was thinking about staying in Thailand. They would go back to Laos to fight. To fight! Yes, of course!

When VP left Thailand, he still had hope. He hoped that when he came to the U.S. that somehow either the CIA or the U.S. government would come up with a solution for him. The people who stay to hold a position in Laos have the same feeling, same idea too. They believe that a person like VP will not leave the country forever because he loves his country, he loves the people. He has a desire to bring the Hmong people into the future. No one believes that he will be forced by anybody to leave forever. But that’s the way it happened. The Laotian government played politics to guarantee that VP would not return.

Sometimes when people look from the outside, they say what they think they see. But deeply inside, I have a different opinion. I am from the family. If the story is involved with persons I am really close to, then my story is different. This is the way I believe it is.

English-Language Bangkok Post, September 5, 1975

Six Lao Rightists on Death List

Six former rightist leaders who fled Laos after the Pathet Lao takeover were sentenced to death yesterday by the central supreme court of Laos, Vientiane radio reported.

Among those sentenced to death in absentia were Meo tribal leader General Vang Pao and former National Assembly President Phoui Sananikone. Five others were sentenced to life in prison.… Property of all will be confiscated, the radio said.… The sentence list read like a Who’s Who of the lesser nobility and gentry of war-time Laos.

Daniel C. Arnold, CIA

I have not discussed the operations in Laos or anywhere else, and I have no real interest in discussing the evacuation of Long Cheng. I have never, ever been drawn into any discussion of who, what, where, why, when, or anything else. Regarding the evacuation, most people, Hmong or others, do not know the full circumstances. They may think they know what happened, but they don’t know. The only reason I am speaking about it now is because of my admiration for the character and accomplishments of Jerry Daniels.

View of Long Cheng valley from southeast, 1973–74. (G. R. Jenkin collection).

View of Long Cheng valley from southeast, 20 years later—1995 (S. Takushi collection).

Leon Daniel, English-Language Bangkok Post, December 4, 1975

America’s Lost Cause in the Lao “Domino”

HONG KONG (UPI)—With the evidently-forced abdication of King Sawang Wattana, the communists appear to have the last piece in the tragic puzzle of Indochina.

It was a grim game in which three nations fell, despite massive armed intervention by the United States.…

Of the three nations that went under, the hapless Laos probably had the least to gain and the most to lose in the Indochina war that raged for three decades.…

The United States never really lifted its veil of secrecy from the war it masterminded…. At enormous expense, the United States equipped and directed in Laos an army of Meo tribesmen, tough little mountain men who fought bravely in the lost cause.…

The United States never officially admitted that Americans fought in Laos. Some did. A few died. They fought well too, but in a cause that their government never really officially acknowledged.

Lt. Ly Teng, T-28 and C-47 Pilot

Now when I think back to May 1975, I don’t think anything. We see it in the eye in the past, and we don’t know what to say at all. That time is like a dream. Yes, like a dream. Now, if somebody flies over Long Cheng and they take a picture from the airplane down, everything is gone—no village, just bushes. And the airstrip is just a little narrow one. Only the middle of the airstrip is left. Long Cheng is a dream.

Mrs. Xia Thao Vang, Niam Loj, #1 Wife of Gen. Vang Pao

The only reason I remember this much is because you ask me so many questions! Then I have to think about it. But if somebody else asked me, I would have no idea and would not remember it at all!

APPENDIX A:

PEOPLE INTERVIEWED

Hmong

[Family/clan surnames appear in all capital letters.]

Mouasu Bliaya: high school and college student in the United States from 1967 to 1974; B.S., University of Montana, 1974; CEO of Xiengkhouang Development Corporation (XKDC) in Long Cheng, Laos, 1974–75; a successful business owner in southern California since 1981, employing many Hmong and Lao. U.S. citizen since 1985.

Cha Phia Chue (1st Lt.): radio operator at Chinaimo in Vientiane. After he left Long Cheng in May 1975, Cha Phia and his family survived many heavy communist attacks at Phou Bia until they left Laos in January 1979. Cha Phia is living in northern California, where he is the leader of the 21 Chue clan families who live in the United States. U.S. citizen since 1992.

Tou Doua Kue: student leader at Lycée Vientiane; brother-in-law of pilot Ly Teng. Tou Doua is in a graduate program in business and is living in Fresno, California. U.S. citizen since 1989.

Ly Chay (Maj.): in Gen. Vang Pao’s army from 1961 until 1975. He and his wife, Mrs. Sao Mee Vang Ly, are living near Atlanta, Georgia. Their youngest daughter, Baron, changed her name to Lily when she became a U.S. citizen in 1995, but she keeps the Hmong name for “clouds in the wind” as her middle name.

Mrs. Nou Kue Ly: wife of pilot Ly Teng. Mrs. Ly’s parents left Laos at the end of May 1975 and are living near their daughter in Fresno, California.

Ly Teng (Lt.): joined Gen. Vang Pao’s army at Pha Dong in 1961; T-28 pilot from 1972 to 1974, during which time he flew 3,000 bombing missions; C-47 pilot assigned to Military Region 2 in February 1975; came to the United States in August 1976; currently living in Fresno, California.

Ly Tou Pao (Col.): Chief of Staff for SGU units, Military Region 2, 1962–73; Commander of Xiengkhouang Sub-Division, 1973–75; currently living in California.

Tou Geu Lyfoung: general director, Ministry of Justice, Vientiane, Laos, from 1961 to 1975; brother of Panya Touby Lyfoung who in 1975 was imprisoned by the new Lao government at Viengsay where he later died. Tou Geu Lyfoung lives in Paris, France.

Ly Vong Yeng Nao Lynaolu (Capt.): brother-in-law of Gen. Vang Pao; came to the United States in June 1976 and helped to organize Lao Family Community, Inc., in Santa Ana, California. Ly Vong passed away in Sacramento, California, in 1994. He leaves behind his wife and nine grown children.

Blong Moua: student at Lycée Vientiane in 1975; amateur photographer; industrial electrical equipment degree from Professional School in Bourges, France, in 1981; computer programmer analyst degree from Versailles Academy in Paris, France, in 1983; currently living in southern California.

Her Tou Moua (2d Lt.): SGU soldier; left Laos in 1979. Her Tou lives in Fresno, California, where he works in the dairy industry. U.S. citizen since 1993.

Mrs. Nai Vang Moua: wife of Pheng Moua; currently a job specialist III for Department of Social Services in Fresno, California. U.S. citizen since 1985.

Pheng Moua: senior student in teacher training at Dong Dok University in Vientiane in 1975. Pheng is now the owner manager of P&N Income Tax Service and P&N Linguist Agency, a professional translation service in Fresno, California. U.S. citizen since 1985.

Xiong (Song) Moua: airplane and helicopter mechanic, trained by Air America in Taiwan; ground flight instructor for Bird and Sons, Vientiane; airplane mechanic for Gen. Vang Pao in Long Cheng. Xiong Moua holds a B.S. degree in diesel technology and currently lives in Merced, California. U.S. citizen since 1981.

Mrs. Maosay Ly Saykao: mother of 11 children, many of whom are well-known in the Hmong community and beyond. Mrs. Saykao is a familiar face at the Hmong Senior Citizens program in Fresno, California.

Vang Bee (Capt.): radio code name “Fackee,” which means “French” in the Hmong language; T-28 and Baron pilot; currently living in North Carolina. U.S. citizen since 1992.

Mrs. Chia Moua Vang: Niam Txiab, #4 wife of Gen. Vang Pao. U.S. citizen since 1981.

Chu Vang: high school student in Hawaii, 1972–74; son of Gen. Vang Pao and #1 wife, Xia Thao Vang; popular singer and entertainer at Hmong events. U.S. citizen since 1981.

Vang Geu (Lt. Col.): studied in Cambodia for five years and earned a degree from the Agricultural Technical College in Phnom Penh; joined the CIA’s SGU army in 1968. With the help of Jacques Lemoine, the French anthropologist, Vang Geu’s family was the first Hmong refugee family to be resettled to France, in July 1975. Vang Geu emigrated from France to the United States in 1981 and currently lives in North Carolina with U.S. citizenship.

Lia Vang: son of Pa Vu Vang, Gen. Vang Pao’s brother. In 1975, Lia Vang was a student at Amoysing High School in Bangkok, Thailand. He has a BS degree from the University of California at Davis and an MBA degree from Kingston University in Los Angeles. He is a director of finance/MIS, for a large engineering consulting company in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. U.S. citizen since 1983.

Mrs. May Song Moua Vang: Niam Ntxhoo, #6 and youngest wife of Gen. Vang Pao. May Song worked as a nurse in MR2 before she married. U.S. citizen since 1986.

Mrs. May Yang Vang: Pog, “Grandma”; left Laos in March 1980 and came to the United States in March 1981; currently living in Fresno, California.

Vang Neng (Lt. Col.): last commanding officer to leave Sala Phou Khoun after the final attack on May 5, 1975; currently living with all five of his brothers in North Carolina. U.S. citizen since 1992.

Nhia Vang: radio code name “Judy”; telecommunications operator for USAID and for Sky/Jerry Daniels in Long Cheng; currently living in Orange County, California. Nhia has extensive work experience as a computer technician and hardware/software engineer. U.S. citizen since 1985.

Nhia Tou Vang (2d Lt.): T-28 pilot stationed in Long Cheng from March 1973 until May 1975; brother of Lt. Col. Vang Neng. Currently living in Thaj Xam village near Troy, North Carolina. U.S. citizen since 1995.

Mrs. Pai Lo Vang: Niam Me, #3 wife of Gen. Vang Pao.

Mrs. True Ly Vang: Niam Nrab, #2 wife of Gen. Vang Pao.

Mrs. Xia Thao Vang: Niam Loj, #1 wife of Gen. Vang Pao. U.S. citizen since 1981.

Her Vue (1st Sgt.): married a Lao woman in April/May 1975; stayed in Laos until May 1985 and came to the United States in December 1987; currently living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Peter Song Xiong: student at Sam Thong College in Muang Cha. Peter’s parents remained in the refugee camps in Thailand for 21 years, 1975–1996, at which time they were reunited with their children living in the United States. Peter lives in southern California. U.S. citizen since 1988.

Vang Yer Xiong (Lt.): left Laos in 1979 after spending several years at Phou Bia; currently living in Wisconsin.

Chang Ger (Charlie) Yang (Lt.): bodyguard for Col. Tou Long Yang; arrived in the United States in January 1980; currently living in Michigan. U.S. citizen since 1994.

Chong Ge Yang (Maj.): SGU soldier with Gen. Vang Pao from 1960 to 1975; three of his children died in an attack on May 13, 1975; now living in Minnesota. U.S. citizen since 1989.

Jay Ge Yang: student at Lycée Vientiane. Jay has a B.A. in business administration and is an eligibility supervisor for the Department of Social Services in Orange County, California. U.S. citizen since 1981.

Yang See: radio code name “Glass Man”; liaison between Sky/Jerry “Hog” Daniels and Gen. Vang Pao/MR2 staff; set up and organized the first Hmong refugee camp at Wat Samakee in Nong Khai, Thailand; sponsored by the U.S. State Department and resettled to Washington, D.C., in November 1975; currently living in Minnesota. U.S. citizen since 1996.

Xiong (John) Yang (Maj.): soldier since 1961; T-28 pilot; Hmong wing commander in Long Cheng; currently living in Minnesota. U.S. citizen since 1987.

American

H. C. “Heinie” Aderholt (Brig. Gen., U.S. Air Force): COMUS MAC-THAI (Commander U.S. Military Assistance Command, Thailand) in 1975; retired and living in Florida.

Daniel C. Arnold: CIA Chief of Station; now retired.

Joe Hammer (Capt.): Continental Air Services (CASI) pilot; solo-piloted Xiengkhouang Air C-47 on final flight from Vientiane to Udorn, Thailand, May 10, 1975; currently enjoying life as a crop duster in northern California.

Jack “90” Knotts (Capt.): Air America and Bird Air helicopter pilot in Laos from December 1969 to June 1975; Jet Ranger helicopter pilot for the evacuation of Gen. Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels; retired and living in Florida.

Dave Kouba (Capt.): Air America and Continental Air Services pilot; Continental Porter evacuation pilot for Gen. Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels.

Bill Leonard: Air Attaché’s office for the U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy, Vientiane; Air Operations at Wattay Airport in Vientiane, Laos, from 1966 until June 1975.

Roswell E. Round, Jr. (Brig. Gen. U.S. Army): Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Vientiane, Laos (DAO), and Deputy Chief, Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, Thailand (DEPCHIEF) from 1974 to 1975; retired and living in Florida.

Jim Schill: USAID in Laos, 1972–75, posted to Long Cheng in 1973–74; left Vientiane, Laos, in May 1975; U.S. State Department, Refugee Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, 1978–84; currently living in Pretoria, South Africa, on a personal services contract with USAID.

Les Strouse (Capt.): Air America and Continental Air Services pilot in Southeast Asia from May 1964 to July 1975; pilot for one of the two American C-46s flown in the evacuation of Long Cheng; now living in Bangkok, Thailand.

APPENDIX B:

PILOTS’ FLIGHT LOGS

Each of the following pilot logs originally appeared as a side-by-side spread. Here separated to permit legible reproduction, their pages are correctly read as a table that continues from left to right from the first page to the second.

Captain Allen Rich (pilot, C-46). Entries are read from left to right across both pages.

Captain Dave Kouba (pilot, Pilatus Porter). Entries are read from left to right across both pages.

GLOSSARY:

TERMS, PLACES, PEOPLE

Hmong words are italicized and marked [Hm]; Lao words are marked [L]; Thai words are marked [Th]; French words are marked [Fr]; English words are unmarked.

Agency: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Air America: The CIA’s proprietary airline; operated in Laos as the major supply vehicle for both military and civilian needs, especially in the rugged mountain terrain of Military Region 2 (MR2).

AK-47: Soviet-made automatic rifle used by Pathet Lao, North Vietnamese Army, and Viet Cong troops.

Alternate: Long Cheng; name coined by American pilots because of Long Cheng’s designation as LS 20-A (Lima Site 20-Alternate).

Asia-Seri [L]: Freedom Radio.

baht [Th]: Monetary unit in Thailand.

ban [L]: Village or hamlet; leader is the village chief, naiban.

Ban Son/Nasu: Two towns built on either side of a river, located on the road from Vientiane; approximately 30 air miles (or five hours’ driving time) from Long Cheng; last towns encountered before entering the outskirts of the Long Cheng area; a major site for the USAID refugee relief program; LS 272.

Bangkok: Capital city of Thailand. U.S. military pilots’ designation is T-09.

C-46: Large two-engine transport plane that carries about 51 passengers; Curtiss Commando.

C-47: Two-engine transport plane that carries about 30 passengers; also called “Dakota”; same as civilian DC-3.

C-130: Four-engine transport plane; largest transport plane that could land at Long Cheng airbase; also called “Hercules.”

camion [Fr]: Slat-sided uncovered cargo truck; referred to as the “ten-tire truck.”

Chinaimo: Both a military training school for local and national officers and a military base in Vientiane; military headquarters for Military Region 5.

CIA: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, or simply the Agency.

compound: A fortified military installation, e.g., the Sky compound in Long Cheng.

Customer: A U.S. government employee who directed American aircrews in Laos (Air America, Continental Air Services, Bird Air, etc.). The Customer in Laos was generally the CIA.

dag [Hm]: To lie; liar.

Dakota: Two-engine C-47 passenger and cargo plane.

Daniels, Jerry: Gen. Vang Pao’s CIA case officer in Long Cheng; code name “Hog”; named the CIA compound in Long Cheng the Sky compound; raised in Montana and died in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1982.

Don Muang: Military and commercial airport for Bangkok, Thailand.

Dong Dok: Teacher Training College and University in Vientiane.

FAC: Forward Air Controller. In MR2, FACs were Hmong “backseaters” who accompanied U.S. pilots in small, slow spotter planes and acted as radio translators and navigators.

FAG: Forward Air Guide; Hmong radio operators on the ground who directed airplanes to targets.

Fangeum: American-system high schools in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, Pakse, Phone Hong.

FLO: Field Liaison Officer; English-speaking Hmong who worked directly for Sky.

Fortmai: Military radio.

GM [Fr]: From the French “Groupement Mobile” (mobile group). There are 100 soldiers per company, four companies make a battalion, and three or four battalions make one GM.

H-34: Sikorsky helicopter used by both Air America and the Royal Lao government to move troops and supplies; carries up to ten soldiers.

“hard rice”: Ammunition and weapons clandestinely supplied by the CIA to Gen. Vang Pao’s Special Guerrilla Unit (SGU) troops.

Hmong: The largest of many highland hill-tribe groups living in Laos. Hmong people also live in the mountains of China, northern Vietnam, and northern Thailand.

Hmoob Liab [Hm]: “Red Hmong,” communist Hmong. Perhaps 30 percent of the Hmong population in Laos sided with the communists.

“Hog”: Code name for Jerry Daniels, Gen. Vang Pao’s CIA case officer.

HT-2: Hand-held walkie-talkie military radio used to contact airplanes.

hu plig [Hm]: Hmong spirit-calling ceremony.

huab-tais [Hm]: King. Huab-tais nplog was the king of Laos; huab-tais tsev was the hillside house built in Long Cheng in the late 1960s for the last monarch in Laos, King Sawang Vatthana.

ICC: International Control Commission, made up of Canadian, Polish, and Indian observers; also referred to as CIC, Commission for International Control.

kai [L]: Soldier camp. For example, Kai Chinaimo was a military base in Vientiane.

karst: Irregular limestone outcroppings. The very large karst at the northwestern end of the runway at Long Cheng was sometimes referred to by pilots as the “Vertical Speedbrake.”

khib [Hm]: Rab khib is the Hmong carrying frame that is worn on the back.

khosana [L]: To advertise.

khoueng [L]: Province. Title for provincial leader is chao khoueng.

khun-may [Th]: “Mom”; polite form of address for older or ranking women.

kicker: Person who shoves or “kicks” the cargo out of the aircraft when making an airdrop; Air Freight Specialist (AFS).

kip [L]: Laotian currency.

Kmhmu: A large ethnic minority group that lives at midslope elevations.

kong [L]: Unit or group; usually refers to military units.

kong-thap [L]: Army.

“Lao louam Lao” or “Lao houam Lao” [L]: Lao join Lao.

Lao-Theung: Minority groups in Laos that live at midslope elevations. Lao-Theung cultures and languages are different from Hmong; Lao-Theung usually refers to the Kmhmu people, the largest group.

laterite: Red soil found in humid tropical and subtropical regions.

Long Cheng: CIA airbase and military town in northern Laos; military headquarters of Gen. Vang Pao and Military Region 2; referred to as Lima Site 98, LS 20-A, and “Alternate”; elevation at 3,120 feet with a 4,200-foot air-strip oriented in a NW/SE direction. French and American military spelling is Long Tieng; Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) spelling is Looj Ceeb.

LS: Lima Site; designation given to more than 200 airplane landing sites used by Air America in Laos; often small dirt strips in isolated areas. For example, LS 337 is at Phou Khang. L designations are larger airfields, e.g., L-08 is Vientiane; T designations are large airfields in Thailand, e.g., T-08 is Udorn.

Luang Prabang: Old royal capital city in northern Laos; site of the king’s Royal Residential Palace.

Lycée [Fr]: French-system high schools in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse.

M-16: American-made automatic rifle supplied by the U.S. government to Royal Lao/Vientiane government troops.

magneto: Small generator used in the ignition system of some internal-combustion engines.

Meo: Name formerly used for Hmong. Although the name “Meo” is still used by non–Hmong in China and most of Southeast Asia, most Hmong people prefer to be called “Hmong.”

MR2: Military Region 2; most important military region in Laos; commanded by Gen. Vang Pao; Phak Song [L].

muang [L]: Also spelled “muong”; city and district. Title for leader is chao muong, similar to a mayor.

Nahaidiao: Small district in the capital city of Vientiane where Gen. Vang Pao and many Hmong officers had homes.

naiban [L]: Village chief; naim npab is the phonetic Hmong RPA spelling of the Lao word.

naikong [L]: Assistant to the chao muong; similar to a city council member.

nai phoun [L]: General; title often used to refer to Gen. Vang Pao.

nam [L]: River.

Nam Ngua: Village near Long Cheng; location of one of Gen. Vang Pao’s farms.

Nam Phong: Large airfield in north-central Thailand (Khonekhene Province). Hmong refugees were housed at Nam Phong for about eight months until the Ban Vinai refugee camp was established.

niam [Hm]: Mother; also indicates the wife of.

Nong Khai: Port town on Thai side of Mekong River, directly across from Vientiane, Laos.

Nplog Liab [Hm]: “Red Lao,” communist Lao, Pathet Lao, Lao Deng.

nruas [Hm]: Hmong funeral drum that accompanies the qeej.

NVA: North Vietnamese Army; communist Viet Cong.

nyab laj [Hm]: Vietnamese; commonly used to refer to any enemy troops, Vietnamese or Pathet Lao.

nyiaj choj [Hm]: Silver bars; traditional sign of Hmong wealth.

nyoob hoom [Hm]: Airplane or helicopter.

nyoob hoom ntses [Hm]: “Fish helicopter,” a Hmong name that refers to the small Bell model 206 Jet Ranger helicopter because it is shaped like a fish.

nyoob hoom pov txhuv [Hm]: “Airplane dropping rice”; rice drops.

nyoob hoom tshuab ntsuab [Hm]: H-34; green military helicopter used by the Royal Lao government; also called nyoob hoom qaus liv [Hm], the “dragonfly helicopter.”

paj iab [Hm]: Wild sunflower bushes.

Panya [L]: Honorific title, especially for intellectual achievements, e.g., Panya Touby Lyfoung.

Pathet Lao [L]: Communist Laotian soldiers; Red Lao; PL; Laotian counterpart to the NVA Viet Cong. The Laotian communists were under the control of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

pativat [L]: Rebellion; coup d’état.

pha [L]: Cliff; rock mountain.

phi-ba [L]: Crazy person.

phou [L]: Jungle mountain.

Phou Bia: The tallest mountain in Laos; major resistance site against the new Lao communist government starting in May 1975. Phou Bia massif is located 15 air miles southwest of Long Cheng (45 miles on the ground due to the rugged terrain).

Phou Mok: The northern ridgeline above Long Cheng valley on which Skyline One and Skyline Two defense positions were located.

phouthen sapasoung [L]: Senator.

phouthen sapatam [L]: Congressman.

PL: Pathet Lao.

Plaine des Jarres [Fr]: Plain of Jars, PDJ, Tonghaihen [L], Tiaj Dhawv Zeb [Hm]; famous for the large ancient stone jars that are scattered across the plain; a heavily contested area during the secret war in Laos.

Porter: Single-engine Pilatus Porter airplane. Nyoob hoom kab tsawb, “banana bug airplane,” is a Hmong nickname for the Porter airplane because of the shape of the airplane’s nose.

Puzzle Palace: Name sometimes used to refer to U.S. government sites where decisions were made, e.g., the Sky compound in Long Cheng.

qeej [Hm]: Hmong multiple-reed pipe musical instrument. The qeej and the nruas (funeral drum) are played at a traditional Hmong funeral ceremony; txiv qeej is the man who plays the qeej instrument.

RLG: Royal Lao Government, also called Vientiane government or right-side government.

RPA: Romanized Popular Alphabet; devised by G. Linwood Barney, William A. Smalley, and Yves Bertrais in Laos in the early 1950s. Hmong RPA is the most widely used written system for the Hmong language.

Sala Phou Koun: A strategic road junction and airport located approximately 90 miles north of Vientiane; a 30-minute helicopter ride from Long Cheng; located between Muang Kasi and Muang Soui on Road 7 going to Luang Prabang.

samoson [L]: Public meeting hall and community building.

Sankadee: A Hmong-made name for the municipal court building in Long Cheng; name created from the Lao words “san” (court) and “kadee” (case).

Santiphab [L]: Peace; name of radical pro-peace political student group.

Sayaboury: Far-west province in Laos, adjacent to Thailand.

SGU: Special Guerrilla Unit; Special Forces Army; Gen. Vang Pao’s CIA army troops.

Sky: Refers in general to all covert U.S. military advisors, intelligence officers, operations, buildings, and compounds; CIA in Laos.

Skyline: Defensive ridge on the north side of Long Cheng; see Phou Mok.

spook: A secret agent or spy. In Laos, “spook” referred to anyone who worked for the CIA.

station: CIA post from which operations were directed. In Laos, the CIA station was located in the U.S. embassy building and was headed by the chief of station.

T-28: Single-engine two-seater airplane modified to become a fighter-bomber; effectively used during the war in Laos by the Royal Lao Government and Gen. Vang Pao.

tahan [L]: Soldier; thab-has is the phonetic Hmong RPA spelling of the Lao word.

tahan ban [L]: Village guard; militia.

tahan pongkan [L]: Coalition government military units made up of Royal Lao and Pathet Lao troops, 1974–75; abbreviated to Topokho (TPK).

talat [L]: Market. For example, Talat Sao is the morning market in Vientiane; taj laj is the phonetic Hmong RPA spelling of the Lao word.

tasseng [L]: A cluster of villages; also the title of the leader of a cluster of villages. Toj xeem is the phonetic Hmong RPA spelling of the Lao word.

Tha Deua: Mekong River port of Vientiane; major crossing to Nong Khai, Thailand.

Thai-Dam: An ethnic group originally from North Vietnam that fled to Laos in 1954 after the fall of Dien Bien Phu; strongly anticommunist group in Laos.

thwj suab [Hm]: Funeral-coffin wood; teakwood.

Tiger Balm: A strongly aromatic medicinal salve widely used in Asia to topically treat a variety of health conditions.

Topokho [L]: See tahan pongkan [L].

txiv [Hm]: Father; also used to address a patrilineal uncle (father’s brother); can be used to address any patrilineal “clan uncle.”

ua neeb [Hm]: Hmong healing ceremony performed by a shaman.

Udon: Udon Thani is a town in Thailand, location of a large American airbase; the CIA headquarters for clandestine operations in Laos was located on the Udon Air Base; U.S. pilots’ designation is T-08.

Udorn: French and American military spelling of Udon.

USAID: United States Agency for International Development; major supplier of food and basic household goods to refugees forced to move due to the circumstances of war. By 1972, USAID air drops of rice, canned meats, salt, etc. measured 5.5 million pounds per month, or 66 million pounds per year.

Vientiane: Capital city of Laos, located across the Mekong River from Nong Khai, Thailand.

Viet Cong: Vietnamese supporting the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam; Vietnamese communist troops.

VP: Initials commonly used to refer to Gen. Vang Pao.

wat [Th]: Buddhist temple.

Wat Samakhee: Buddhist temple at Nong Khai, Thailand; first refugee site for Hmong crossing the Mekong River starting on May 14, 1975.

Wattay: Military and civilian airport in Vientiane. U.S. pilots’ designation is L-08.

xauv [Hm]: Lub xauv is a heavy and decorative Hmong silver necklace, similar to a breastplate.

Xiengkhouang: Province in northern Laos where most of the Hmong live. Long Cheng is located in Xiengkhouang province; Xiengkhouang City is the provincial capital.

INDEX OF TERMS

Names are arranged alphabetically by family/clan surname. If no comma is used, the name is Hmong.

Aderholt, Brig. Gen. H.C. “Heinie”

Ai Lien

Air America

aircraft: Baron

Alternate/20-Alternate (LS20-A)

American compound (Vientiane)

Amonsack

Andelman, David

antiwar movement, U.S.

Arnold, Daniel C.

Asia Seri

assassins

Atsaphanthong, Gen.

Ban Houei Sai

Ban Na

Ban Pawang

Ban Son

Ban Son/Nasu (LS 272)

Bangkok Post

Baron

Baron baby

Bird Air (Bird & Sons)

Bliaya, Mouasu

bombs, U.S.: B-52

Bouamlong

Boun Om Na Champassak

Boun Oum Na Champassak

Bounphone, Gen.

Brown, Gen. George

C-46 C-47 C-130

Cambodia

caskets

ceasefire: Agreements in Paris

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

ceremonies, Hmong: funeral

Cessna

Chao Monivong, General Prince

Cheng, Wang Ger

Chief of Station

Chieng Mai (Thailand)

Chinaimo

Chue, 1st Lt. Cha Phia

coalition government

Colby, William

communists

Continental Air Services

coup d’état

Customer

Daniel, Leon

Daniels, Jerry

Dan-Soung, Mount

DC-3

“Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos”

development projects

“domino” theory

Don Muang Airport (Bangkok)

Dong Dok

“Fackee”

Farm Service Centers

“flash” messages

France/French

Frenchia

Ford, Pres. Gerald

Glass Man

Godley, Amb. G. McMurtrie

Hammer, Capt. Joe

Hang Sao, Col.

“hard rice”

Hartley, Howard

helicopters

Hin Heup

Hmong

Ho Chi Minh Trail

“Hog”

Hoff, Capt. Matt

hospitals

huckleberries

Insurgency Forces

International Control Commission (ICC)

Judicial Congress

“Judy”

Joint Chiefs of Staff

karst

Kennedy, Pres. John F.

khib

Khmer Rouge

Khonekhene (Thailand)

Khouang, Col.

kicker

King of Laos

Kissinger, Henry

Knotts, Capt. Jack

Kong Le, Capt.

Kouba, Capt. Dave

Kue, Tou Doua

Kuprasit, Gen.

Lair, Bill

Lao louam Lao

Lao-Theung

Laos: chronology

Laotian coalition government

Le Duc Tho

Leonard, Bill

“Little Man”

Long Cheng

Los Angeles Times

Luang Prabang

Ly, Moua

Ly, Neng Thong

Ly, Neng Tong

Ly, Mrs. Nou Kue

Ly, Mrs. Sao Mee Vang

Ly, Col. Youa Va

Ly Cha Ly, Lt. Col.

Ly Chay, Maj.

Ly Teng, Col.

Ly Teng, Lt.

Ly Tou Kao

Ly Tou Pao, Col.

Ly Tou Xiong

Lyfoung, Tou Geu

Lyfoung, Touby

Lynaolu, Capt. Ly Vong

Lynaolu, Maj. Ly Wa Khai

MAC-THAI

Mangkharat, Prince

McArthur, George

McHugh, Pat

Meo

military regions

Montana

Moua, Blong

Moua, Col. Cher Pao

Moua, Chu Fu

Moua, 2d Lt. Her Tou

Moua, Nhia Chu

Moua, Nao Thao

Moua, Mrs. Nai V.

Moua, Nou Vang

Moua, Pheng

Moua, Xiong

Moua Lia

Moua Sue, Col.

Moua Tou Lu, Col.

Mouanoutoua, Moua Ge

Muang Cha (LS 113)

Muang Kasi

Muang Om

Muang Suoi

Nahaidiao District

Nam Luang

Nam Ngua (Vang Pao’s farm)

Nam Ngum Dam/Lake

Nam Pha

Nam Phong Airbase (Thailand)

Nam Vay

Nasu

New York Times

Niam Loj

Niam Me

Niam Nplog

Niam Nrab

Niam Ntxhoo

Niam Txiab

Nissen, Eric

Nixon, Pres. Richard M.

Noi

Nong Khai (Thailand)

North Vietnam, bombing of

North Vietnamese Army (NVA)

Nunez, Bobby

Olympia beer

Papa Wu’s International House

Paris Peace Talks and Accords

Pathet Lao

PDJ

Peterson, Terry

Pha Dong

Pha Khae

Pha Khao (LS 14)

Pha Nao

Phou Bia

Phou Khang (LS 337)

Phou Khao Quoi

Phou Mok ridgeline

Phou Pha Sai

Phoui Sananikone

Phoumi Nosavan, Gen.

Phoumouang, Maj.

pilots, American

pilots, Hmong

Plaine des Jarres (Plain of Jars; PDJ)

pledge

Porter

pro–peace movement

Puzzle Palace

Queen of Laos

Rainville, Capt. Gene

refugees

Rich, Capt. Allen

Round, Brig. Gen. Roswell E., Jr.

Royal Lao Government

Royal Thai Government

Saigon

Sala Phou Khoun

Sam Thong

Santiphab

Savannakhet

Sawang Vatthana, King

Sayaboury

Saykao, Mrs. Maosay Ly

Schill, Jim

schools

“secret war”

Sisouk Na Champassak

Sky

Skyline (ridge)

slash and burn

Souphanouvong, Prince

South Vietnam

Souvanna Phouma, Prime Minister Prince

Soviet

Special Guerrilla Unit (SGU)

spooks

station

Strouse, Capt. Les

student demonstrations

Sullivan, Amb. William

Suwai, Marshall

T-28 fighter bombers

Tha Deua

Thai

Thai Dam

Thailand

Thao, Col. Neng Chu

Thao, Shoua Lue

Thao, Xiong Lue

Thao Chai, Col.

Thonglit, Gen.

Topokho

Udon Airbase (Thailand)

Udorn Airbase

United Nations

United States government

USAID (United States Agency for International Development)

Utapao Airbase (Thailand)

Vang, Mrs. Chia Moua (Niam Txiab)

Vang, Chu

Vang, Lia

Vang, Mrs. May La (Niam Nplog)

Vang, Mrs. May Song Moua (Niam Ntxhoo)

Vang, Mrs. May Yang

Vang, Lt. Col. Neng Youa

Vang, Nhia

Vang, Col. Nhia Lue

Vang, 2d Lt. Nhia Tou

Vang, Nhia Ying

Vang, Mrs. Pai Lo (Niam Me)

Vang, Mrs. True Ly (Niam Nrab)

Vang, Col. Wa Seng

Vang, Mrs. Xia Thao (Niam Loj)

Vang Bee, Capt.

Vang Chou

Vang Fong, Lt. Col.

Vang Geu, Lt. Col.

Vang Neng, Lt.

Vang Neng, Lt. Col.

Vang Nou, Capt.

Vang Pao, Gen. (“VP”)

Vang Thai, Lt. Col.

Vang Tou

Vang Vieng

Vientiane: American community

Vietnam

Vietnam War

Vue, Her

Vue, Vang Neng

Wat Samakhee

Watergate

Wattay Airport

West Point

Xiengkhouang (Province)

Xiengkhouang Air

Xiengkhouang Development Corp. (XKDC)

Xiong, Mai See

Xiong, Peter Song

Xiong, Lt. Vang Yer

Xiong Koua

Yang, Lt. Chang Ger

Yang, Maj. Chong Ge

Yang, Jay Ge

Yang, Col. Shoua

Yang, Col. Tou Long

Yang, Maj. Xiong

Yang, Zong Chue

Yang Bee

Yang Dao, Dr.

Yang See

Yang Yee