US SECRET ARMY IN LAOS

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GENERAL VANG PAO FORMER COMMANDER OF THE US SECRET ARMY IN LAOS DURING THE VIETNAM WAR-WE HONOR HIM!

During the Sixties and Seventies the United States fought two wars in Southeast Asia. There was the public war in South Vietnam, conducted by the U.S. Military - where the press was permitted. And then there was the secret war conducted by the CIA in Laos - where the press never went.

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The facts of secret war are easy to describe - In 1960 Bill Lair of the CIA seeks out Vang Pao, then a Lt. Col. in the Royal Lao Army. An agreement is reached between the two regarding fighting the communists in Laos. Subsequently, the CIA, through the auspices of Air America begins supplying the Hmong troops under Vang Pao and they, in turn, begin to fight both the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese, denying them easy access to the Plain des Jars. This secret partnership with the Hmong lasted 15 years. More than 30,000 Hmong troops - under the leadership of (later) General Vang Pao - operated out of Long Cheng to spearhead the American initiative. After the U.S. withdrew from Southeast Asia in 1975, Prime Minister Souvana Phouma forced Vang Pao's resignation. Without U.S. support, and with an actively hostile Laotian government in power, the Hmong's position in Long Cheng became untenable. However in terms of human costs, particularly to the Hmong, words simply fail.

Sky Is Falling is the story of the evacuation of (some) the Hmong from Laos when the communists took over that country. As told by author Gayle Morrison, it is a story with heros and villains, with acts of generosity and cowardice, with good luck and tragedy - and in the end it is the story of Jerry "HOG" Daniels, the CIA station chief at Long Cheng and General Vang Pao, Royal Lao General, Hmong and commandant of Military District 2.

There are various estimates of how many Hmong were lost during the secret war between 1961 and 1975, but it appears at least 50,000 were killed - this from a people whose entire population was perhaps 300,000 at it largest. As William Colby, former director of the CIA, testified at a 1994 Congressional hearing - "[The Hmong] and the CIA began a working relationship which would last many years and conduct one of the most successful operations the CIA ever conducted. 'Most successful' for our purposes of that day, a disaster for the Hmong."

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The Hmong Base at Long Cheng

The Hmong are not native to Laos. It is believed that they originated in Northern China and over many hundreds of years slowly moved south ending up in the northern mountains of Laos. As such they are generally looked down upon by the ethnic Laotians, with some of the kindest comments being, "You know the Hmong, they're all crazy."

The Ho Chi Minh Trail passed from North Vietnam, through Laos into South Vietnam. Thus, using the Hmong as its arms and legs, the CIA tried to stop the flow of food and supplies into South Vietnam, thereby causing North Vietnam to place NVA troops in Laos to protect the trail and effectively prevented them from being sent to the South.

Ms. Morrison faced a number of obstacles in writing this book. First, the Hmong have no written language, so there are no Hmong documents to refer to. Second, the Laotian government was not going to cooperate. Third, the CIA still doesn't like to even admit there was a secret war in Laos. As a result, she was forced to conduct taped interviews with over 200 people involved in the evacuation, including the Hmong, State Department employees, CIA operatives who were in Laos at the time, and the old Southeast Asia hands who flew for Air America, Continental Air Services and Bird & Son and functioned as the CIA's air force in Laos.(For more information on the guys who flew for the CIA in Southeast Asia under difficult conditions see -Air America Organization

For many differing reasons, each of these groups didn't encourage the publication of a book on this point of our history. But she persevered over a 9-year period, winning the trust of the Hmong and the Air America gang. Later some CIA and State Department folks agreed to be interviewed - on the record - out of personal loyalty to Jerry Daniels - who died under mysterious circumstances in Bangkok in 1982.

The result is a powerful story with snippets of various interviews interwoven with the facts of the situation. Once you get through the first twenty or so pages and get used to the author's style, you will get caught up in the day-to-day, and finally hour-by-hour events which take on the attributes of a runaway train. A hell of a good read!

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Hmong running for evacuation plane on runway at Long Cheng

Sky Is Falling is one of those rare books that makes history read like a suspense novel. As the North Vietnamese close in on Long Cheng the reader inevitably wonders if the Hmong will make it out, and if so how many? Will the General be assassinated? And will the U.S. actually live up to a commitment it made - but never believed it would have to deliver? A heck of a tale - and it actually happened! So enough of me - go BUY THIS BOOK!

Finally, the title of the book does not refer to 'the sky is falling', but rather the name of the CIA compound at Long Cheng - SKY - named after Jerry Daniel's home state of Montana.

VANG PAO

The names below are mentioned on the listed pages with the nameVANG PAO

The names below are mentioned on the listed pages with the name
VANG PAO