The Hmong Foundation

By Garance Burke

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A horse-drawn carriage holding the body of the late Gen. Vang Pao passed thousands of sobbing mourners in military uniform and traditional Hmong dress Friday, as crowds gathered in downtown Fresno to begin an elaborate, six-day funeral service.

Vang Pao's large extended family -- including his 25 surviving children -- as well as the former CIA officials who recruited him to lead a secret army during the Vietnam War followed his flag-draped casket.

Once the casket was lowered, a veterans' color guard saluted and bagpipes sounded as a flight team flew over the mourners.

The general died at age 81 on Jan. 6 near Fresno, and is revered as a leader and father figure by the Hmong and Lao people he helped to resettle across the globe once Saigon fell. Vang Pao, who commanded CIA-funded guerrillas in the jungles of Laos, died at age 81 on Jan. 6 near Fresno.

But whether the United States will allow the Southeast Asian hero to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside American troops is uncertain, and hangs in the balance as this rural California city pays tribute to Vang Pao with a memorial "fit for a king."

"There will not be anyone like Father anymore because he was truly a godsend," said Chai Vang, one of the general's 32 children. "All we can do is unite the community and form partnerships around the world to carry out the work he began."

Fresno, a city of about half a million in the state's agricultural heartland, has pulled out all the stops for the ceremony, and local businesses are gearing up to supply travelers with food, sell them commemorative buttons and take part in the historic gathering of the clans.

Friday afternoon, Hmong spiritual guides and funeral specialists will burn incense, chant songs, and play bamboo wind instruments to lead Vang Pao's soul back to his childhood home in Longhay, Laos, where his spirit can don the placental jacket it will wear on its journey toward reincarnation.

On Saturday morning, his family will present chicken, rice, drinks and paper money for the general's voyage into the afterlife. His relatives will then cook and serve food to funeral guests, making hot meals of the animals sacrificed in his honor in tents outside the convention center.

Thong Chai, who manages a Hmong grocery store on Fresno's gritty east side, said his family has donated a whole pig to the general's family in recent weeks.

"The general is like a hero for us, and we've got to help his family because it's hard to provide all this food for everyone who's coming," he said, looking over the pallets of coconut juice and white gourd beverage he was preparing to send along.

For those who fought alongside the general in the Vietnam War and came to America thanks to his advocacy, Vang Pao's death leaves many issues unresolved.

Once Saigon fell, thousands of his soldiers languished in refugee camps in Thailand until they were granted refugee status in the U.S., including about 30,000 Laotians, Cambodians and Hmong who moved to Fresno.

Then, in 2007, Vang Pao and 11 others were accused of plotting to violently overthrow the communist government of Laos, sparking a 3 1/2 year legal battle that reverberated with the last echoes of the war. Vang Pao was dropped from the case in 2009, and federal prosecutors suddenly dismissed all remaining charges last month "in the interests of justice," only days after the general's passing.

Mai Der Vang, a Hmong-American writer in Fresno, said it wasn't until she studied the general's role in the war that she understood the immense cultural and economic changes her family had experienced.

"It really allowed me to see why my parents worked so hard to ensure that I had a good education," said Vang, 29. "This war still haunts our elders and is something that still brings back very sad memories for people, so all that is coming up now."

Bill Lair, who headed the CIA's paramilitary operations in Laos and recruited Vang Pao, was expected to attend, as were several other retired CIA agents and military officials.

California Reps. Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza have requested an Arlington burial for Vang Pao, but have yet to receive a response.

The Army is handling the request as expeditiously as possible, Army spokesman Gary Tallman said Thursday.

Earlier this week, a phalanx of the general's former recruits lined up in their fatigues to lay a wreath of yellow daisies before Vang Pao's portrait, which lay against a solemn monument to Laotian veterans on the lawn before the county courthouse.

Most were well into their sixties, but the aging secret army still snapped to attention as their former commanders cried out in Hmong for them to salute in unison.

"We fought in the American war, and if we didn't join that war there might be thousands more Americans dead," said Col. Wangyee Vang, president of the nonprofit Lao Veterans of America. "General Vang Pao wished to be buried at Arlington and we hope the U.S. will grant him that honor."

By Stephen Magagnini
smagagnini@sacbee.com

Hmong leaders are planning a funeral to accommodate 40,000 mourners starting Feb. 4 for the man they call their king and their George Washington, General Vang Pao, who died Jan. 6th of heart failure at a Clovis hospital.

The Fresno Bee
Monday, January 10, 2011

A six-day funeral service for Gen. Vang Pao, the Hmong leader and military hero, will be held Feb. 4-9 at the Fresno Convention Center, the general's son, Chai Vang, said Monday.

(01-12) 14:35 PST Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Relatives of the former Laotian general who was a key U.S. ally in the Vietnam War say they've decided not to hold public viewings of his body outside California. Family members of Vang Pao initially hoped to bring his body to Hmong communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin. But now they say it won't happen because it's impossible to preserve the body during the trip. Vang Pao died last week at age of 81 after battling pneumonia. The only memorial will be at the Fresno Convention Center, where relatives are planning a funeral "fit for a king" for the revered former leader of the Royal Army of Laos

(01-11) 11:57 PST Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Several lawmakers have asked federal officials to allow a key U.S. ally in the Vietnam War to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. California Reps. Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza say Laotian Gen. Vang Pao rightly earned the honor to be buried alongside American soldiers. The general led Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed battle against communists in Laos and was credited with resettling tens of thousands of Hmong in American cities.

(01-10) 10:56 PST Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Relatives of Hmong leader Gen. Vang Pao say they are planning a four-day February memorial service for the military hero in central California. Vang Pao died Thursday after battling pneumonia in a Clovis hospital, located near one of the largest populations of Hmong immigrants in the United States. He was 81. Family spokeswoman Pacyinz Lyfoung (bay-ying lee-fong) says the traditional ceremony and funeral will likely be held at the Fresno Convention Center.

(01-06) 18:40 PST Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Vang Pao, a former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong mercenaries in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 81. After immigrating to the United States once the communists seized power in Laos in 1975, Vang Pao was venerated as a leader by the Hmong refugee populations who resettled in California's Central Valley, Minneapolis, and cities throughout Wisconsin. Vang Pao died Thursday after being hospitalized for about 10 days, said Michelle Von Tersch, a spokeswoman for Clovis Community Medical Center.