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Vang Pao, Hmong Leader And General Who Led Secret War In Laos, Has Died [1]
['Mark Memmott']
Date: 2011-01-07
Vang Pao, Hmong Leader And General Who Led Secret War In Laos, Has Died
Enlarge this image toggle caption Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images
"Gen. Vang Pao, an iconic figure in the Hmong community and a key U.S. ally during the Vietnam War, died Thursday afternoon in Clovis [Calif.] after spending days in the hospital with pneumonia and a heart problem," The Fresno Bee writes this morning. He was 81.
As the Bee adds: "Over 100 people crowded into the outpatient care center at Clovis Community Medical Center to grieve the loss of a beloved leader, who some saw as the George Washington of the Hmong."
The BBC reminds us that:
"As a young man, he had fought against the Japanese during World War II, and with the French against the North Vietnamese in the 1950s. He led a CIA-sponsored secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War and, when it was lost, led many of his people into exile. Former Central Intelligence Agency chief William Colby once called [Vang] 'the biggest hero of the Vietnam War'."
Time notes that the general's "relationship with the U.S. — as with his homeland -- was always complicated":
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[1] Url:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/01/07/132732562/vang-pao-hmong-leader-and-general-who-led-secret-war-in-laos-has-died
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