knloregon Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Guess this can go here, certainly some of the Candle's members (or former members) relied on aid given by this man's soldiers during the VN war (Tsap & Trigg come to mind) --- yeah, you probably had to be operational in the highlands, or indeed, over the boarder to gain full support.. True leader of the Hmong diaspora in the US, though, a lasting legacy --- and, apparently, the old fart was still trying to overthrow the communists close to the end.. (AP Garance Burke) Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif. Link to comment
tsap seui Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Guess this can go here, certainly some of the Candle's members (or former members) relied on aid given by this man's soldiers during the VN war (Tsap & Trigg come to mind) --- yeah, you probably had to be operational in the highlands, or indeed, over the boarder to gain full support.. True leader of the Hmong diaspora in the US, though, a lasting legacy --- and, apparently, the old fart was still trying to overthrow the communists close to the end.. (AP Garance Burke) Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif. A sad day. The Hmong people were some very interesting folks, and definately some fierce warriors who helped out with our misguided cause. In all honesty the area of operations I flew in did extend pretty deep up into Cambodia and the "Trail" areas (Ho Chi Minh that is, and every trip out there we were told it would be denied that we were there) it didn't extend up into the central highlands. I got to see some awesome country side but other than carrying grunts on combat assault missions, their dead and wounded to aid stations, and the times I flew "Big Minh" around (who later in 1975 surrendered South Vietnam to the NVA tank crews who crashed through the Presidential Palace gates in downtown Saigon) I never got to interact with Hmong or other South Vietnamese peoples...well, I guess I did "interact" with quite a few South Vietnamese and Cambodian wimmins....but while those encounters of the human kind made for some very juicy stories, they may not be appropriate rat cheer. I've talked to many fellars who went back to Nam, but in all reality, if I went back it would have to be on tour by a helicopter...heck, other than getting out of a chopper to take a leak and quickly look for battle damage to the ship during refueling, or to wipe blood off myself and stretch the tension out as our medivaced wounded were being unloaded, and then the times I got to stand up on top of Nhui Ba Dinh (Black Virgin Mountain) I never really was on the ground and got a feel for the peoples or the villes we flew over. My war was either hard chargin' deep in concentration with the treetops brushin' the chin bubbles or flyin' into some remote hellhole with tracer rounds and total terror and chaos flying all around. Interesting vacation activities, but not much on interaction with the locals, other than trying to get their broken bodies to safety. I am really happy to see so many who helped us over there, get to live out their lives here in relative safety...even General Minh made it to America. The Hmong people were, and remain awesome. tsap seui Link to comment
knloregon Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 "The Hmong people were, and remain awesome..." Great friends to America, and to this day, remain subjugated by the VN. More than 10 years ago, some people went through the same international adoption agency as I did--- they, trying to adopt Hmong from VN, we, from China.... Even after several visits to the orphanage, and much time with the young child, the VN government jerked them around, and ultimately, disapproved the adoption. Link to comment
tsap seui Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 "The Hmong people were, and remain awesome..." Great friends to America, and to this day, remain subjugated by the VN. More than 10 years ago, some people went through the same international adoption agency as I did--- they, trying to adopt Hmong from VN, we, from China.... Even after several visits to the orphanage, and much time with the young child, the VN government jerked them around, and ultimately, disapproved the adoption. No love lost between them... the south Vietnamese treated the Hmong like dogs. Link to comment
knloregon Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 "Army denies Van Pao burial at Arlington cemetery" Good 'nuf to give aid and military covering support to the US at great risk to him and his people behind enemy lines during VN............. not good nuf' to be buried side-by-side.... Link to comment
tsap seui Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 "Army denies Van Pao burial at Arlington cemetery" Good 'nuf to give aid and military covering support to the US at great risk to him and his people behind enemy lines during VN............. not good nuf' to be buried side-by-side.... Yep, as Tonto so eloquently put it....Kemmosabee, white man often talk out of both side of mouth. Sad. tsap seui Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now