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FRESNO, Calif. — 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.
Former CIA Director William Colby once called Vang Pao “the biggest hero of the Vietnam War” for the 15 years he spent leading a CIA-sponsored guerrilla army fighting against a communist takeover on the Southeast Asian peninsula. The Associated Press
