Colonel vowed Hmong veterans would be remembered. Now he’s one honored at Fresno funeral
Col. Wangyee Vang, who helped put the spotlight on Lao and Hmong veterans who fought in the “Secret War,” was honored in a traditional three-day funeral in Fresno that started Saturday.
Vang died Jan. 18 at age 74.
He was honored in Fresno at the Faith Community Religious Facility, while simultaneously recognized at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Vang was the founder and longtime president of Lao Veterans of America, a Lao- and Hmong-American veterans’ non-profit organization based in Fresno.
He helped spearhead the Laos Memorial, a national monument in Arlington National Cemetery honoring Lao and Hmong veterans who helped the United States in during the Secret War.
The Secret War was a covert CIA-backed effort to seize power from Communists during the Vietnam War. Vang served in the “U.S. Secret Army” defending U.S. national security interests from 1961 to 1975.
He was also instrumental in passage of the Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act, which granted honorary American citizenship to tens of thousands of Hmong veterans and their families in the U.S.
His work with U.S. Congressman Jim Costa, D-Fresno, also led to permission for many Hmong veterans to be buried in U.S. national veterans cemeteries, noted Philip Smith, director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.
At events honoring Hmong veterans, Vang would often reassure veterans in speeches that they would not be forgotten.
Smith repeated his words in an email to The Bee, aiming them at Vang this time: “We promised you that we would never forget you, and your sacrifices and suffering, so that is why we have come together here to honor and remember you.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 1:07 PM.
