Discover One Man's Journey from Laos to America During the Vietnam War

Lee Pao Xiong, the founding Director of the Center for Hmong Studies and Instructor of Asian Studies at Concordia University in Saint Paul, shares his early life experiences of living in Laos during the Secret War. Recruited by the CIA to fight a "quiet war" in the shadows of the Vietnam War, his father was part of the heavy artillery unit, and as a child, Lee helped his father in his fox hole overlooking the Lao city of Long Tieng. Once the operation was over, thousands of Hmong and Lao people gathered in the city in the hopes of escape. But when the American planes arrived, Lee's family quickly discovered that they were intended for the operation's generals. And yet, split into two groups, his family members surged onto two different planes that delivered them to safety in Thailand, where they awaited the opportunity to fly to America,

To learn more about the CIA’s efforts to stop the spread of communism deeper into Southeast Asia, and the amazing firsthand stories of sacrifice and bravery of the Hmong men and women who served in the operation, watch the full-length documentary America’s Secret War.

This story is part of the collection The Call to Serve: Stories of Sacrifice, War and the Way Home, which was funded by the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation.