Alaska Laos and Hmong Veterans Lead Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery,Vietnam War Memorial

WASHINGTON - May 29, 2015 - PRLog -- Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. (May 15, 2015)-

The following is the text of the statement issued by Pasert Lee, President, of Hmong Alaska Community, Inc., of Anchorage, Alaska, presented at the 40th anniversary memorial and wreath-laying ceremony held at the Vietnam War Memorial, and Arlington Cemetery, hosted by the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Special Forces Association, Air Force, Marine Corps and Members of the U.S.. Senate and House of Representatives:

Pasert Lee, President
Hmong Alaska Community, Inc.
at
Lao Veterans of America Monument
Arlington National Cemetery, May 15, 2015
Ceremony Marking the 40^th Anniversary of the Fall of the
Royal Kingdom of Laos and the end of the Vietnam War in Laos
-----------

My name is Pasert Lee. I am a Hmong veteran and President of the Hmong Alaska Community, Inc. based in Anchorage, Alaska. I also serve as a board member, on the Board of Directors, of the Lao Veterans of America Institute.

First, I want to thank Mr. Philip Smith of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), who also serves as the Washington, D.C. Director and Liaison for the Lao Veterans of America and Lao Veterans of America Institute. We appreciate his efforts with Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Department of Defense and Members of the U.S. Congress to work to make this event possible today.

The Lao- and Hmong-American veterans and community are grateful to Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Army and military for their support at today's ceremony.

I want to also thank U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Congressman Don Young and Senator Dan Sullivan, of Alaska and their Congressional staff and offices, for their important efforts in the U.S. Congress and their participation in the Arlington ceremonies today. I also want to thank all of the other U.S. Congressmen and staff who are here today.

Today we mark the 40^th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in the Kingdom of Laos. As a young soldier, I fought invading communist North Vietnamese forces. I was wounded repeatedly in combat and on one occasion passed out for 86 hours, when my bunker was hit by a Soviet-supplied North Vietnamese Army (NVA) bomb.

My left hand was nearly severed.

In other combat activities to defend the Royal Kingdom of Laos, and my Laotian and Hmong people, I was wounded in the hip and leg where I was shot by enemy AK-47 machine guns.

I also have shrapnel, and metal fragments, in my scalp from the fighting.

Myself and many other veterans of the Vietnam War were seriously wounded or killed in Laos.

It was during this time, in the early 1960s, the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) came to Laos to recruit the Hmong and other minority Laotian peoples to form the “U.S. Secret Army” to defend the Kingdom of Laos. We helped to target and attack enemy troops, including on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In doing so, we helped to save many American soldiers defending the Republic of South Vietnam. We fought for freedom and to defend our beloved country and people.

Approximately 58,000 American soldiers died during the Vietnam War, but we lost well over 35,000 Hmong soldiers assisting the American's with an additional estimated 11, 000 missing in action (MIA), totaling approximately 46,000 Lao Hmong soldiers killed or missing. From 1961 to May 15, 1975, we worked very hard to attack the NVA troops and supplies of communist Vietnam entering Laos on highways and trails, including the Ho Chi Minh trail, where they were headed south to kill American soldiers.

Therefore, in addition to the veterans' memorial commemoration today to mark the 40^th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in the Kingdom of Laos, I would like stress that the legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski with Congressman Jim Costa, Congressman Don Young, Senator Dan Sullivan and others, “The Hmong Veterans' Service Recognition Act”, is very important to our Lao and Hmong-American community and veterans. We appreciate them honor our Lao and Hmong-American veterans and their families, and we are hopeful that the bill will be passed and signed into law by President Obama, so that our veterans can be buried with honor at U.S. national veterans' cemeteries adminstered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Again, I want to thank all of my fellow veterans and all of you for joining us today at this special veterans memorial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery marking the 40^th anniversary of the fall of the Royal Kingdom of Laos to invading communist forces. We will never forget our fellow soldiers and family members who suffered and died in defense of our people and homeland during this long war.

Thank you.

(Statement Ends)

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CPPA- Center for Public Policy Analysis

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http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
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The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), or Centre for Public Policy Analysis, is a Washington, DC-based non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental think tank and research organization, which focuses on international relations, national security, development, humanitarian and refugee issues. The Center is dedicated to research, analysis and education about many of the key public policy issues of our time. The CPPA brings important new ideas, information and experience to the public affairs arena in the U.S. and internationally, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.