[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 78 (Thursday, May 11, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1007-E1008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 REMARKS BY MAJ. GEN. VANG PAO AT THE VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL CEREMONY IN 
       REMEMBRANCE OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF SAIGON

                                 ______


                         HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 11, 1995
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, April 30, I was at the Vietnam 
Memorial here in Washington. I met personally with many Vietnam 
veterans and their families at the Wall there to remember the 
sacrifices of our soldiers and the 20th anniversary of the tragic fall 
of South Vietnam to communism.
  One of the important ceremonies that I attended at the Wall was held 
by the Counterparts organization where thousands of Montagnards, Hmong, 
Laotians and Vietnamese attended to mark the 20th anniversary of the 
tragic and bloody Communist takeover of their homelands. Some of those 
in attendance at this somber and important event were Grant McClure, 
Commanding Officer of Counterparts and former advisor to the 
Montagnards in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, Ambassador Bill 
Colby former director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Maj. Gen. 
Homer Smith head of the Defense Attache Office during the fateful last 
hours in Saigon; Brig. Gen. Kor Ksor, a Montagnard leader; Maj. Gen. 
Vang Pao, Commander of Military Region II for the Royal Lao Army and 
head of Hmong Special Forces; General Thonglit Chokbenbun, Royal Lao 
Army Commander; Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt the distinguished Lao/Hmong 
scholar, author and photojounalist; and Philip Smith, Senior 
Legislative Assistant to former U.S. Congressman Don Ritter and current 
Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe it is crucial for the United States and 
Thailand not to forget the tremendous sacrifices of our former 
Vietnamese, Montagnard, Hmong and Laotian allies during the Vietnam 
War. I call upon all Vietnam veterans and Americans to oppose the 
current U.S. State Department and Thai policy of forcibly repatriating 
many of these former Hmong and Vietnamese Special Forces Commandos and 
combat veterans from refugee camps back to the repressive Communist 
regimes that they fled.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important to make a part of the public record the 
speech that Maj. Gen. Vang Pao gave at the 20th Anniversary Ceremony 
which describes so well the major contribution made by many of our 
former allies and so many American soldiers during the Vietnam war.
                  Statement of Major General Vang Pao

       Dear Honorable Guests, Fellow Veterans, Ladies and 
     Gentlemen: We are gathered here today at this ceremony to 
     mark the 20th Anniversary of the tragic fall of South 
     Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to invading Communist forces. But, 
     we are also gathered here to recognize and honor those men 
     and women who sacrificed and lost their lives in the Vietnam 
     War--the Second Indochina War--fighting for freedom, 
     democracy, and for the peace and security of Southeast Asia 
     and the United States.
       Tens of thousands of Lao and Hmong soldiers and their 
     families who fought against the invading Soviet-backed North 
     Vietnamese Army during the war are buried in unmarked graves 
     in Laos and Vietnam. They [[Page E1008]] fought to defend 
     their country and to help the United States against the 
     expansion of Soviet Communism through its proxy regime in 
     Hanoi. But, their names are not on the Vietnam Memorial Wall 
     here in Washington. So, we must be vigilant to keep alive 
     their memory in our hearts and tell the story of their brave 
     sacrifices to our children and our children's children so 
     that their memory and the important cause that they fought 
     for is not forgotten by future generations.
       In Laos, from 1969 to 1970, the Lao and Hmong Special 
     Forces under my command captured and occupied the strategic 
     site of the Plain of Jars (Thong Haihin) which was crucial to 
     the overall course of the war effort. The Plain of Jars is 
     near the border of North Vietnam and was controlled by three 
     North Vietnamese divisions. During heavy fighting the Lao and 
     Hmong Special Forces under my command defeated the North 
     Vietnamese troops and captured many Soviet-supplied tanks, 
     artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, trucks and many 
     hundreds of tons of small arms and other equipment which cost 
     Moscow an enormous amount of money. The Superpowers--the 
     Soviet Union and the United States--were surprised that such 
     a small number of Hmong and Lao soldiers could defeat such a 
     large force of the North Vietnamese Army and then occupy and 
     defend the Plain of Jars. This battlefield victory saved many 
     Americans from having to fight against these North Vietnamese 
     troops and their weapons as well as greatly slowing the 
     advance of Communism in Southeast Asia for many additional 
     years.
       It is also important to note the major contribution made by 
     the Lao and Hmong soldiers of the Royal Lao Army in locating 
     and destroying many of the North Vietnamese Army's supply 
     lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Lao/Hmong Special 
     Forces caused heavy losses to the North Vietnamese troops and 
     rescued many hundreds of downed American pilots.
       The United States did not lose the Vietnam War on the 
     battlefield. The United States withdrew from the Indochina 
     War in 1975 because of world politics, U.S.-Soviet detente, 
     American-Chinese relations and U.S. domestic opposition to 
     the War. However, the United States eventually won the war in 
     world politics in the struggle between Communism and 
     Capitalism. Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 
     collapsed with the help of freedom fighters like the Hmong 
     and Lao combat veterans who assisted the United States in 
     resisting the expansion of international Communism. Many 
     Communist countries changed to become free countries because 
     of the sacrifices of the Laotian and American men and women 
     who defended freedom and democracy during the Cold War. 
     Therefore, we must recognize and honor those men and women-
     in-arms who fought and died in the Vietnam War and remember 
     that freedom, democracy and peace will once again return to 
     Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in the near future.
       Thank you for joining me here today to mark this important 
     occasion. God bless you all.
     

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