What follows is a relatively (really) brief chronology of events of importance to the Hmong in Laos, and eventually Thailand and the United States. The focus is on Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, and the Hmong generally, but other information is provided as well. [Click on the links for maps and information on each country, courtesy of CIA.] Major wars, and events in the Lee family, are in green type. Try to imagine you are Lia's mother, born in 1944, or her husband, who was a very young child in 1944, living through all these events.
| Year |
Event |
| 1940 |
- France Surrenders to Nazi Germany. The new Vichy government (collaborating with Germany) allows France to stay in SE Asia as long as nothing was done to interfere with Japanese activities in the area.
- Japanese military enters Laos. The Japanese attempt to force labor from Hmong, which results in Hmong withdrawal into more mountainous areas.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt elected for third term as U.S. President.
|
| 1941 |
- Pearl Harbor bombed by Japan. United States enters World War II.
|
| 1944 |
- France liberated by Allied Forces. French special forces infiltrate Laos, and recruit Hmong to fight the Japanese.
- Foua Yang, who eventually marries Nao Kao Lee, born in Laos
- Roosevelt elected for fourth term as President.
|
| 1945 |
- Roosevelt dies in office. Harry Truman becomes President.
- August: Japan surrenders, WW II ends.
- September: Ho Chi Minh declares the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
- Late 1945: The Viet Minh--communist forces from Vietnam--infiltrate much of northern Laos.
|
| 1946 |
- French troops return to Laos; most Hmong continue to assist French in fighting the Viet Minh.
|
| 1947 |
- Laos becomes an independent state within the French Union.
- U.S. State Department published a theory "on containment of communism" which becomes United States policy.
- A 13-year-old Hmong boy, Vang Pao, joins the Hmong irregulars in resisting Viet Minh attacks.
|
| 1949 |
- Harry Truman,having won the election in 1948, continues as President.
- Laos joins the United Nations.
- October 1: Mao Zedong's revolutionary forces enter Beijing, establishing communist control over all of China.
|
| 1950 |
- North Korea invades South Korea. Korean "War" begins.
- Alarmed by communist success, U.S. decides to support France in its struggles to retain control in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The first U.S. supplies for France arrive in Saigon.
- Laotians who joined the Viet Minh start to distinguish themselves by using the term Pathet Lao. The Pathet Lao become both a military and political force, dedicated to gaining control of Laos.
|
| 1952 |
- Vang Pao, now 18 and serving in the Lao Army, leads two successful raids on Viet Minh and Pathet Lao positions in Laos; he is sent to officer training school, and becomes an officer in the Royal Lao Army.
- In November, the Viet Minh forces occupy Dien Bien Phu, an obscure market town just inside the Vietnam border, and use it to launch offensives against Laos.
- Dwight Eisenhower elected president of U.S.
|
| 1953 |
- Viet Minh invade Hmong homelands in northern Laos in a major offensive; the Hmong,with French assistance, continue to fight back. More Hmong join Lao Army.
- Korean War ends with a divided Korea.
- Dien Bien Phu is retaken by French and fortified as a "trap" for Viet Minh forces. Some 2000 Hmong are among the garrison, or deployed in surrounding hills.
|
| 1954 |
- The Viet Minh lay siege to Dien Bien Phu.
- May: Dien Bien Phu falls.
- Geneva Conference establishes a cease-fire line between France and Ho's Viet Minh, dividing Vietnam at 17th Parallel. France withdraws from Southeast Asia.
- Laos is established as a neutral sovereign state. The Viet Minh delegation from North Vietnam denies it has any troops in Laos; in fact it has thousands, many being actively attacked by Hmong. Communist rebels in Laos, the Pathet Lao, also continue to harass the Hmong.
- The U.S. covertly increases serious military aid to the Royal Lao forces and resistant tribal groups such as the Hmong. It also provides assistance to South Vietnam.
|
| 1955 |
- U.S. military advisors provide covert training to Lao Army.
- North Vietnam continues to deny it has forces in Laos. Fighting continues in northern Laos. Since no foreign military presence is supposed to be in Laos, U.S. creates Program Evaluation Office (PEO) to provide training and assistance, staffed by U.S. military personnel transferred to temporary civilian status.
|
| 1959 |
- Vang Pao, now a Major in the Royal Lao army, continues to lead "irregular' Hmong troops in unorthodox skirmishes with the enemy. Ho Chi Minh, head of North Vietnam, seeks aid in the Soviet Union.
|
| 1960 |
- A military coup in Laos creates a "neutralist" regime more friendly to communists.
- The United States steps up its military assistance in both Laos and South Vietnam.
- John F. Kennedy elected President of U.S.
- "The Promise": A U.S. military officer formally requests the Hmong, through Vang Pao, to assist the Americans in defending Laos against communism. After clan leaders meet, they agree to continue to fight in return for food, weapons, and training.
|
| 1961 |
- Kennedy takes office and continues Eisenhower's policy of fighting an unconventional war in Laos, using CIA techniques,strategies, and experts.
- Air America (the CIA-run air force in SE Asia) increases airdrops of food, ammunition and other supplies over Laos.
|
| 1962 |
- Hmong refugees increase as fighting continues in Laos.
- U.S. pulls out its limited personnel in Laos in order to abide by Geneva Accords.
- North Vietnam builds Ho Chi Minh trail to move supplies and men from North to South Vietnam.
|
| 1963 |
- President Kennedy assassinated, Lyndon Johnson assumes the Presidency.
- The United States has 16,300 military personnel (but no ground troops) in South Vietnam, assisting that government's fight against communist North Vietnam.
- Officially at least, the U.S. states it has no military personnel in Laos.
|
| 1965 |
- President Johnson orders American ground troops to South Vietnam. Vietnam War begins.
- CIA increases activities in Laos.
- Both North Vietnam and Laos become targets for U.S. Air Force.
- U.S. increasingly depends upon the Hmong to fight the North Vietnamese Army in Laos.
|
| 1966 |
- Despite opposition from the Royal Lao Airforce,the first Hmong are recruited to be trained as fighter pilots. Eventually five classes of pilots will be trained by the U.S. to fly military missions in Laos. Most will fly hundreds of missions (one, 5,000 missions) before being shot down and killed.
|
| 1967 |
- Air strikes against North Vietnam and targets in Laos continue.
- U.S. installs top-secret equipment in northern Laos to provide 24-hour precision bombing against targets in Laos and Vietnam. This and other positions are primarily protected by the Hmong.
- Hmong troops are paid $3.00 per month and given rice by the U.S.
- U.S. also supports Hmong efforts to increase cash income by growing opium. Air America sometimes flies raw opium out of Laos to South Vietnam, where it is refined into heroin. Approximately 30,000 American troops serving in Vietnam will become addicted to heroin.
- In U.S., anti-war demonstrations and sentiment increases.
|
| 1968 |
- Tet offensive launched throughout South Vietnam.
- Richard Nixon elected president of United States.
- In Laos, almost all 350,000 Hmong have been displaced, many several times, by the war. Fathers killed in fighting are now being replaced by their sons, some as young as 11 and 12. Levirate is by necessity practiced with increasing frequency.
|
| 1969 |
- President Nixon approves bombing of North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia, although again this is kept secret.
- Nixon announces troop withdrawal from South Vietnam, and the "Vietnamization" of the War.
- Ho Chi Minh dies.
- Secret U.S. Senate hearings begin on Laos. It is revealed for the first time that the CIA runs military operations in Laos; this is not officially revealed to the American public.
|
| 1970 |
- B-52 bombers used for first time in Laos.
- Talks being between U.,S. and North Vietnam.
- Nixon acknowledges U.S. involvement in Laos.
|
| 1971 |
- North Vietnam launches massive attack against Hmong base in northern Laos.
|
| 1972 |
- Nixon visits Peoples Republic of China.
- Nixon signs Biological and Toxin Convention banning such weapons.
- Nixon re-elected for 2nd term.
|
| 1973 |
- June 27: Cease-fire signed in Paris, effectively ending the Vietnam War. Some 58,000 Americans were killed. In addition, over a million Vietnamese troops on both sides, and some 4 million Vietnamese civilians, were also killed. In Laos, probably another one million died, including perhaps as many as 100,000 Hmong.
- In Laos, despite cease-fire, communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese Army continue to expand their control.
|
| 1974 |
- June: Last Air America plane and last U.S. military personnel leave Laos. Over 40,000 North Vietnamese troops remain in Laos.
- Vang Pao's men are partially dispersed and unarmed. Some are trying to resume farming, though in many areas the bombed-out terrain is unrecognizable, and many men have been soldiers since they were teenagers. By this time, the U.S. has dropped some 2 million tons of bombs on Laos, far more than America dropped in Europe and the Pacific in all WW II.
- August: Facing impeachment due to Watergate scandal, Nixon resigns the Presidency and is replaced by Gerald Ford.
|
| 1975 |
- Under attack by the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese, government in Laos breaks down. Vang Pao continues to defend Hmong positions.
- In Vietnam, the North Vietnamese Army rolls across the 17th parallel in South Vietnam.
- April 30: The Fall of Saigon. Last Americans evacuate amid chaos; within 24 hours, the new communist government renames Saigon, and it becomes Ho Chi Minh City.
- In Laos, Americans inform Hmong clan leaders they are leaving. Van Pao and clan leaders meet, but can not find a solution for their problems. U.S. evacuates Vang Pao, a few other leaders and their families to Thailand, leaving the rest behind. Some Hmong try to flee, some are killed trying to cross borders, others are arrested or killed when they stay.
- The Pathet Lao announce: "The Meo [Hmong] must be exterminated down to the root of the tribe."
- In Cambodia, the government falls to Pol Pot's communist Khymer Rouge.
- December: The Lao People's Revolutionary Party takes control in Laos, and abolishes the monarchy. Laos becomes a communist state, the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR). All high ranking and educated Lao and Hmong, including Touby Lyfoung, are imprisoned in "seminar" camps, many to die there.
|
| 1976 |
- LPDR and the Vietnamese Army accused of using chemical biological toxin warfare against Hmong in Laos. Many Hmong flee to Thailand.
- Vang Pao, and other Hmong leaders, immigrate to U.S. Vang Pao is required to first divorce several wives. His ex-wives follow him to U.S. and stay part of household.
- Jimmy Carter elected President.
|
| 1978 |
- Communist Lao forces, using conventional and perhaps chemical-biological weapons, continue to attack and kill Hmong. Hmong refugees continue to flee to Thailand.
|
| 1979 |
- The Lee family, in their second attempt, reach Thailand.
- Touby Lyfoung dies in Pathet Lao prison camp, reportedly shot by a guard.
|
| 1980 |
- Ronald Reagan elected president.
- United Nations adopts resolution to investigate use of chemical-biological warfare in Laos, Cambodia, and Afghanistan.
- The Lee family immigrates to the U.S.
|
| 1981 |
- Lao government continues its genocide/ethnic cleansing against the Hmong.
- In increasing numbers, Hmong are leaving Thailand refugee camps for the United States.
|
| 1982 |
- Lia Lee is born in Merced Community Medical Center, Merced, California
|
| 1984 |
- Ronald Reagan elected for second term.
|
| 1985 |
- Thailand begins to push remaining Hmong refugees back to Laos.
- Lia Lee is placed in foster care.
|
| 1986 |
- Lia Lee returned to her parents.
- Lia Lee suffers irreparable brain damage.
|
| 1988 |
- George Bush (senior) is elected President.
|
| 1991 |
- Laos signs agreement with Thailand and the UN to repatriate all remaining Hmong refugees back to Laos.
- Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand closed. U.S. refuses to admit more Hmong refugees. About 10,000 Hmong escape into Thailand rather than be returned to Laos.
|
| 1992 |
- Laos remains world's third largest producer of opium-heroin.
- William Clinton elected President.
|
| 1993 |
- U.S. State department insists (many disagree) that Hmong refugees are not being forced to return to Laos, and face no persecution there. Civil War continues in Laos, as does ethnic cleansing.
|
| 1994 |
- U.S. continues to support and finance repatriation of Hmong from Thailand to Laos. Fighting in Laos continues.
|
| 1997 |
- Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic)joins ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).
- Clinton starts second term as President.
|
| 2000 |
- George W. Bush declared President by Supreme Court.
|
| 2001 |
- World Trade Center destroyed by Al Quida, a terrorist group under Osama Bin Laden.
- US instrumental in overthrow of Taliban government of Afghanistan, which is sheltering Bin Laden.
|
| 2002 |
|
| 2003 |
- US invades and occupies Iraq; Iraq War starts.
- Nao Kao Lee, Lia's father, dies.
|
| 2004 |
- US permits many remaining Hmong refugees to immigrate to US, as Thailand closes the last of its refugee camps. Many other Hmong flee into Thai countryside to avoid repatriation to Laos. According to some, with the closure of the last refugee camps in Thailand, the Vietnam War is finally over.
- George W. Bush elected for 2nd term.
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