Veterans' Voices: The Secret War

Veterans' Voices: The Secret War

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Veterans' Voices: The Secret War episodes

  • Paul Yang #2

    Veteran Paul Yang talks about the routes the Hmong was charged with protecting by the Americans, and yet there was no public recognition of the Hmong’s alliance and service during the War. 

    2 min
  • Paul Yang #1

    Veteran Paul Yang recalls his journey from student, to personal secretary to a colonel, to a solider.  

    2 min
  • Wa Joe Vu #3

    Veteran Wa Joe Vu recalls a time he almost detonated a bomb by accident, but a gut reaction brought him to a separate location. 

    2 min
  • Wa Joe Vu #2

    Veteran Wa Joe Vu describes how he received very few breaks from the front line because of his specific skillset. 

    2 min
  • Wa Joe Vu #1

    Veteran Wa Joe Vu recalls weapons being brought into his village, but being too young to hold a gun. He would eventually join the fight when he was 16-years-old. 

    2 min
  • Nhia Xiong Her #3

    Veteran Nhia Xiong Her (Sherman) recalls the devastation that the Hmong people faced after the Americans pulled out of Vietnam. 

    2 min
  • Nhia Xiong Her #2

    Veteran Nhia Xiong Her (Sherman) recalls a rescue mission for an American pilot that was shot down, and having to create a landing field for the Americans who came to collect the body.  

    2 min
  • Nhia Xiong Her #1

    Veteran Nhia Xiong Her (Sherman) takes pride in the fact that he felt he and the other Hmong soldiers stepped up in order to try and protect their land from the communists. 

    2 min
  • Manichan Xiong #2

    Veteran Manichan Xiong recalls the fear and death that followed after the Americans left South East Asia, and their efforts to stay alive. 

    2 min

About Veterans' Voices: The Secret War

From the publisher's feed

The Hmong people are a minority group that lived in Southeast Asia and China. After 1975, many became refugees in North America, Australia, and parts of Europe and South America. From 1961 to 1975, In an effort to contain the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, the United States recruited, trained and financed the Hmong and Laos to serve as surrogate soldiers in the American armed forces. Today, there are over 350,000 Hmong living in the United States, with over 81,000 individuals in Minnesota, the largest urbanized Hmong population in the US.