Mr. Vang Leng
Captain, SGU Veteran

“Lost my father” 
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In 1968, I went back to join the army. When my dad died, it was because he went with a group of soldiers back to Sam Neua to collect intelligent information. On their way, the NVA ambushed them and killed my father and a few of his soldiers. The reason why I returned to be a soldier again in 1968 was because I was angry … because I wanted to get on a plane and shoot down the NVA as revenge for killing my father. But once I arrived in Long Cheng, my cousin was in the hospital there because the NVA had shot and wounded him. I was waiting to go get trained as a pilot, but my cousin died so I stayed and attended his funeral. I went and asked for financial assistance from the General and Colonel Vang Neng for my cousin’s funeral. This was why I was not able to go and train to become a pilot. Also, Jerry [Daniels] and Burr [Smith, who were CIA case officers working with the Hmong soldiers,] would not allow me to go because I was the only one in the Sam Neua region who could communicate with them.