Mr. Yang Long Collection
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Major Yang Long started out his military career early. During the Secret War in Laos, he was the first wave of Hmong soldiers to go to Thailand to train in radio communication. He had spent many years at the battlefields. Later on, he was in charge of the radio units and radio repairs in Long Cheng, provided military drill training, and worked along CIA operatives and other Military Region 2 commanders until the war ended in 1975.
In the United States, Major Yang and his family became the first Hmong family from Laos to gain their citizenships as new Americans in Indiana in 1982. In Minnesota, he was a lifelong supporter of all advocacy works and causes to benefit the SGU veterans. He had impacted many lives from his volunteerism to the public. Also, Major Yang committed his time and resource to help advance the Hmong community and their organizations, including the Hmong American Day movement, until his last day on earth in 2021.
St. Paul, MN
2022
Yang Long at Long Cheng, 1964.
Yang Long observed a soldier fixing a radio in Long Cheng, early 1970s.
CIA operative Jerry Daniels took Yang Long, far left, and several Hmong soldiers who worked closely with Daniels on a tour in 1974 before Long Cheng fell into communists in May of 1975.
Yang Long at the newly built Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand, 1975.
Yang Long and his family appeared in a local newspaper as they became U.S. citizens.
Yang Long was a part of the International Symposium on Hmong People, which was held in St. Paul, MN in 1995.
Yang Long and Gen. Vang Pao examined artifacts at the Symposium, 1995.
Radio Operators in training, led by Major Yang Long, in Long Cheng, 1969.