Mr. Xong Pao Hang
Boy Soldier, SGU Veteran
Eagan, MN
File No.: 09/50
March 2024

Xong Pao Hang’s childhood was marked by tragedy, when he saw one of his grandmothers being shot and killed by the North Vietnamese Army. Since the Secret War started in 1961, almost an entire generation of Hmong soldiers had been killed. From 1971 to 1973, more soldiers were needed to defend his homeland of Laos from mounting assaults by NVA troops. When he was recruited at age 13 into the SGU, his uniform had to be tailored to fit his teenage body. After military training in Thailand, Xong Pao and his battalion were sent to the frontline at the Plain of Jars. This was his first time engaged in combat with the enemy. They lost the fight and had to walk back to Long Cheng. Some were left to die along the way as their boots were soaked with water for weeks causing trench foot. Those who survived were too weak to shoulder their wounded comrades as they walked back to base. When the US left Laos in 1975, Xong Pao and his family went into hiding. In 1978, as they made their way to Thailand, his mother and sister were shot dead by the communist troops pursuing them. He and his other family members survived the journey and relocated to the refugee camps. By the early 1990s, as the Thai government was closing the refugee camps, Xong Pao and his family left for the US. ∆


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