Major Hang True
SGU Veteran
Cottage Grove, MN
File No.: 15/50
April 2024

Hang True was born in 1944 in Laos. As the Secret War started, he and his company were among the first Hmong recruits to be armed and trained by the US-assisted Thai Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU) and CIA case officers. Hang learned radio communication, equipment, and coding. Then he went on to work as a radio operator in the war zone until 1968. He was reassigned as an investigator where he monitored prisoners at the military camp in Pha Khao. In 1972, he was a liaison officer handling matters between Military Region 2 and Military Region 5. When Laos collapsed in 1975, he and his family left for Thailand for their safety, because of his involvement with the CIA in the war. In September 1976, Hang True, his wife, and their eight children arrived in Michigan as new Americans. Days later, he found a job that paid him $2.10 an hour. Hang relocated to Minnesota to join his children. ∆

*** Video has been edited and modified, which the correspondence from the video may different from the transcription. Please review the transcription as needed to reflect video flow. English transcription for this interview is available upon request.

Part 2 of this interview does not have Hmong to English transcription.