Family biography:

Captain Tong Chang Lee was born in 1930. He joined the French military during its occupation of Laos from 1947-1955 in Xieng Khouang Province. After the French left, he returned home to help tend the fields with his family. In May of 1961, he returned to the battlefield supporting the U.S. to defend freedom and democracy against the communist NVA and Pathet Lao forces in his homeland. He was stationed with Battalion 205, GM23 in Military Region 2. Captain Lee was a brave soldier and unafraid to directly engage with the enemies. As a result, he was wounded three times in combat at Pha Phai, Muang Ngat, and Xieng Khouang. 

When the Secret War ended with the U.S. pulling out of Laos in 1975, Captain Lee took his family and fled into the jungle of Laos and continued their fight for the country’s freedom. In 1979, they escaped to Thailand. From 1984 to 1995, Captain Lee traveled back and forth between Laos and Thailand, seeking opportunities to retake his country. This did not go as planned. In 2005, he decided to take his entire family to the United States. In 2009, he became a member of the SGU Veterans and Families of America, a non-profit veterans organization supporting soldiers from his era, with its headquarters based in St. Paul, Minn.