Capt. Xia Ying Her
SGU Veteran
St. Paul, MN
File No.: 50/50
August 2024

Xia Ying Her was born in 1953 in Pha Khao, Laos. He was recruited into the Secret War by his uncle in 1965 and was in military training for six months. From 1966-1971, Her was mostly in combat defending his country against the North Vietnamese Army in Northern Laos. He was awarded a medal for his bravery for taking out an enemy target before it was able to launch an attack near Long Cheng. Before the ceasefire in 1973, he was enlisted to become a bomber pilot along with some of his peers. The program was shut down as the war entered its final stage and the US began defunding its military efforts in the Vietnam War. In May 1975, Her and his family escaped and sought refuge in Thailand. They stayed in Thailand for a year. In summer of 1976 they immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota. Her and his family were among the very first Hmong refugees to settle in the state. ∆

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