WASHINGTON - May 15, 2021 - National Lao Hmong Veterans Day Ceremonies, May 14-15, 2021, are being held in Washington, D.C., and Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) with wreath-laying ceremonies at the Laos Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial and U.S. Air Force Memorial. The ceremonies are being held and cosponsored by the Lao Veterans of America (LVA), Lao Veterans of America Institute, National Association for Black Veterans, U.S. Special Forces Association, Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), Vietnam Veterans, ANC, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Members of Congress and other U.S. government officials. Wisconsin, Minnesota and other states have established May 14-15, to honor Hmong and Lao Veterans of the Vietnam War, which coincides with the anniversary of the bloody fall of Long Chieng ( Long Tieng or Long Cheng ), where the U.S. Secret Army was headquartered in the Royal Kingdom of Laos, to invading Soviet Russian -backed communist forces of the Peoples Army of Vietnam ( PAVN or NVA) and Marxist Pathet Lao guerrillas. Thousands of Lao and Hmong veterans and their refugee families were brutally killed, on May 14-15, 1975, and in the aftermath of the communist takeover of Laos following the U.S. withdrawal.

"We again honor our Lao- and Hmong-American veterans and their families," said Major Cheurchai Vang, National President of the LVA, a national non-profit veterans organization headquartered in Fresno, and the Central Valley of California. "We also honor our past President Emeritus, and Founder, Colonel Wangyee Vang,, as well as all of our other veterans who died this year, and in previous years, including the many thousands who sacrificed their lives to defend Laos and United States' national security efforts during the Vietnam War."

"We again forever memorialize and honor the tens of thousands of Lao- and Hmong-American veterans of the Vietnam War in Laos, as well as their American military and clandestine advisors, who suffered and died in defense of the Royal Kingdom of Laos and the United States," said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the CPPA. "We are especially grateful for the important life and incredible sacrifices of Colonel Wangyee Vang, and his family, on behalf of the freedom loving Lao and Hmong people during the war, as well as the aftermath, in the refugee camps in Thailand, and during the extraordinary difficult exodus of Indochinese refugees resettled in the United States, France and elsewhere."

Flowers and prayers are once again being offered at veterans memorial ceremonies at the Laos Memorial in Arlington and at the Vietnam War Memorial marking over 24 years since the firstf national recognition ceremonies, and the dedication of the Laos memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, the nation's first national monument to honor Lao and Hmong veterans and their American advisors.

http://www.cppa-dc.org

Contact
Jade Her or Philip Smith