The Secret War in Laos (1961 to 1975)

The covert war that tied the Hmong and other people of Laos to the United States.

A hidden front

Laos was officially neutral under the 1962 Geneva agreements, but North Vietnam used its eastern mountains for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the Pathet Lao fought the Royal Lao Government. The United States responded with a covert program run largely by the CIA, with U.S. Embassy Vientiane at its center.

The Hmong army

The United States armed and supplied Hmong and other highland fighters under General Vang Pao, headquartered at Long Tieng. They rescued downed American pilots, defended radar sites, and fought North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces for more than a decade, at enormous cost.

The bombing

U.S. aircraft flew a vast bombing campaign over Laos. Unexploded ordnance still kills and injures people in Laos today, and clearing it has become a major area of U.S. assistance.

After 1975

When the Pathet Lao took power, those who had fought alongside the United States were in grave danger. That is why so many crossed the Mekong. See Laos and the Hmong and Ban Vinai.