00 Enrolled HR 9
01 Encouraging the United States Congress to pass legislation giving full military burial rights to
02 Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War.
03 _______________
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
05 WHEREAS, beginning in 1960, the United States Central Intelligence Agency
06 recruited thousands of Hmong people to fight against the Communist Pathet Lao and North
07 Vietnamese Army regulars in Laos; and
08 WHEREAS, in July 1961, Brigadier General Edward G. Lansdale wrote in a memo to
09 General Maxwell D. Taylor that about 9,000 Hmong tribesmen had been equipped for guerilla
10 operations and these operations were being conducted with considerable effectiveness in
11 Communist-dominated territory in Laos; and
12 WHEREAS as many as 100,000 Hmong soldiers were recruited and trained as
13 Special Guerrilla Units to engage the North Vietnamese Army; and
14 WHEREAS the United States relied heavily on the Hmong Special Guerrilla Units,
15 although outnumbered by enemy forces, to intercept and prevent the flow of troops and war
16 supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail; and
17 WHEREAS the Hmong soldiers conducted tactical guerrilla actions, flew thousands
01 of deadly combat missions in support of the United States armed forces and the Central
02 Intelligence Agency, and fought in conventional and guerilla combat with an extremely high
03 number of casualties; and
04 WHEREAS the Hmong soldiers protected United States personnel, guarded United
05 States Air Force radar installations, gathered critical intelligence about enemy operations, and
06 undertook rescue missions to save the lives of downed United States pilots; and
07 WHEREAS approximately 40,000 Hmong soldiers lost their lives defending
08 democracy, approximately 50,000 Hmong soldiers were seriously injured and disabled, and
09 approximately 3,000 Hmong soldiers were missing in action; and
10 WHEREAS Hmong soldiers died at 10 times the rate of United States soldiers in the
11 Vietnam War; and
12 WHEREAS, because the war effort of the United States in Laos was covert, the
13 accounts of the sacrifices and service of the Hmong soldiers remain largely unknown; and
14 WHEREAS many Hmong soldiers became refugees because the United States
15 government encouraged them to fight for the United States, and, as a result, thousands of
16 family members of Hmong soldiers were evacuated to a United States air base in Thailand to
17 avoid bloody vengeance by the communists in Laos and Vietnam; and
18 WHEREAS, after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, thousands of Hmong soldiers
19 suffered acts of retribution and atrocities by the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese, causing
20 hundreds of thousands of Hmong refugees to flee to neighboring Thailand; and
21 WHEREAS approximately 5,000 Hmong veterans reside in the United States, and
22 150,000 Hmong and Laotian-born children have graduated from schools in this country; and
23 WHEREAS the Hmong warriors were promised that they would be treated just like
24 other United States veterans; and
25 WHEREAS Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced in the United States Senate a bill
26 relating to the burial of Hmong veterans; and
27 WHEREAS, on March 23, 2018, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
28 (P.L. 115-141, 132 Stat. 348), the United States Congress passed the Hmong Veterans'
29 Service Recognition Act (P.L. 115-141, sec. 251, 132 Stat. 348), which allows some Hmong
30 and Laotian veterans to be buried at United States military cemeteries, but does not include
31 burial at Arlington National Cemetery;
01 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives encourages the United States
02 Congress to pass legislation granting the Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War full military
03 burial rights, including burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
04 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President
05 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and
06 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Robert Wilkie, acting United States Secretary of
07 Veterans Affairs; the Honorable Paul D. Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives;
08 the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy
09 Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Charles E.
10 Schumer, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the
11 Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,
12 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 115th United
13 States Congress.