00Enrolled HJR 16                                                                                                         
01 Encouraging the United States Congress to pass legislation granting the Hmong veterans of                               
02 the Vietnam War access to the same veteran benefits received by United States veterans.                                 
03                                         _______________                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
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                               

01 supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail; and                                                                               
02      WHEREAS the Hmong soldiers conducted tactical guerrilla actions, flew thousands                                    
03 of deadly combat missions in support of the United States Armed Forces and the United                                   
04 States Central Intelligence Agency, and fought in conventional and guerilla combat with an                              
05 extremely high number of casualties; and                                                                                
06      WHEREAS the Hmong soldiers protected United States personnel, guarded United                                       
07 States Air Force radar installations, gathered critical intelligence about enemy operations, and                        
08 undertook rescue missions to save the lives of downed United States pilots; and                                         
09      WHEREAS approximately 40,000 Hmong soldiers lost their lives defending                                             
10 democracy, approximately 50,000 Hmong soldiers were seriously injured and disabled, and                                 
11 approximately 3,000 Hmong soldiers were missing in action; and                                                          
12      WHEREAS Hmong soldiers died at 10 times the rate of United States soldiers in the                                  
13 Vietnam War; and                                                                                                        
14      WHEREAS, because the war effort of the United States in Laos was covert, the                                       
15 accounts of the sacrifices and service of the Hmong soldiers remain largely unknown; and                                
16      WHEREAS many Hmong soldiers became refugees because the United States                                              
17 government encouraged them to fight for the United States, and, as a result, thousands of                               
18 family members of Hmong soldiers were evacuated to a United States air base in Thailand to                              
19 avoid bloody vengeance by the communists in Laos and Vietnam; and                                                       
20      WHEREAS, after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, thousands of Hmong soldiers                                      
21 suffered acts of retribution and atrocities by the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese Army,                                
22 causing hundreds of thousands of Hmong refugees to flee to neighboring Thailand; and                                    
23      WHEREAS approximately 50,000 Hmong veterans reside in the United States, and                                       
24 approximately 150,000 Hmong and Laotian-born children have graduated from schools in this                               
25 country; and                                                                                                            
26      WHEREAS the Hmong warriors were promised that they would be treated just like                                      
27 other United States veterans;                                                                                           
28      BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the United States                                      
29 Congress to pass legislation granting the Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War full access to                              
30 the same veteran benefits received by United States veterans.                                                           
31      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                

01 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and                           
02 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Denis McDonough, United States Secretary of                                 
03 Veterans Affairs; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives;                             
04 the Honorable Charles Schumer, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Kevin                                  
05 McCarthy, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Mitch                                     
06 McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                     
07 Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                
08 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 117th United                                 
09 States Congress.