00Enrolled 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.