00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 16                                                                     
01 Encouraging the United States Congress to pass legislation granting the Hmong veterans                                  
02 of the Vietnam War access to the same veteran benefits received by United States                                        
03 veterans.                                                                                                               
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 Central                                  
04 Intelligence Agency, and fought in conventional and guerilla combat with an extremely high                              
05 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, causing                             
22 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                                          
24 150,000 Hmong and Laotian-born children have graduated from schools in this country; and                                
25 WHEREAS the Hmong warriors were promised that they would be treated just like                                         
26 other United States veterans;                                                                                           
27 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the United States                                         
28 Congress to pass legislation granting the Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War full access to                              
29 the same veteran benefits received by United States veterans.                                                           
30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                   
31 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and                           

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