Hmong in America: A story of heroism, hardship and success

The Vietnam War raged in Southeast Asia, spilling into neighboring Hmong homelands in Laos and Cambodia between 1959 and 1975.

The CIA enlisted many Hmong people in those countries into a “secret army” to help stifle the spread of communism and support the American conflict in Vietnam.
Almost immediately at war’s end, the Laotian government singled out the Hmong people, even those who didn’t aid the American war effort. They were placed into re-education camps where they endured hard, physical labor for up to five years. Many died.

To escape the persecution, which continues today, about 300,000 Hmong fled to refugee camps in Thailand. From there, they made the trip east across the Atlantic Ocean. Some stayed in California, but many moved to the Midwest, settling predominantly in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

About 4,000 Hmong live in La Crosse County, Wis., said Thai Vue, the director of the La Crosse Hmong Mutual Assistance Association. They have been welcomed here, he said, and many problems that exist in other areas that experience an influx of a new ethnic group don’t happen here.

Ka Thao, a relative of the family that drowned at Lock and Dam 7 near Dresbach, was born in Laos in 1972. Her family fled to America in 1981, when she was 9 years old. She has since earned a diploma from the medical assistance program at Western Technical College in La Crosse. She earned the degree on May 11, 2007, the day before her relatives died.

Recalling the refugee camps in Thailand, she said she has no desire to visit her homeland.