A Minnesota PBS Initiative
Lee Pao Xiong’s battle-scarred childhood
Having grown up on the CIA military base Long Tieng, Lee Pao Xiong, Founding Director of the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University - St. Paul, was no stranger to war even as a child. After evacuating Laos, Xiong's family was sent to a Thai refugee camp; in 1976 his father made the decision to move the family to the United States.
This excerpt is from Twin Cities PBS's documentary Minnesota Remembers Vietnam: America's Secret War.
Learn more at the bottom of the page.
My father was in the artillery unit and I actually stayed in his foxhole overlooking Long Tieng.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: St. Paul, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Long Tieng, Laos 
Story Subject: Refugee
This story is part of Children of Vets.
Go to the collection.
About Minnesota Remembers Vietnam: America's Secret War
In the shadows of the Vietnam War, the CIA conducted a secret war in Laos that relied on Hmong soldiers to prevent the threat of communism from spreading deeper into Southeast Asia. Tens of thousands died, both in the fight and in the escape.
Minnesota Remembers Vietnam: America's Secret War explores the untold, turbulent history.
Story Themes: America's Secret War, Ban Vinai, Children of Veterans, Hmong, Laos, Lee Pao Xiong, Long Cheng, Long Tieng, Refugee, Refugee Camp, Saint Paul, Secret War, SGU, Special Guerrilla Unit, St Paul, TPT, Twin Cities PBS, Video, Watch
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