Minnesota in the Vietnam War
Who are the Hmong?The Hmong people are a minority group that lived in Southeast Asia and China. After 1975, many became refugees in North America, Australia, and parts of Europe and South America.
From 1961 to 1975, in an effort to contain the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, the United States recruited, trained and financed the Hmong and Laos to serve as surrogate soldiers in the American armed forces.
Episodes
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
Operation Homecoming
February 27, 1973: When David R. Wheat stepped off the plane in Duluth a band struck up “America the Beautiful.” He was home after seven years in a Vietnamese POW camp. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
The Army Nurse and the Patient
Late 1968: Army nurse Diane Carlson was told never to remember her patients’ names. It was too hard when they died. But Eddie Lee Evenson was a kid from back home in Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
LRRP Team Leader
November 13, 1968: Laszlo Rabel had to flee his native Hungary after standing up to the Soviet oppressors. Enlisting in the American army in 1965, he saw Vietnam as another opportunity to fight the communists. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
A Wedding and a Funeral
August 24, 1968: After four years of widowhood, Albertha Hill was tying the knot today. But then the notification came. Her son, her only child, a platoon leader in Vietnam, had died in combat. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
Skytrooper with the 1st Cavalry
July 4, 1968: Ronald Myron Cloud was a skytrooper with the 1st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile). They rode helicopters into battle, jumping into LZs on search and destroy missions. But today the mission was to guard a fire support base. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
SHARE:
Minnesota in the Vietnam War:
The Battle of Dai Do
May 2, 1968: Dean Vasquez and his unit, the 2nd Battalion 4th Marines, aka, the Magnificent Bastards, were in their third day of battle. The odds didn’t look good. It was their 1,000 men against the North Vietnamese Army Division’s 8,000 or more men. Here’s Britt Aamodt.