One last fight for secret soldiers
MINNEAPOLIS — In asmall building on Arcade Street in St. Paul, about a dozen Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War — all trained, paid and armed to fight for the United States by the Central Intelligence Agency — gather regularly to discuss upcoming public service events or festivities where their honor guard might be needed.They dress in old military uniforms they have bought on their own and have decorated with patches of their own design.
The meetings now come with a renewed urgency.
When they die, these secret warriors of a secret American war want to buried in veterans cemeteries alongside their American comrades. But even though they now are commonly acknowledged as having fought for the United States in northern Laos, they are prohibited by law from being buried in national or state veterans cemeteries, which are reserved for American service members and honorably discharged U.S. military veterans and their families.
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