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Do you know … Joua
Vang?
We all know, thanks to Doc Luedtke,
Joua Vang as a successful realtor for GeogerSon Realty at 126 N. Bristol St. Sun
Prairie (PH:628 0266), current president of the West Side Madison Optimist Club,
former president 1987-89 of S. Wisconsin Hmong Association, Board of Directors
United Asian 87-91, creator and President 2003-07 of Hmong Political Council
and Vice Chair of Hmong Cultural Center, a group that will raise $2 million to
match the State grant to place a Wisconsin Hmong Cultural Center in Madison.
As you know, there are 5,000 Hmong in Madison, 50,000 in the state and nearly
300,000 spread throughout the U.S. We know him as a fellow Republican and RPDC
member, his wife May Lee and their 5 children 2 boys, 3 girls- his oldest son,
Kong P. Vang is the Manager of the Copps Pharmacy at U. and Midvale, but.. Do
you know….Joua Vang?
Joua Vang, born in the Village of Nakoma in Xieng Khouang, Laos in 1950 to a
family of seven brothers, enlisted in the Hmong Army District 2 at age 16 by
lying about his age. One of the main reasons he enlisted was because of then
Col. Vang Pao, the dynamic leader of the District 2 Army. Today, American
citizen General Vang Pao is a true hero to the Hmong for not only being a war
hero but for building schools, hospitals and respect for the Hmong people world
wide. Vang Pao was shot down mid-air six times and wounded eight times during
the Vietnam war which American (liberal) historians refer to as “the secret war
in Laos.”
The “secret” from JFK through LBJ and Nixon was that the CIA funded the Hmong
Army to keep American ground troops out of Laos. Instead, between 1960 and 1975
the Hmong Army saved over 3500 American fighter and helicopter pilots, crews and
advisors shot down over Laos.
In 1960, then Major Vang Pao was asked to do four things:
1. Rescue downed American pilots in Vietnam and the Laos border.
2. Block the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos, which supplied the Communists with
arms, food and soldiers to kill American soldiers.
3. Protect the US radar station in NE Laos so US Navy fighters could do
their job.
4. Use the Hmong people to help suppress the Communists in Laos.
General Vang Pao and his Hmong Army did this for the fifteen years until the
Americans left in 1975. Joua Vang served from 1966-69 as an Army paramedic
attending to wounded American and Hmong pilots, crew and soldiers. Joua was then
transferred to Gen. Pao’s family clinic in Long Chieng until 1975, when he
escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand where he met his future wife May Lee.
They married and stayed in the camp for four years where Joua received more
medical training in Bangkok while continuing to work in the camp hospital. By
1979, Communist controlled Laos was hunting down and murdering Hmong Army
members and associates, meaning that Joua could never go back to Laos where his
mother, father and remaining six brothers were trapped.
In 1979, they immigrated to Racine to a sponsor for seven days and then left for
Toledo, Ohio where Joua attended an English Second Language school until 1986, a
Vocational School for Machinist training and received a two year Associate
Degree from Reffs Institute of Technology in Electronic Engineering. He worked
as a Coordinator in Toledo Public schools, and in an Umbrella factory until his
Mom and Dad and his six brothers immigrated to Madison in 1986 and Joua’s family
was re-united.
Joua worked at Warman International in Madison - a pumps manufacturer, then to
Rayovac until 2003. He had purchased some rental properties during that time, so
he managed these as he worked in real estate while he got his license. Now with
GeogerSon Realty, they live on a street he named Vang….after his own name and
clan, in Sun Prairie.
Joua set up the banquet on May 17, 2008 for Gen. Vang Pao at the Alliant Center
in Madison attended by over 400 to hear this dynamic and inspiring speaker. Joua
attended the Minnesota Hmong Festival over the 4th weekend and will likely
attend the National Hmong Festival in Oshkosh in August, where Hmong from all
over the U.S. will come. Gen, Vang Pao may attend and they hope to invite Sen.
McCain to speak to the large gathering of Hmong. Joua is also the official
spokesperson for the RPDC on Hmong issues.
Thank you, Joua. You and your family have made a difference in Wisconsin and we
are glad you are an important part of the Republican Party of Dane County.
Submitted by RPDC Media Coordinator
Bill Richardson
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