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515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117-1600 <br />(651) 766-4029 / FAX: (651) 766-4048 <br />www.littlecanadamn.org <br />MAYOR <br />Tom Fischer <br />COUNCIL <br />Dave Miller <br />Amanda Gutierrez <br />Angie Malone <br />Chris Kwapick <br />PROCLAMATION <br />HMONG AND LAO SPECIAL GUERRILLA UNITS (SGU) <br />VETERANS DAY <br />CITY OF LITTLE CANADA <br />WHEREAS, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1961, advised President- <br />elected John F. Kennedy that Laos was the “key to all Southeast Asia…a <br />Communist victory in Laos would place ‘unbearable pressure on Thailand, <br />Cambodia, and South Vietnam; and <br />WHEREAS, in order to prevent Laos from falling into Communist control, <br />in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Accord, Colonel James W. Lair, a CIA <br />operative, was sent to meet with General Vang Pao to ask for his help to contain <br />communist movements in Laos; and <br />WHEREAS, soon after, the United States Central Intelligence Agency <br />recruited thousands of Hmong, Lao and other Laotian ethnic groups to fight as <br />surrogate soldiers of the United States Armed Forces in a “Secret Army” known as <br />the Special Guerrilla Units against the Communist Pathet Lao and North <br />Vietnamese Army in Laos; and <br />WHEREAS, the United States trained, provided, supported and paid the <br />Special Guerrilla Units in all of their military operations in Laos, and fully relied on <br />the Special Guerrilla Units to prevent the flow of communist reinforcements and <br />war supplies through the Ho Chi Minh Trail to fight American troops in South <br />Vietnam; and <br />WHEREAS, the Hmong conducted tactical guerrilla actions, flew <br />thousands of deadly combat missions, guarded air navigation radar installations, <br />gathered critical intelligence about enemy movements and operations, and <br />undertook rescue missions to save the lives of downed American pilots in Laos; and