General Vang Pao dies on Thursday while in exile in the US. He was 81. He was once named “the biggest hero of the Vietnam War”.
He led a CIA-sponsored secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War and, when it was lost, led many of his people into exile. Americans who first came into contact with him found a man skilled in the warfare and the charisma necessary to sustain a dangerous 15-year long operation in support of the US against the North Vietnamese.