Vietnam 50 years later: Leng Wong, one from Minnesota

Minnesota is built by immigrants who have enriched the State with diversity and innovation. One of those groups is the Hmong community.

Minnesota is home to the largest Hmong population in the country, and it all started almost 50 years ago when the Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon.

Months after the fall, Leng Wong fled from his house of Laos months after serving as a military officer in the armed forces of Lao during the Secret Wara clandestine operation where The CIA recruited and trained thousands of Hmong men Fight on behalf of the United States

“I turned missions to different parts of Laos, and turned to the US military operation, I translated them for them, I spoke with the troops on the ground and transmitted it to the US troops,” Wong said. “I was traveling so that they could transmit it to the base or the headquarters and ask for support.”

Wong served for 10 years, until the final bitter was inevitable. He knew he was no longer safe for him to stay.

“They called us traitors, so we didn’t like it,” he said. “It was so chaotic that we really didn’t have time to think much more than how to survive.”

He and his family escaped in one of the C-130 cargo aircraft that Americans had sent to help evacuate refugees.

“Only clothes on our back. There really was nothing we could bring with us,” he said.

They flew to Thailand, where they would stay over the next nine months. Then, the news came from a sponsor.

“There was a lot of uncertainty, which I would face in a new land,” Wong said.

He reached Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in the bitter cold, on February 7, 1976.

“I was having trouble recovering my breath because it was very cold, and we are not accustomed to that kind of cold in our country of origin,” he said.

Frigid and foreigner, Wong often found a cold shoulder. He says his greatest barriers to the beginning were language and culture.

“Initially, we also face a resentment of the community, thinking that we were taking services here,” he said.

Even so, Wong still felt the need to help others like him. He came to his goal to improve the lives of other Hmong people who would follow his steps.

“I was able to communicate and translate for people, so I would be busy day and night,” he said. “We would be in the hospital, the clinic, at the airport.”

Wong would spend years working for refugee programs with Lutheran social services and the State, helping people find work and working with employers to create those jobs.

He would also advocate policy changes in refugee support, all while traveling through Minnesota and, finally, throughout the country, to break the barriers and educate others about Hmong people.

In these days, Wong has several commercial buildings in twin cities, and also has its eyes on building more affordable homes for all Minnesota families.

“I don’t think I retire. I think I will continue advocating our community and to work and contribute to our community, as well as the community in general,” he said.

Wong is a humble server, always grateful for the new land, and its people who accepted it.

“Minnesota has been good with me. It is always cold, but people in Minnesota are warm hearts,” he said. “We know that this is where we belong now, but we still have a part of our heart on the other side of the world that we know we also belong there.”

Editor’s note: Dang Ella and her family were the first Hmong immigrants to come to Minnesota in November 1975, According to the historical society of Minnesota. The family of Leng Wong came as the first Hmong refugees in February 1976, according to Hmong American Partnership.

This story is part of Pauleen’s documentary “Vietnam 50 years later: Reflection on a war that changed Minnesota“

Join WCCO on Wednesday, May 7 at 5 pm for a special projection in Concordia College in St. Paul, organized by the Hmong Studies Center:

• Good Education Center (BEC)
• 1282 Concordia Avenue, St. Paul, Mn 55104
• Attendees are encouraged to park on lot A, Carroll Street or Syndendate Street

Look at the complete documentary next, or on our YouTube channel.

In:
• Immigration
• Refugee