Sky Is Falling : An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos [Library Binding]

Gayle L. Morrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998 | ISBN-10: 0786405120 | ISBN-13: 978-0786405121

Starting in 1960, Hmong guerrillas, under the command of General Vang Pao, functioned as the hands and feet of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's secret war against communist forces in Laos. Operating out of Long Cheng, the Hmong soldiers allowed the CIA to accomplish two objectives: to maintain the perception of United States neutrality in Laos and to tie up North Vietnamese troops in Laos who would otherwise have been sent to fight in South Vietnam. The U.S. had quietly pledged to General Vang Pao and the Hmong that the Americans would take care of them in the event that Laos fell. In May 1975, this promise was redeemed when the CIA generated an air evacuation that moved more than 2,500 Hmong officers, soldiers and family members out of their mountain-ringed airbase. Fifty or so Hmong and Americans involved in the evacuation provide herein a firsthand account of the 14 days of events leading up to and including the evacuation. Their accounts document both the political and human aspects of this unusual event.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"a firsthand account of the 14-day evacuation and the events leading up to it. ...document[s] both the political and human aspects" -- Hmong Tribune

"pieces together the story of the evacuation from the actual words of the participants-from the son of Hmong leader Vang Pao and US pilots to ordinary Hmong students and villagers. ...a valuable addition" -- South China Morning Post

About the Author

Gayle L. Morrison has worked with the Hmong community for more than 20 years. She lives in California.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 232 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786405120
• ISBN-13: 978-0786405121
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,865,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful 1st-person accounts of the fall of Laos in 1975, January 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (austin texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sky Is Falling : An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos (Library Binding)

Gayle Morrison spent nine years interviewing members of the Hmong hill tribe who were forced to flee to the United States after the fall of pre-communist Laos.

She has succeeded in assembling their recollections into a coherent and dramatic account of the emergency evacuation of the villagers in May 1975. The US-sponsored airlift represented the final act in a secret struggle conducted in Laos by the CIA during the Vietnam War.

At the center of the story is the charismatic General Vang Pao, the military and societal leader of the Hmong people, who risked assassination in a final futile effort to make it possible for his people to remain in their homeland. Also compelling is Jerry Daniels, the tough, loyal, resourceful director of the CIA's Hmong operations.

But some of the most moving accounts in this collection are those of average people thrust into extraordinary circumstances: a woman gives birth in a cramped airplane flying over the Mekong, a long-time soldier watches helplessly as three of his children are suddenly killed by friendly fire, a student returns from college to find his family home abandoned and ransacked.

The villagers' accounts capture in plain language the trauma and sadness of a proud people who must reluctantly accept defeat and banishment from their own land at the hands of the Pathet Lao communist forces.

A poignant account of a people whose dignity and sheer will to survive allowed them to endure an unimaginably painful challenge. Highly recommended.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing, masterful, multi-layered primary history, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sky Is Falling : An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos (Library Binding)

With extraordinary vision, Sky is Falling author Gayle L.Morrison layers dozens of transcripts of the gripping personal stories of the men and women, Hmong and CIA, who witnessed, indeed who conducted, the CIA evacuation of their Hmong allies from their mountain fortress at Long Cheng at the end of the war in Laos. The book's insistent and provocative truth-telling reveals the chaos and heartache of May 1975 in a way that is at once cinematic and psychologically engaging.

In reading these devastatingly real, simple, compelling and complete tales, the whole scene in Laos emerges in your mind and heart: beleaguered general Vang Pao, Air America pilots, Jerry Daniels, the CIA liaison to the general, Hmong students; fifty or so key people's dozens of interviews are layered to recreate the time scale and sense of the events. Complete with photographs, flight logs, glossary and excellent index, this compact and well constructed book will engross and enlighten any reader, as well as history buffs and scholars.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compact, heartbreaking, rare photos, August 12, 2001

By 

A. Rivera "Tonet" (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sky Is Falling : An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos (Library Binding)

Morrison interviewed a lot of Hmong participants in those last days, as well as American pilots Jack Knotts, Dave Kouba, etc. Eye-opening insight into the abandonment of one of America's most clandestine installations of the secret war in Laos. Detailed accounts of Matt Hoff's and Les Strouse's final flights into 'LS20 Alternate' as well. Some truly rare photos -- Long Tien in 1972, '73, '74, '75. Knotts and Kouba at the evacuation ramp on May 14, 1975, the last day. The Hmong -- from top leader Vang Pao to in-the-street tribespeople, no less proud, and no less tragic.

Finally, a haunting pair of photos -- top secret Long Tien in 1973, and another one, as mysterious as ever, from exactly the same angle and height (about 1000 feet above the runway), in 1995.

A compact, tightly-woven and compelling tale.