CAVWV pushes for veteran recognition for Laos and Vietnam allies

By AI, Created 8:33 AM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – A Minnesota-based veterans group is pressing Congress, the VA and state lawmakers to expand recognition for Lao, Hmong, Khmer and Vietnamese allies who fought alongside U.S. forces in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The group says existing federal and state programs have left many of those veterans and communities outside the benefits and acknowledgment they were promised.

Why it matters: - CAVWV says U.S. recognition programs have left out many Southeast Asian allies who fought with American forces during the Vietnam era. - The gap affects access to veteran recognition, burial benefits and state-level honors, not just public acknowledgment. - The group says the omission has persisted for decades, even as allied communities bore direct battlefield losses.

What happened: - The Coalition of Allied Afghan & Vietnam War Veterans used Memorial Day week 2026 to call for fuller recognition of Lao, Hmong, Khmer, Vietnamese, Montagnard and Nung allies. - CAVWV said those communities fought alongside U.S. forces in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and were still waiting for recognition. - Thomas Leo Briggs, CAVWV president, said both the American airmen and the ground allies were forgotten and deserve “an honest accounting.” - CAVWV posted research documentation and recognition analysis on its Forgotten Warriors page and on its website.

The details: - CAVWV said CIA-backed Special Guerrilla Units in Laos included lowland Lao, Lao tribesmen and Hmong fighters under General Vang Pao in Military Region 2 and General Soutchay Vongsavanh in the south. - The group said those forces were organized, equipped and directed by the U.S. government. - CAVWV said Raven Forward Air Controllers flew unarmed over dangerous terrain to direct airstrikes in support of those forces. - The group said Lao and Hmong fighters often protected downed Raven pilots until helicopters arrived. - CAVWV said federal recognition efforts have covered only a narrow slice of the allied community through the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000. - The group said VA burial benefit eligibility under 38 U.S.C. § 107 has been applied inconsistently and has sometimes been denied to allied veterans. - CAVWV said Minnesota’s HF3919 expanded eligibility for SGU veterans under MN Statute 197.448. - The group said companion legislation needed to close an equity gap for Lao veterans who served in the Minnesota National Guard has not passed. - CAVWV said its review of 18 years of Minnesota appropriations found zero direct appropriations for Vietnamese and Cambodian communities and first funding for Lao communities only in 2023.

Between the lines: - The release frames the issue as a recognition failure, not a dispute over battlefield service. - CAVWV is tying federal benefits, state appropriations and public memory into one larger equity argument. - The emphasis on American airmen and ground allies suggests the group wants recognition to move beyond symbolic praise and into legal and policy fixes.

What’s next: - CAVWV is calling on Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs and state legislatures to finish what it calls the accounting of the Secret War. - The group is seeking broader inclusion of allied communities in federal and state veteran recognition programs. - CAVWV is also directing readers to its research materials and legislative analysis for further documentation.

The bottom line: - CAVWV says the U.S. has honored some Vietnam-era service members while leaving many allied fighters outside the record, the benefits system and the public narrative.