The funeral lasted for six days, from Friday, February 4th to Wednesday, February 9th, 2011. On the first day, thousands lined the streets when the General’s casket made its way to the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center, located in downtown Fresno. Pulled by a horse-drawn carriage, the veteran and military procession was viewed by the masses of well wishers, extended family members, friends, and visitors. The procession was also accented by a rifle team and a color guard’s salutes, as well as a flight of T-28 aircrafts overhead in his honor.
Local Fresno politicians played an integral role in ensuring that the funeral could go off without a hitch. The mayor of Fresno, Ashley Swearengin, allowed the Hmong community use of the Fresno Convention Center for the funeral, a location big enough to hold 10,000 people. She also provided use of adjacent parking ramps at no additional cost to ensure that all who decided to attend would have a free parking spot.
Features of the grand funeral included the traditional Hmong religious ceremonies, such as qhuab ke, qeej tu siav, qeej nce nees, hauv qhua, tshuaj qeej, hlawv ntawv, and blessings. The funeral also featured a reading of the General’s biography as well as various speeches and presentations given throughout the six days from numerous dignitaries, elected officials and representatives, and Hmong organizations. Testimonials, words of thanks, and intimate presentations were also given on his behalf from his immediate family and friends.
The second floor of the convention center featured a hall of photographs, allowing for guests to view a kind of documentary of General Vang Pao’s life. Many of the photographs were from rare collections, depicting times when he served as a General in U.S. Secret Army to the times afterward, allowing for the bereaved to have a peek into the General’s family life.
Friday’s services were the most crowded: amidst the hundreds and hundreds of floral arrangements, the tons of arrangements of spiritual paper money, and the adornment of the flags of Laos as well as the U.S., the crowds of Hmong were joined by local politicians and former U.S. military commanders in the celebration of the General’s life. Food enough for all the guests was provided 24 hours a day, and although a numerous amount of cows and bulls were sacrificed, there were still times when the crowds of the lamented were still too vast to feed. The Convention Center stayed packed with tear-streaked faces of the grieving for all six days.
It seemed no distance could set back the visitors, though, as members of the Hmong community came not just from all over the country, but all over the world as well. The Royal Lao family members flew from their home in France to ensure they could pay their last respects, and many people from Laos, Thailand, and China made the journey for their chances to see the General one last time as well. Also in accordance with what the General stood for, his funeral seemed to override the barrier between Hmong of different religions as well: Hmong Christians, Buddhists, and Animists set aside their religious differences in order to rightfully send off their leader in the traditional cultural manner.
General Vang Pao’s family, along with several lawmakers in California, made the request for the General to be granted a burial spot in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. due to his service to this nation. However, despite the General’s wide praise from American soldiers, CIA officers, and Special Forces members who served alongside him, he was unanimously denied a spot due to his lack of direct military service. After his six-day service, the General was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin, the two states that also share the majority of the population of the Hmong in this country, memorials were conducted to the General to honor him. On Saturday, February 6th, a memorial was held in the Rothschild Pavilion in Wausau, WI, and over 500 people were in attendance, including many of Wisconsin’s local politicians. On February 22, 2011, Minnesota’s Lao Family Community, which the General himself helped to build, held a puv tsug 13 hnub ceremony, in recognition of the fact that traditionally, after 13 days, a soul can finally be released back into the life cycle; to move peacefully in the afterlife.
Furthermore, during Memorial Day weekend of this year, the actual tso plig (soul releasing) ceremony will also happen in Minnesota, to officially release the General’s soul into the afterlife. This is a significant event during the traditional Hmong funeral process and is happening this late after his death in order to provide those who could not attend the Fresno funeral a last rite with the General before his soul departs this Earth.
General Vang Pao has long been revered as the Hmong’s community’s leader. With his role in aiding the U.S.’s Secret Army during the Vietnam War, to leading the Hmong in carrying out new lives in America, it was Vang Pao who has always provided insight, leadership, and guidance in the upkeep and the evolution of the Hmong as a people. It has not gone unnoticed that new leaders will be needed to fill the General’s legacy. It is believed that these days, though, that no one person may be able to influence the Hmong community as the General did. The job will be up to future groups and organizations of Hmong to provide the leadership from now on, focusing on what the General did: bridging the younger and older generations, continuing to educate the nation about who the Hmong people are, providing aid in assimilation for any new Hmong immigrant groups, and embracing Western ideas—such as education, health care, and technology—without giving up the core values of what it means to be Hmong.
Additional information provided by The Fresno Bee
