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2. Shock and Dismay
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22 || 2 Shock and Dismay H MONG leaders at Ban Vinai refugee camp are informed of the death of Jerry Daniels; a Buddhist memorial service in Bangkok; an article in the Bangkok Post; several conspiracy theories; more coworkers in Bangkok react; State Department cable and report; two condolence letters; the Daniels family continues to question circumstances of death, including the condition and whereabouts of a young Thai man. NENG VANG, former lieutenant colonel, SGU Army, MR2, Laos; former Hmong chief of Ban Vinai refugee camp, Thailand In May 1982 I was the chief of the refugee camp Ban Vinai. I was chief from 1979 until December 1982, at which time I resettled to the U.S. One day in early May, about eight o’clock in the morning, there was a knock on my door. It was Mac Thompson. I knew Mac Thompson from when we lived in Laos. He walked into my house in Ban Vinai and broke out crying. He cried so hard that he was hardly able to speak. Then in Lao language he said that Jerry had died from a gas leak in the water heater. Mac was very upset and concerned about us, the Hmong in the refugee camp. He said, “Now that Jerry is dead, there is nobody else who can help you.” He stayed about an hour, then left in a hurry. When I heard this news I was sad, depressed, and most important of all I was worried. Jerry was the only person who really knew what went on with the Hmong in the clandestine war in Laos. Now he was gone. Who was going to watch over these thousands of Hmong refugees in Thailand? After Mac left I sent out word for the Hmong camp council to meet in my house. The council members were the seven section leaders, former Hmong military officers and civilian leaders. It was the twenty or thirty leaders who were in charge of the social well-being of the people in Ban Vinai refugee camp. Of course they all knew Jerry. When they heard the news, everybody was upset and crying and worried because nobody would support us as much as Jerry had. At the council meeting we decided to send two representatives to Bangkok to attend his memorial service: Vang Bee [T-28 pilot Bee Vang] and Vue Mai. We choose those two because they were two of the most important people at Ban Vinai. Shock and Dismay || 23 BEE VANG, former Hmong T-28 pilot, Laos At the leadership council meeting everyone was so shocked and depressed. The leadership group decided that Vue Mai and myself would go to Bangkok to attend Jerry’s memorial service. We would represent all the Hmong in the refugee camp. Vue Mai and I took one whole night to travel by bus from Chieng Kan to Bangkok. XUWICHA “NOI” HIRANPRUECK, best Thai friend of Jerry Daniels Jerry, Mr. Hog, was my best friend. He still is. He stayed at my house in Bangkok for almost a year before he moved to the dreaded Ambassador Court apartment. I shared years of friendship with Hog, and he is a man I am looking forward to seeing in the afterworld. Before the departure of his body to Missoula, I organized a memorial service at Wat Mongkut. Wat Mongkut was, and still is, my temple. My mother was kept there for twenty-five years before she was cremated together with my father a few months before Jerry died. I have good pull there, so it was easier for me to arrange things there the way I wanted them, rather than at another temple. Since Jerry was a Christian and Christians bury their dead, I arranged the parts of the Thai funeral process to fit his situation. The service allowed his friends in Thailand to ceremoniously send earth to accompany his body. That is a Buddhist and Thai tradition for burying the dead, although burial is not common as normally we cremate the bodies. BEE VANG, former Hmong T-28 pilot, Laos When Vue Mai and I arrived at the temple in Bangkok, there were about 200 people, American and Thai, gathering in a line outside of the hall. They were waiting to go look at Jerry inside the temple. Noi told us that inside the temple they will do Thai culture, but Vue Mai and I said, “Hey, we are Hmong and we don’t know how to do Thai culture.” Noi...