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|| 99 7 Hard Landing F RIENDS gather in Missoula for the funeral for Jerry Daniels; the Missoula airport scene when the casket arrives; the process of sealing a casket; tension at the funeral home. CHA MOUA, Hmong friend; Hmong funeral organizer About a week after we heard Jerry was dead, the body was flown from Bangkok. The day before the casket arrived, somebody called from Washington, DC, to let us know the schedule. John Tucker also arrived the day before. John reported to me that the casket will be there at the Missoula airport at such and such a time the following day, accompanied by Jim Schill. We went to tell the funeral home what time to pick up the casket the next day. JOHN W. TUCKER, former USAID Laos Refugee Relief Program; former Refugee Program, U.S. Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand; former Department of State, Bureau for Refugee Programs On Friday, May 7, I went from Dulles Airport to Salt Lake City, then flew on to Missoula where I was met at the airport. The Hmong had organized a meet-and-greet detail as so many of Jerry’s OGA colleagues were going to arrive. OGA is Other Government Agency, meaning Central Intelligence Agency. From the airport I was taken to my hotel. Many of Jerry’s friends had already checked in by the time I got there. There was a lot of beer drinking that night, and I heard a lot of stories about Jerry. Mrs. CAROL LEVITON WETTERHAHN, former Highland Section chief, JVA, Thailand I flew from Washington, DC, to Missoula with John Tucker. John went on behalf of the refugee section of the U.S. State Department. We were so sad and still in shock that Jerry was gone. He was such a huge personality. It made an impact on everyone who knew him. He was a real straight shooter. He didn’t mince words. He was fun, he was nice to be around. And he knew the Hmong better than anybody ever, I think. Anybody who is not Hmong. He was a part of that refugee family history. It was a terrible loss for everybody. He was someone who just wasn’t ready to die. It 100 || Hog’s Exit seemed that there would be more of Jerry in everyone’s future. It just was a total shock. It was so emotional, the trip going out. It was part of the whole mourning period, the traveling out. I think that’s probably why I wanted to go. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to say good-bye. I wanted to have a long good-bye. At the airport in Missoula, there were a lot of people there when our plane arrived . I’m not a high-profile person. When we landed, I just melted into the group. But I remember being greeted by one young Hmong man. He said, “Oh, it’s the urine lady!” Ha! That young man remembered me from the refugee camp when I used to go in with the opium detox program for urine testing. I guess the Hmong referred to me as “the urine lady.” That young man was resettled in Missoula. By then he was an American teenager, college age, and he remembered me. I was kind of blown away when I heard, “It’s the urine lady!” GEU VANG, former colonel, SGU Army, MR2, Laos Eight of us went in a van to Jerry’s funeral to represent all the Hmong people living in the Midwest. Our group was Colonel Tou-Fu Vang, Major John Xiong Yang, Major Shoua Vang (“Snoopy”), Lieutenant Tou Ly, Leng Wong (“Sancho”), Vang Kao, myself, and Cheng Vang. All of us were from Minnesota, except Tou-Fu was from Chicago. We left late from St. Paul on Thursday night, and it took us sixteen or seventeen hours to drive to Missoula. When we got there it was late in the day on Friday. Jerry’s body did not come yet. The next day all eight of us went to wait at the airport. JOHN W. TUCKER, former USAID Laos Refugee Relief Program; former Refugee Program, U.S. Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand; former Department of State, Bureau for Refugee Programs The next day, Saturday, more than 100 Hmong went to the airport to meet the casket. According to the cable traffic I had read back at State, Jerry had to come from Bangkok on Pan Am via JFK New York instead of other...

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