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|| 315 24 Jerry’s Last Visit S UNDAY night: Missoula friends meet in the Edgewater Lounge; disturbing memories of the last home leave for Jerry Daniels in spring 1981; trip to Washington, DC; drinking habits; a call from “mystery man”; late-night calls to friends; Daniels in Bangkok, December 1981. TED O. “LITTLE O” LYMPUS, high school and college friend That last evening of Jerry’s funeral, Sunday evening, several of us got together over at the Edgewater. It was Rocheleau, Pramenko, and I. Torgy was there, and General and his brothers probably. We were sitting in the lounge, looking out at the river, having a beer, talking, speculating about what might have happened and whether or not Jerry was in the box. That the box couldn’t be opened caused all kinds of suspicion because there were people, probably from DC, who couldn’t leave town until the box was buried. So we had some real doubts about it. And there was a troubling amount of concern among us about Jerry’s last home visit to Montana a year earlier. CHA MOUA, Hmong friend; Hmong funeral organizer The last time I saw Jerry was in the spring of 1981. One whole night we were in my office at Lao Family Community. It took us all night to type out short resumes for each of twenty-seven former Hmong employees who had worked for Jerry in the Sky office in Long Cheng. Mostly it was the forward air guides and the field liaison officers , the FAGs and the FLOs. Jerry said the State Department needed that list. He said he would take the short resumes to the State Department in Washington, DC, so they would know exactly who and where those people were. All twenty-seven were in the U.S., but scattered around in different places. Jerry said, “If something happens in Laos and the U.S. government has the opportunity to go back there, then we can call these people back to work.” The U.S. government can re-recruit the Hmong for work regarding Laos. I thought that was wonderful information, and I said, “Well, I hope that happens!” We worked there all night long. About five o’clock in the morning I told Jerry that we have lots of Hmong who came to Missoula and they have no jobs. I said, “Jerry, you should quit your job and not go back to Thailand. You said you made a mining claim so let’s take twenty Hmong out to your property and we will look for gold. If 316 || Hog’s Exit you are lucky, we may find a big chunk of gold then you can become a millionaire.” Jerry said, “Charlie, you have a good idea! Let me call DC and ask.” Jerry was so excited and serious about the gold mining. He would not go back to work in Thailand if the State Department would release him. He called from my office to Washington, DC, at six o’clock in the morning Montana time. After he talked to the people in DC, Jerry told me they said, “Not now. You must go back for one more year until we can find someone else for the job.” Jerry was very disappointed and his face color dropped. He sat back on the couch quiet for a while and was not happy. Then he said to me, “I knew they would not let me quit my job because there is nobody to replace me.” Two days later he took the twenty-seven resumes with him and went to Washington, DC. I still wonder about those resumes. Who did he give them to? Nobody will tell us now! “LUCKY” LUE YANG, former field liaison officer (FLO), MR2, Laos; Hmong funeral organizer On his last visit, I was the one who took Jerry to the Missoula airport to fly to DC. It was April, a beautiful day. We sat at the airport for at least half an hour before the airplane departed, and we planned for the future. Jerry told me, “The State Department asked me to help them for twelve more months so I’m going back to Thailand. Then I will come back to Montana.” He said, “When I come back we’re not going to work for someone else. We have to work for ourselves and make a business together.” He mentioned two ideas: concrete construction and gold mining. He said if we cannot set up a...

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