Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA
It just didn’t sit right. Not with his friends, not with his coworkers, not with his hunting and fishing buddies, and certainly not with his family. The American Embassy in Bangkok had reported the accidental death of Jerry “Hog” Daniels by carbon monoxide poisoning. Three decades later, his family and most of his friends remain unconvinced that the U.S. government told them the truth about his death.
            As a former CIA case officer to legendary Hmong leader General Vang Pao during the “secret war” in Laos, Jerry Daniels was experienced, smart, and careful. Those who knew him well said he wasn’t the type to die as reported. Raising even more doubts, his casket was “Permanently Sealed” by the U.S. State Department before being shipped home to Missoula, Montana, where he was honored with a three-day funeral ceremony organized by his former comrades-in-arms, the Hmong hilltribe warriors from Laos.
            This book examines the unique personality and reported death of a man who was a pivotal agent in U.S./Hmong history. Friends and family share their memories of Daniels growing up in Montana, cheating death in Laos, and carousing in the bars and brothels of Thailand. First-person accounts from Americans and Hmong, ranchers and refugees, State Department officials and smokejumpers capture both human and historical stories about the life of this dedicated and irreverent individual and offer speculation on the unsettling circumstances of his death. Equally important, Hog’s Exit is the first complete account in English to document the drama and beauty of the Hmong funeral process.
            Hog’s Exit provides a fascinating view of a man and the two very different cultures in which he lived.

1113804960
Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA
It just didn’t sit right. Not with his friends, not with his coworkers, not with his hunting and fishing buddies, and certainly not with his family. The American Embassy in Bangkok had reported the accidental death of Jerry “Hog” Daniels by carbon monoxide poisoning. Three decades later, his family and most of his friends remain unconvinced that the U.S. government told them the truth about his death.
            As a former CIA case officer to legendary Hmong leader General Vang Pao during the “secret war” in Laos, Jerry Daniels was experienced, smart, and careful. Those who knew him well said he wasn’t the type to die as reported. Raising even more doubts, his casket was “Permanently Sealed” by the U.S. State Department before being shipped home to Missoula, Montana, where he was honored with a three-day funeral ceremony organized by his former comrades-in-arms, the Hmong hilltribe warriors from Laos.
            This book examines the unique personality and reported death of a man who was a pivotal agent in U.S./Hmong history. Friends and family share their memories of Daniels growing up in Montana, cheating death in Laos, and carousing in the bars and brothels of Thailand. First-person accounts from Americans and Hmong, ranchers and refugees, State Department officials and smokejumpers capture both human and historical stories about the life of this dedicated and irreverent individual and offer speculation on the unsettling circumstances of his death. Equally important, Hog’s Exit is the first complete account in English to document the drama and beauty of the Hmong funeral process.
            Hog’s Exit provides a fascinating view of a man and the two very different cultures in which he lived.

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Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

by Gayle L. Morrison
Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

by Gayle L. Morrison

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Overview

It just didn’t sit right. Not with his friends, not with his coworkers, not with his hunting and fishing buddies, and certainly not with his family. The American Embassy in Bangkok had reported the accidental death of Jerry “Hog” Daniels by carbon monoxide poisoning. Three decades later, his family and most of his friends remain unconvinced that the U.S. government told them the truth about his death.
            As a former CIA case officer to legendary Hmong leader General Vang Pao during the “secret war” in Laos, Jerry Daniels was experienced, smart, and careful. Those who knew him well said he wasn’t the type to die as reported. Raising even more doubts, his casket was “Permanently Sealed” by the U.S. State Department before being shipped home to Missoula, Montana, where he was honored with a three-day funeral ceremony organized by his former comrades-in-arms, the Hmong hilltribe warriors from Laos.
            This book examines the unique personality and reported death of a man who was a pivotal agent in U.S./Hmong history. Friends and family share their memories of Daniels growing up in Montana, cheating death in Laos, and carousing in the bars and brothels of Thailand. First-person accounts from Americans and Hmong, ranchers and refugees, State Department officials and smokejumpers capture both human and historical stories about the life of this dedicated and irreverent individual and offer speculation on the unsettling circumstances of his death. Equally important, Hog’s Exit is the first complete account in English to document the drama and beauty of the Hmong funeral process.
            Hog’s Exit provides a fascinating view of a man and the two very different cultures in which he lived.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780896727922
Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
Publication date: 05/20/2013
Series: Modern Southeast Asia
Edition description: 1
Pages: 496
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Gayle L. Morrison has worked with the Hmong community since 1977 in education, refugee services, private enterprise, and as an oral historian, researcher and writer. Her first book was Sky Is Falling: An Oral History of the CIA’s Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos (1999). Based on the quality of her oral history research, she received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2003-2004. She lives in Santa Ana, California, and Missoula, Montana.

Table of Contents

Illustrations ix

Maps xii

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Chronology xvii

Introduction 3

Fragment One 6

Fragment Two 7

Fragment Three 8

1 Bangkok: late April-May 6, 1982

1 Discovery 11

2 Shock and Dismay 22

3 Laos, Part I: Na Khang 33

2 Missoula: May 2-8, 1982

4 Hometown Friends 57

5 Missoula Hmong 64

6 Laos, Part II: Long Cheng (1968-73) 70

3 Missoula: May 8-10, 1982

7 Hard Landing 99

8 Laos, Part III: The Fall (1973-75) 112

9 Laos, Part IV: Uprooted 127

10 Coming Together 141

11 Refugee Program, Thailand (1976-82) 149

12 Condolences and Rumors 169

13 Funeral Chant Phases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: "Showing the Way" 177

14 A Way of Life 191

15 Funeral Chant Phase 6: Sin City and Rodeos 214

16 Funeral Chant Phase 7 and Kheng Performance 223

17 Tears in my Beer 230

18 Silk Stories 242

19 Kickers for the CIA 252

20 The Lingo 262

21 "Visiting Day" 269

22 Marana 283

23 A Man's Man 298

24 Jerry s Last Visit 315

25 Final Gathering 329

26 Louise 334

27 Until Horse Grows Horns 347

4 After the Burial: May 11, 1982-2012

28 Question Remains 361

29 An Echo of Death 370

Fragment Four 385

Appendix: Interviewees 387

Notes 395

Glossary: Terms, Places, People 415

Selected References and Reading 419

Index 423

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