Legacies of War

Legacies of War has a proven track record in advocacy, successfully securing a record $40M in funding for UXO removal in Laos for 2021 - 100% of which goes towards organizations working on the ground in Laos. As chair of the Southeast Asian Diaspora Exhibit at the Idaho Museum of International Diaspora, we are looking to grow our capacity in preserving the Secret War-era oral histories, as well as preservation of surviving primary source documentation, such as the original drawings collected from Plain of Jars refugees during the 1960s - the sole contemporaneous eyewitness record of Secret War bombings. We are a small team of 3 full-time staff that work to cover a lot of ground. We hope the financial injection that the Elevate Prize would provide can help onboard additional full-time staff or interns, and offset time spent on fundraising to focus on expanding our impact. Specifically, we hope to grow our Legacies Library initiative and create the first of many free, public repositories of publications, oral histories, art, and other documents that catalogue the experience of the Laotian American community during the Secret War, and broader Southeast Asian diaspora during Vietnam War-era conflicts.

I serve as the Executive Director of Legacies of War, the only international education and advocacy organization working to address the impact of conflict in Laos during the Vietnam War-era, including removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and survivor assistance.

Under my leadership, U.S. funding for UXO clearance in Laos reached $40M - the highest level in history, and the Legacies of War Recognition and UXO Removal Act was introduced by Senator Baldwin. If passed, this historic bill will recognize the people of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam who fought alongside American troops during the Vietnam War and authorizes landmark funding of $100M for 5 years divided among the 3 countries of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I also represent Legacies of War as a Steering Committee member for the award-winning U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition. The work does not stop here, though. My vision is to expand Legacies’ impact by ensuring that the Laotian American story is properly recognized by the United States, and to continue to push the U.S. to take responsibility for clearing the bombs that it dropped.

Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos - equivalent to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, every day for 9 years. Approximately 80 million bombs did not explode, and contaminate over 30% of Laos’ land area today. Despite continued efforts, less than 1% of the contaminated land has been cleared today, and 98% of UXO victims are civilians. Today, UXO still poses a significant barrier to progress, hindering rural expansion with negative effects on education and food security. This issue is so pervasive that Laos has added a unique 18th National Sustainable Development Goal: “Lives safe from unexploded ordnance”. This is what we are working to address.

Through targeted advocacy, public education, and cultural heritage preservation, Legacies has successfully pushed for greater U.S. government funding for UXO removal organizations working on the ground in Laos and victim assistance. Within the U.S., Legacies of War works to advocate for over 250,000 members of the Laotian diaspora community and preserve their stories before they disappear forever.

We are catapulting the stories of Southeast Asian refugees in the U.S. into the American historical consciousness, where they belong. The stories that we collect hold the powers that be accountable - our work was instrumental in inspiring President Obama’s historic visit to Laos. Since its establishment in 2021, our Legacies Library has put the spotlight onto authors, artists, and documentarians that covered the Secret War in free, public events, including material that had never been released in the U.S. prior to our showing. We plan on transitioning from purely virtual mediums to live events and meeting with the community to record their stories, archiving and translating where necessary, and publishing them online to ensure they serve the broadest audience in what is hopefully the first of many such repositories. We aim to inspire the next generation of peacebuilders and activists and inform their movements to construct a more just world, and ensure that the living histories of communities affected by violent American intervention in Southeast Asia are kept intact forever.

Throughout the 1960s, Fred Branfman collected drawings from refugees displaced from Laos’ Plain of Jars that served as the only eyewitness account of the American bombing of Laos during his Congressional testimony -  that not only contributed to the end of the Secret War in Laos, but also Operation Menu bombings in Cambodia. A chance encounter left our founder, Channapha Khamvongsa, in possession of the original drawings. As sole keepers of these drawings, we follow in the footsteps of Khamvongsa and Branfman in our efforts to preserve and broadcast the stories of Laotian Americans displaced by the Secret War. As Branfman’s testimony proved, stories hold power, and we have spoken truth to power by featuring members of the refugee community on our Thip Khao Talks series to amplify their voices in a way that had never been done before. With increased funding, we hope to broaden our outreach efforts, plan live engagements as America re-opens, and publish audio recordings of Laotian American stories before they disappear forever. Already, our work has inspired individuals to come forward and tell their own stories, and we hope to maintain this energy, preserving history, informing, and inspiring future generations of Americans and peace activists.