Death
Vang Pao, who battled diabetes and heart problems, died aged 81 of pneumonia with heart complications on January 6, 2011, at Clovis Community Medical Center His eldest son, Chao Francois Vang, said he had been admitted to the hospital on December 26, 2010, after attending Hmong New Year celebrations in Fresno. A hospital spokesman said his family had been at the hospital at the time of his death.
Traditional Hmong funeral services for Vang Pao were scheduled to be held for six days, starting February 4, 2011, at the Fresno Convention Center. More than 10,000 Hmong mourned the leader on the first day of the funeral. A committee unanimously voted against a request to bury Vang Pao at Arlington National Cemetery; he was subsequently buried near Los Angeles at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. In lieu of a burial at Arlington a memorial service was held in May 2011 at the Laos Memorial within Arlington.
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