In 1969, a family of 3 children and 1 father, Cheng the oldest boy at 15 years old, Meng the middle boy at 11 years old, Ger the youngest boy at 7 years old, and their father Pia. They live a happy life in their village which is in the mountain of Laos. Around that time the war was still ongoing causing many hmong people to move out of their homes or they’ll die. Cheng, Meng, Ger, and their father had to work to provide food for themselves.

When they came back from working in the fields, US soldiers came to their village asking for anyone who can fight along them. Cheng father volunteer to join with them to fight against the Vietnam soldiers and 28 more also volunteer to join the war. Before their father go he said, “Cheng, from now on you have to take care of your brothers and you must never lose sight of them, because if you do, they’ll never be seen again, like the people who died in the war.”

After a week pass, news came in saying that the army that gathered their father and 28 other hmong people had died along with half of the US army that recruited them. After hearing that, Cheng was in shocked and confused. His younger siblings did not know at that time and Cheng believe it was best not to tell them. While walking back he also heard rumors that the Vietnamese soldiers were coming to this village at night to take over and use it as a camp.

So he came home as fast as he could and told his younger siblings, “We must leave now, the bad people are coming here and to kill us.”

“But what about father?” Meng said.

“He’s....he’s fighting in the war for our safety.” Cheng replied.

Cheng didn’t want this conversation to continue so he told them to quickly pack up all the remaining food they have. When they finish packing, they went off into their habitat. While walking in the jungle forest Cheng remember what his father told him when they hunting in the jungle forest and were lost in the jungle forest,”

“We hmong people have always been the first and the last to see the sun so we use the sun as our guide.”

Cheng couldn’t see the sun because the of thick jungle forest. While trying to find an open area so he could see the sun, he heard voices coming from behind. That was the direction of his 2 brothers. He quickly ran back and found his 2 brothers safely. He then told them to hide in the bushes while he go see who voice that was. Upon reaching closer to the voice he saw a peak of black clothes and red belts. He then knew it was his fellow hmong villagers and he started shouting towards them until they saw him. He was relief to find other hmong people that manage to escape from the village. He then shouted to his brothers in the bushes, “It’s safe now!”

Cheng then ask the group of where they are headed and they told him,”We’re going to the Mekong River to cross and seek refuge on the other side.” Cheng didn’t know where to go with his brothers so he decided to go with the group. 3 days of walking, their food ran out so the hunters in the group decided to hunt for food and Cheng went with them. While walking, Cheng ask one of the hunters,”How long until we reach Mekong River?”

“Few more miles and we reach their.” said one of the hunters.

After 30 minutes of hunting, they manage to catch a wild boar and 2 squirrels. They went back to the group and started to clean out the boar and squirrels. Without any water, the meat will still have blood on it. While Cheng was helping out the hunters setting camp, Cheng heard footsteps behind him so he look behind him and spotted something shiny. When it came closer he saw multiple people with uniforms and rifles running at them. Cheng reacted and and shouted, “Communist are here! Run everyone! Run!”

Gunshots took action and everyone scramble for their lives. Cheng was looking for his brothers while his hmong people were dying left from right. He couldn’t find his brothers so he started to shout their names.

“Meng! Ger! Where are you guys!”

Cheng shouted even more louder,“CHENG! MENG! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS! ANSWER ME!!!”

While running around and shouting their names, he found them under a big rock hiding and covering their ears from the loud gunshots. He then told them, “Everything is alright, I’m here.”

He grabbed both of their hands and started to run off to the direction of the Mekong River that the hmong hunters told him. They couldn’t run forever, but if they stop they would get caught and be killed by the communist soldiers. So they hid under a rock that was hanging off from a steep downward hill. He told his brothers to be quiet or else they would be caught. Running footsteps were heard and even voices. They waited under the rock for 10 minute and another 5 minute to make sure there weren’t anymore communist soldiers or any of them coming back. They then started to walk again towards to the Mekong River. After 3 hours of walking safely, they manage to reach to the mekong river. Cheng saw hmong peoples crossing the river to get on the other side. Cheng and his brothers then went to the river banks and started to cross the river knowing that it was safe and the river was low. Upon reaching halfway through the river with his brothers, communist people showed up and open fire on the hmong people that were crossing the river. Cheng quickly swim towards to the other side while his brothers were on a rope that was tied to Cheng body. The open fire did not stop until their commander raise the signal to stop. Less than half of the hmong people that were crossing the river had died while the rest has managed to reach safely on the other side. Cheng and his brothers along with other hmong survivors, were protected by Thailand refugee policy. Few minutes later, U.S. soldiers came along with several medics and began taking hmong people to the refugee camps. Cheng, Meng, and Ger has survived the jungle massacre and the river massacre and managed to reach safely to Thailand. Now their future awaits.