21 Facts About Jerry Daniels

Jerrold B Daniels or Jerry Daniels was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in their Special Activities Center who worked in Laos and Thailand from the early 1960s to the early 1980s.

Jerry Daniels worked with the Hmong people for the CIA's operation in Laos commonly called the "Secret War" as it was little known at the time.

In 1975, as the communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese Army advanced on the Hmong base at Long Tieng, Daniels organized the air evacuation of Vang Pao and more than two thousand of his officers, soldiers, and their families to Thailand.

From 1975 to 1982 Jerry Daniels worked among Hmong refugees in Thailand facilitating the resettlement of more than 50,000 of them in the United States and other countries.

Jerry Daniels died in Bangkok in 1982 of asphyxiation caused by a leaking water heater.

Jerry Daniels was born on June 11,1941, in Palo Alto, California.

Jerry Daniels had four brothers: Ronald, Jack, Kent and Alan.

When he was 17 years old, Jerry Daniels became one of the youngest smokejumpers in Missoula's history.

Jerry Daniels parachuted to fires in Montana, New Mexico, and California.

In 1960, while Jerry Daniels was a smokejumper, the CIA recruited him as a loadmaster or "kicker" for air operations based in Thailand.

In 1960, Jerry Daniels enrolled as a student at the University of Montana.

Jerry Daniels divided time between classes and working as a kicker for CIA affiliates in Laos and other countries until 1965 when he was assigned duties as a CIA Junior Paramilitary Operations Officer in Laos among the Hmong.

Jerry Daniels graduated from college in 1969, and then was promoted to a full PMOO in Laos and the Chief of Station.

Jerry Daniels was based at Vang Pao's headquarters at Long Tieng, located in a secluded mountain valley.

Jerry Daniels accompanied Vang Pao to the Bitterroot Valley near Missoula, Montana where he was resettled on a ranch purchased for him by the CIA.

Jerry Daniels returned to Thailand to assist Hmong refugees crossing the Mekong River from Laos in large numbers.

Jerry Daniels was given the title of Ethnic Affairs Officer to deal with the Hmong and other highland people fleeing Laos.

Jerry Daniels was in charge of a large and complex process of screening Hmong refugees to determine their eligibility to be resettled in the United States.

The results of Jerry Daniels' work were that 53,700 Hmong and other highland peoples of Laos were resettled in the United States between 1975 and 1982.

The family was told Jerry Daniels' body was in the casket but no proof was submitted.

Many of the Hmong believed Jerry Daniels had been placed into protective custody by the CIA and continued his work.