In the photographs flashed on the screen, I saw images of Edgar "Pop" Buell, the Area Coordinator at San Thong, a farmer who worked with the Hmong; Diana Dick, who trained the first hilltribe nurses and medics; the hospitals and clinics built and run by my parents, Dr. Weldon and Dr. McCreedy. A book about Edgar Buell, who played an important role in

Then American Christian missionaries worked more or less openly for the CIA, among them the legendary Edgar "Pop" Buell, an Indiana farmer who was assigned to the Xieng Khouang area in and around the Plain of Jars, where he came into contact with the Hmong. Later, he became the principal contact man between the CIA and the Hmong, working closely with the Hmong warlord Vang Pao, who escaped to the US before the communist takeover in 1975, and, despite his now advanced age, has continued to campaign against the country's communist rulers.

This out of print work presents a biography of Edgar Buell "Mister Pop". Buell began working with the Hmong in Laos in 1960. He set up schools and medical training facilities and also helped organize the 5,000 soldier Hmong army that fought the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao. The volume includes several photographs of Buell with Hmong in Laos in the early to mid 1960s.

Edgar "Pop" Buell was an Indiana farmer in his late 40's who had never heard of the country of Laos.When his wife died, he fell into a state of depression.Looking for something active to do that would give his life new meaning, he joined the International Volunteer Service (a private aid organization) and accepted an assignment in Asia.He was supposed to teach mountain villagers modern farming methods. Upon arriving in Laos in 1961, Pop Buell discovered a civil war in which the United States government was secretly backing royalist forces against the neutralist and communist sides.Although he was a veteran of World War II, Pop Buell had never fired a gun in anger.He was deeply moved by the plight of refugees who were fleeing the fighting. For the remainder of the decade, in spite of hazards and health problems, Pop Buell worked to improve the living conditions in refugee villages.He supervised the building of schools and medical clinics.He oversaw the training of teachers and nurses. When aid programs ran low on funds, Pop Buell paid for supplies and salaries out of his own pocket.When help was needed, he joined workers in loading heavy gunnysacks of rice, clothes and medicines onto the planes that flew supplies to refugee villages.Often, he would strap himself into a harness and help the crew kick supplies out the plane's door as it flew over mountain villages.

Edgar "Pop" Buell, a retired farmer