Save The Montagnard People (STMP)

10/06/2022

09/14/2021

HERE IS THE RECENT MEMBERSHIP NEWSLETTER

Dega Days Update
September 18th 2021 will be our Official Dega Days at the Asheboro complex 3840 Waynick Meadow Road (Highlands Drive). All are welcome for our traditional festival with dancing, music, games, food, fun, and meeting old friends and making new ones. So mark your calendars and plan on joining us. (We will follow guidelines set by state for covid please bring a mask just in case).

Pandemic Update
COVID – 19 has hit the Montagnard communities hard. Although it started in the community late (mid-March 2020) cases began appearing in all of the Montagnard cities of Charlotte, Greensboro, New Bern and Raleigh. Unfortunately, they were still holding Sunday Church services in all communities until large groups of people began contracting the disease and causing wide-spread infection. To date we have no reports of any deaths, but many were and are still hospitalized. We made the decision to cancel both celebrations last year due to the Virus.

Letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
In our September 2020 we received information that Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, both Republicans, sent a letter of protest to the Secretary of State strongly urging his attention to the continued egregious acts of human rights violations against, religious groups; specifically identifying Montagnard and Hmong Christians. You know hard we are working to continue to get our Montagnard families out of Southeast Asia. You can see the success we have had and the progress we are making day to day. However, it appears that our legislatures’ efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

Now today as we see the evacuation of Afghanistan and the trouble of not only getting our Americans out; but also the problems of getting those Afghans’ (and their families) that worked for Special Forces and other US and Allied units out of Afghanistan safely. So, the question is exactly how will they be treated when and if they arrive safely to the USA. Exactly what will their status be according to the rules of the US State Department.

Will they be treated the same way that our Montagnards were treated? We should be considering this very hard about what can be done for equality of the indigenous peoples that fight and die with us in future engagements, and how to make our voices known to the Special Forces Association and the Special Operations Associations President and Board of Directors must use the power of the Association to make known our position regarding the safety of the allied indigenous that fought with us shoulder to shoulder and are deserving to be safely to the United States and resettled. We also must put pressure on our local legislatures and at the State level as well as Congress.

May GOD bless each and every one of you and keep you safe.

/s/ George Clark
George Clark
President, STMP

10/09/2019

10/09/2019

Sad news to report;

Richard Alan Rositano, age 80, of Albemarle died Wednesday, October 2, 2019.

Mr. Rositano was born March 14, 1939 in Cleveland, OH to Rocco and Margaret Rositano.

He was a retired Master Sergeant with the U. S. Army after 27 years of service. He was a member of the Special Operations Association, Special Forces Association Chapter 57 and on the board of directors of Save the Montagnard People. Mr. Rositano served during the Vietnam Era and received several accommodations during his career. He loved Harley Davidson motorcycles and enjoyed fishing, watching football and Fox News. Mr. Rositano loved his family dogs, especially Bella.

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Diane Lashinske Rositano; daughters, Jennifer Anne Rositano Harvell and husband Garrett of Concord, Dana Marie Rositano of Charlotte; sisters, Mary Rositano, Graceann Longo; brother, Frank Rositano and wife Deanna.

A memorial graveside service will be held Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 11:00 am at Montagnard Cemetery, 3802 Highlands Lane, Asheboro.

In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials be made to Save the Montagnard People, Inc., 3802 Highlands Lane, Asheboro, NC 27203, [email protected] or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142,

09/18/2019

Join STMP at the Annual Picnic Celebration on September 21st. To volunteer for this event, please contact Liana at [email protected]

08/11/2019

RIP Sgt. Freddie McLaughlin (91B4S) 5th SFG II Corp Mike Force. Wife says he had a massive stroke yesterday & died. Freddie was an avid motorcyclist & enduring supporter of the "Save the Montagnard People" organization. Great fun & fond remembrances from training group & Ft Sam antics, including the whole class getting arrested & all our episodes at the Spook House with & w/o the WACs!! Freddie was interviewed for The Drop a few years back recounting his SF experiences in "The Hot Seat". De Oppressor Liber.

[https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20171026/veterans-stories-special-forces-medic-in-vietnam-still-helps-indigenous-people](https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20171026/veterans-stories-special-forces-medic-in-vietnam-still-helps-indigenous-people)

Fred McLaughlin enlisted in the Army in September 1967, served in Vietnam for 11 months and earned four Purple Hearts. He was a Special Forces medic with

05/12/2019

Saturday, 25 May will be Save the Montagnard People’s Annual Memorial Day Picnic at the STMP farm on Wayneck Meadow Road, Asheboro.
Activities will begin around 9AM with our membership meeting and continue on thru the day. Plan on spending the day meeting old friends and making new ones, eating some great food and enjoying the Montagnard culture. Open to all.

05/12/2019

Congratulations to Y'Siu Hlong on his accomplishment by earning his Doctoral Degree. Y'Siu is the Executive Director for MDA, and we see him works countless hours serving many people from the community and still pushed himself to go for his dream. This just showed us that we can go back to school at any age and follow our dream.
Congratulation Dr. Hlong!

04/30/2019