Nate Thayer Memorial

Sour Milk drinkers,

On Saturday, February 25th, Reverend Y Hin Nie will host a public memorial for his old friend Nate Thayer at the United Montagnard Christian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. The pair met deep in the forest of Mondulkiri, Cambodia, in 1992.  At the time, Y Hin Nie was serving as FULRO’s (Front Unifié de Lutte des Race Opprimées, or the United Struggle Front for the Oppressed Races) Representative of Foreign Affairs and their translator.  This Montagnard army had been fighting the Vietnamese since 1964, and in 1992, almost three decades later, still had not surrendered.

During the summer of 1992, Nate Thayer spent a few nights in FULRO’s jungle camp with Y Hin Nie.  Thayer’s heart wrenching series of articles about “The Forgotten Army” for Far Eastern Economic Review and The Phnom Penh Post, not only captured the world’s imagination, but they led to a Montagnard exodus to the United States.  Today, North Carolina has the largest Montagnard population outside the central highlands of Vietnam.  “Without Nate Thayer, nobody would know about the Montagnards.  He woke up the UN, France, and the United States,” said Y Hin Nie.  “Without him, I will die.  Many people come and go, come and go, come and go.  Nate Thayer is with me.”

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