Nhanh Yan Manivong

Nhanh Yan Manivong, 80, of Shawnee, KS passed away on July 17th, 2020.  He was born in Vientiane, Laos on April 1st, 1940 to Tiger and Peng Manivong.  When he was a teenager, he joined the Royal Laotian Army.  The branch he served in was the Special Airborne and Special Guerilla Units.  From 1958 to 1960 he attended Cadet School where he trained to be an officer.  From 1961 to 1963 he served as the Commanding Officer of the Airborne Company.  In 1963, he was sent for training in the United States of America.  In 1964, he went back to Laos to serve as Company Commander of the Front Line of what later became known as the Vietnam War.  During 1966 and 1967, he was once again in the United States and served as the Laison Officer at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  Yan’s rank in the regular army was that of Lieutenant Colonel and his highest rank in the SGV army was that of a Colonel.

He again returned to the USA to receive more training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  In July of 1975 he was sent back to his home country.  On July 30th, right after he arrived in his home country he was arrested and made a Prisoner of War.  He was held as a POW for 12 years from 1975 to 1987.  For those of you who weren’t alive or old enough to remember this time, this was the time of the Vietnam War.  For those that do not remember the Dominoe Theory and the Containment Theory that prevailed at that time we know that America did not fight alone and what success was to be had at that time was in a large part because of the Allies we had in Southeast Asia.  Yan was one of those Allies who paid a high price for that friendship.  You can say that from the dignity that Yan exudes today in all that he does that it had to be a characteristic that served him well throughout those years of his loss of personal freedom and extreme hardships.  Only Yan will ever be able to fully grasp the scope of man’s inhumanity to man during the circumstances of his imprisonment.

Yan was able to return to America in 1989.  He came to the Kansas City area and was hired by the school district in May 1990 and was sent to Bluejacket School where he has worked ever since.

Yan did not ask to tell about his personal sacrifice but we can not think of a better time to Honor him than to tell his story that everyone can learn from it.  Yan is a man who has been highly educated, served his native country and ours with dignity and sacrifice.  It is our duty to offer him respect, admiration and honor that he aptly deserves.

A funeral service will be held on Thursday, July 23rd at 12:00 PM at The Amos Family Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Drive, Shawnee KS 66203.  Please be advised we are limiting the number of people in our funeral home to 45, masks are required to enter the building and social distancing must be practiced.  We appreciate your cooperation.