 The Laos–Hmong memorial commemorates the veterans of the "Secret War" in Laos who fought against invading Soviet Union-backed North Vietnam Army forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and communist Pathet Lao guerrillas.Approved by the U.S. Department of Defense, Arlington National Cemetery, and the U.S. Department of the Army, but designed and paid for privately by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Veterans of America Institute, and The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, the memorial stands as a tribute to the Hmong, Lao, other ethnic groups (Lao, Khmu, Mien, Lahu), and American clandestine and military advisers who made up the Secret War effort during the Vietnam War.The Lao Veterans of America, Inc. is the nation's largest ethnic Laotian- and Hmong-American veterans organization.