Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Kou Voravong
Considering that the Bounkong Band was known in the province, he got in touch with its members and proposed them negotiations so that they convinced the local insurgents to lay down arms and to adhered to the national cause. But the bandits would take advantage of the naivety of the young lieutenant to carry out during several months, acts of banditry, spying and intense anti-government guerrillas, by using the pass, material and funds provided by the chief himself. Despite the failure of the "Pacification of Southern Laos Mission" which has nearly cost his political career, Kou Voravong renewed his confidence in Phoumi Nosavan who would pursue his military career until becoming the Lao National Army's chief of staff, in 1955.