Lieutenant (later Colonel) Deuane Sunnalath (Lao: ເດືອນ ສຸນນະລາດ, 1927–1978)[1] led a schism within neutralist forces fighting in the Laotian Civil War.
[3] Deuane continued to serve in the Lao military after the French defeat, becoming a company commander in Bataillion Parachutistes 2 (Parachute Battalion 2) under Captain Kong Le.
At any rate, he was a member of the party that flew to Hanoi on 10 December to formalize the ongoing Soviet aerial supply mission to Kong Le's forces.
At 0900 hours the following morning, six Russian transports landed at Wattay to unload four 105mm howitzers, six 4.2 inch mortars, and a dozen artillery experts from the People's Army of Vietnam.
When FAN's intelligence officer was arrested in Vientiane on 5 November 1961, Deuan was poised to attack the capital with those troops if the major was not released.
On 22 November 1962, while Kong Le was in Hanoi for surgery, an Air America transport plane was shot down while landing on the Plain of Jars, killing the pilots.
At a conference mediated by former Souvanna Phouma allies Khamsouk Keoka and Heuan Mongkholvilay[10] the three battalions of neutralists under Brigadier General Khamouane Boupha in Military Region 1's far northern Phongsali Province opted to join him.
[1] As the communists gained power toward the end of the Laotian Civil War, Deuane Sunnalath was appointed as Deputy Minister for Education in the Provisional Government of National Union on 9 April 1974.