Persecuted for supporting the United States in the Vietnam War, the Montagnards fled the country for Cambodia. Their General headed to the capital, Phnom Penh, to organize their integration there, while the rest waited for his instructions deep in the Cambodian jungle.
It was 20 years later when a team from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) found the remaining 400 Montagnards and began the process of reintegrating and relocating the community.
Sergio Viera de Mello, who led the UNTAC team, informed the Montagnards of their leader's death two decades earlier. He was executed by the Khmer Rouge almost immediately after arriving in Phnom Penh.
The Montagnards were persuaded to give up their arms and to leave the jungle but did not want to live in Cambodia or return to Vietnam. Instead, they wished to join 200 fellow Montagnards who had settled in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1985.
UNTAC's efforts had generally focused on re-settling refugees back in their homes, so their work with the Montagnards was far from typical. In all, the program in Cambodia saw 360,000 people return to the country in time for its 1993 general election.