BANGKOK, Dec. 13 — A lingering legacy of the Vietnam War emerged from the jungles of Laos on Wednesday, as hundreds of members of the Hmong hill tribe minority surrendered to the Communist government after decades on the run.

The group is the latest of several ragtag bands of Hmong to surrender, remnants of a guerrilla army that served the pro-American government until it fell in 1975.

The surrendering group’s chieftain, Moua Tua Ter, accompanied the 405 people — mostly children — to Ban Ha village in Phoukout District before returning to the jungle with a few of his guerrillas, according to the Fact Finding Commission, an organization that lobbies in the United States for recognition of the Hmong’s wartime service.

The Hmong appeared to be “very hungry and tired,” the group said in an e-mail message, and villagers served them a meal of rice and pork.