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MEMORIES OF 17 APRIL 1975
Veng Chheng
17 April 1975 is an historical day of victory for the Cambodian army over
the U.S. imperialists and the Lon Nol lackeys. Every Cambodian person had reason to be
happy and joyful, because each person understood that the war had ended, they
had achieved independence, positive and abundant peace, and they had escaped the
yoke of foreign oppression. But we
should feel great remorse, because the happiness and hope of the people
transformed into pain and suffering and devastation as families were separated
from each other. The soldiers
dressed in black shirts and pants created turmoil and chaos throughout the
country, by forcing the people to flee from one region to the next, and from one
place to another. Hundreds of
thousands of people from the city of Phnom Penh were ordered and threatened by
the Khmer Rouge soldiers out of their homes and relocated in rural areas far
away. They even killed innocent
people. Each of these deeds has
never before been encountered in the history of Cambodia.
I was still a small child, about ten years old. I was part of a family of
nine people, including my mother.
We lived in a house in front of the 6 Kilometer Market. I remember that
not many hours after Phnom Penh was liberated, the Khmer Rouge soldiers
evacuated the people out of Phnom Penh. They announced, “People, Angkar has ordered for all brothers and
sisters to leave Phnom Penh for three days so Angkar can easily clear out the enemies
that still remain. You don’t have
to take many things with you, because Angkar already knows how to care for
you.” The Khmer Rouge soldiers
forced the people out of the city using the threat of their guns and the
following propaganda: “If anyone is unwilling to leave their homes, we will kill
them.” With such threats from the
people dressed in black, the people who lived in Phnom Penh had to force
themselves to leave their homes and travel along the routes the Khmer Rouge had
assigned them.
At that time, my
father found an old and small abandoned car. We packed it with dishes, pots,
clothes, rice and other things and pushed the car out of the house. We made the journey towards the north
along National Road #5, underneath the scorching sun during the dry season. I saw a throng of thousands of people,
young and old, walking slowing along the road, under the command and threats of
the soldiers dressed in black. In
the afternoon, my family and I reached a temple I do not know the name of. At that time everyone stopped to rest so
they could prepare lunch. We did
not even finish eating lunch, when the soldiers forced us to continue our
journey forward again. While we
were traveling, around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, the atmosphere shifted
from being hot to cool. The sky
became cloudy and dark and brought with it heavy rains that old people usually
say is a signal for the rainy season to come. One should really feel pity and
compassion for the young children who had no home or plastic to shelter them and
had to walk forward through the rain, hugging their arms. The rains made everyone so cold they
shivered. Even though it was
raining very hard, the soldiers dressed in black would not allow the people to
stop and rest. They forced them to
walk even faster. They should have
felt compassion for the children. After the rain fell and the sun once again
scorched the earth, the children became ill at once. My family traveled the entire day before
we reached one place. I’m not
certain where this place is. I only know that in this place there was a three
story stone house that was not yet finished. The top floor had no walls, but it had a
roof. My family and I joined many
other people and they allowed us to rest here temporarily, because it was almost
dark. My mother and my older sister
quickly prepared the rice and food.
I took some time from my rest to climb to the top floor of the stone
house. When I reached the top I saw
two plates of corrugated roof placed on top of each other. Underneath the corrugated roof, there
were thousands of roaming flies. Curious to know what was there, I opened the
corrugated roof and found the corpses of three people dressed in military
uniforms, piled on top of each other.
There were bruises on their heads, covered with fresh blood. The three corpses looked like Lon Nol
soldiers. When I saw this I felt
shocked and terrified. I quickly
ran back downstairs. Other people
had also discovered about ten other corpses around the house.
After
we finished our dinner, my family and other people continued our journey until
we reached Kampong Chamlong. We
were also able to take a boat across to the far bank. When the boat reached the shore on the
other side, it was already about 9:30 at night. Others, whose boats were lagging behind,
kept rowing forward without stopping.
When the people crossed over to the eastern shore, large buses waited for
them on the other side and they had to continue their journey along the routes
Angkar had already assigned. I didn’t know where all the people had
to go. My family climbed into a bus
and we traveled all the way to Kampong Thom. Although there were a lot of people on
the bus, not a single voice could be heard. This was because everyone was tired from
travelling since morning. In
addition, they were each probably wondering how their destiny would pan out and
what would happen to them in the future. |
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