Sek Moeun, Soldier
My husband worked for the civil aviation administration at Pochentong Airport when we met. He was responsible for security at the airport at a time when people were trying to burn it down. Moeun was much more educated than I. He could speak English and French fluently, as well as Chinese because he was half […]
Sum Sras, Army Medic
I was ordained as a monk when I was 12 years old. But after a year, I resigned because I had very little knowledge of Buddhist teachings. At the time of the coup d’etat against King Sihanouk, I was a village chief. I supervised more than 50 houses, although I was not allowed to collect […]
Chhuon Sopheak, Military Policeman
My mother died when I was young and my father did not have enough money to support my education. So, I moved from Prey Vent Province to Phnom Penh where I lived with my brother-in-law Chann Kim Hor. He was a sergeant in the army and asked me to take the entrance exam to become […]
May Phy, Policeman
During the Lon Nol regime my husband Mai Phy was a policeman in Phnom Penh. He also worked for a humanitarian organization that distributed food. He often traveled to the provinces to give rice, fish paste, canned fish, fish sauce, soy sauce, and mosquito nets to people who suffered because of the war. I was […]
Kong Meardey, Banker
My mother died when I was too young to remember and my father died when I was ten. Thus, I grew up to be a very independent person. After the death of my father, my godfather, who was a district chief in Kampong Thom Province, asked if he could adopt me. He died when I […]
Buoy Sreng, Newspaper Publisher
Before I was born, my father was a teacher in Pursat Province, where he fell in love with my mother Kang Sophat; she was the daughter of merchants. She studied until Baccalaureate I and then quit school to help her parents sell goods in the market. My grandmother arranged for my father to take another […]
Ai Va, Food Services Manager
My husband and I were cousins; we grew up together in Kampong Cham Province. Our parents arranged our marriage when he was 25 and I was 18. Va was a good, gentle, and hard working person. In 1970, Va was promoted to chief of the food services department at the Sokha Hotel in Kampong Som […]
Sot Neou, Doctor
Of my parents and thirteen siblings, only two of us survived the Khmer Rouge regime. Nearly all of them died in 1977 from starvation and illness. My father was a serious, responsible man who did not talk a lot. He was born to a very poor family with many children, and lived in the pagoda […]
Prum Thuch, Doctor
Thuch disappeared during the 1975 evacuation of Phnom Penh. He was born in Prey Veng Province, and after he finished high school, studied medicine in Phnom Penh. His met his wife Hao Vanna when he was visiting Battambang Province. After they were married, they rented a flat along Kampuchea Krom Street in the capital. He […]
Tun Chhum, Doctor
I came from a poor farming family in Takeo Province, and was educated with my older brother who was a monk. There were no schools in my area, so I studied at the temple. In 1959, I began studying at a regular school, but it was far from my home, so I rented a place […]