Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Back in Phnom Penh—one of the few parts of the country it still controlled—the Kh-
mer Republic faced collapse on every front. The war had triggered wild inflation, cur-
rency devaluation, and food shortages. With the US seeking an “honorable” disengage-
ment from Indochina, vital American support began to taper off. In August 1973, the US
Congress ordered a halt to the aerial bombing, leaving the Phnom Penh government vul-
nerable to communist offensives.
Decision-making took on a vague, improvisatory quality. After suffering a stroke in
1971 Lon Nol had retreated into a small circle of advisors and court astrologers. As the
Khmer Rouge tightened their noose on Phnom Penh, he sent Buddhist monks up in a heli-
copter to sprinkle blessed sand and holy water over the capital, hoping to “protect” it from
attack. By early 1975, the Khmer Rouge had the city surrounded. Rockets rained down
on Phnom Penh, terrifying the population. On April 1, Lon Nol and his entourage aban-
doned Cambodia, flying to Thailand, and thence to the US Pacific Command Headquar-
ters in Oahu, Hawaii. As his country slipped into the abyss, Lon Nol moved into a four-
acre property in suburban Oahu and settled into civilian life. From his living-room sofa
he described his plans for forming a government-in-exile and returning to power, but his
schemes had no real support. The marshal sank into an obscure, listless retirement, grow-
ing vegetables and raising geese and rabbits. 22 He never saw Cambodia again.
The end came quickly for the Khmer Republic. On April 12, US Ambassador John
Gunther Dean ran down the embassy's flag and choppered out of Phnom Penh. The morn-
ing of the 17th, a Thursday, rippled with dry season heat. Shortly after dawn the first
teenaged Khmer Rouge troops marched into Phnom Penh, casting long shadows on the
tarmac. The frenzy of battle gave way to an ominous calm.
At first, Phnom Penh's inhabitants welcomed the end of the war. Crowds gathered in the
street, cheering and waving white flags. “An almost physical sense of relief led to general
rejoicing,” wrote François Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest who witnessed the fall of
the city and later wrote of his experiences in the topic Cambodia: Year Zero . There were
“no more rockets to fear; no more blind slaughter; no more compulsory military service
… At last, the peasants could go back and cultivate their rice paddies.” 23
From his home in central Phnom Penh, Kassie Neou watched and waited. Up until that
morning, he had been an English teacher, heading a government department that broad-
cast English-language materials over the radio, using old reel-to-reel tapes imported from
Britain and the US. The past year had been particularly tough, with its food shortages
and barrages of rocket-fire. Like many others, Kassie hoped the arrival of the black-clad
peasant soldiers, strange as they seemed, would at least mean a return to normality. “We
were so sick and tired,” he told me. “We longed for peace and we were led to believe it
was the end of a bloody war.” 24
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