Day 3 The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES FOLLOW

Where were you in 1975?  Gloria and I had just married and we were starting our careers in Southern California.  In Cambodia, Pol Pot was commencing his reign of terror that ultimately tortured and killed 3 million of his own people.

Today, Gloria and I visited the closest killing field to Phnom Penh, Choeng Ek.  Here, tens of thousands of Cambodian’s were killed.  This was but one of 343 killing fields throughout the country.  For four years Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge went about forcing the country into a stone age subsistence. Attempting to rid the country of all educated people and their families.  The families, so they would not, in the next generation attempt to removed the Khmer Rouge from power. 

The “stupa” contained 18 levels, clothing on the first level, then skulls, finally small bones on the top.

The killing field was overwhelming.  As we walked between the mass graves, the paths still had remnants of clothing, bone and teeth you could easily identify.

 These are some of the 8,000 skulls housed   in the “stupa” to honor the dead

Many of the mass graves have not been investigated.  Each year as the Mekong River floods, more bones are discovered.

One particularly chilling mass grave contained only headless bodies.  As the remains were removed it was discovered that these were soldiers who had refused to torture and murder their countrymen.  They paid with their lives. 

This killing tree is to honor the brutalized infants. What we learned and saw was unspeakably evil.  Beyond our imagination.