Three Rivers man recounts harrowing journey from Cambodia to safety in U.S.
Monday, November 19, 2007
BY JEF RIETSMA
Special to Hometown Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA)
THREE RIVERS
He calls his survival ``a miracle,'' and after listening to the captivating story of how Vantha Seth in 1976 fled Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge-backed military takeover of the Southeast Asian country, it's impossible to disagree with his assessment.
Now 53 and living a quiet life with his wife, Sophal, and 18-year-old daughter, Chandera, in Three Rivers, Seth said fate played a big role in how he survived a 26-day walk from his native village in Cambodia to freedom in Thailand and eventually a new life in the United States.
``If I stayed in my village, I would have been killed,'' he said. ``I had nothing to lose by leaving.''
The escape
The amazing story of Seth, who has spent the past 27 years as a janitor at Three Rivers High School, begins on a fall evening in 1976 when he and about 100 residents from his native village made the bold decision to flee the country. It was a year after the end of the Vietnam War and communist government was strengthening its grip in the area -- Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were subject to the greatest influx. Seth said the Pol Pot-led Cambodian military obediently followed through on orders to kill anyone who was educated -- an umbrella under which teachers, doctors and university-aged students fell -- a type of genocide that eliminated people who had the logic and smarts to potentially pose a threat to the Khmer Rouge.
The group of 100 poised to leave the village under the cover of night included many of Seth's uncles, aunts and cousins.
They knew Thailand was in a western direction; they fled without a compass or map. Seth said had they stayed, eventually most of them would have been shot and killed anyway, so it was an act of desperation.
Traveling together through the dense and humid Cambodian jungle, the group was ambushed three different times by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
The first time was their second night on the run.
Members of the group scattered as they were under attack; Seth was shot in the shoulder but still managed to remain undetected by opposing soldiers.
After the second and third ambushes, Seth and another man were the only people left together from the original 100-person group, though they would later find in Thailand a total of 15 who individually or in pairs had successfully made it to freedom in the neighboring country, he said.
Seth, 23 at the time, managed to hang on to a small bag that contained a change of clothes and nothing more, no family memories or pictures. He recalled journeying past elephants eating bamboo, traversing mile-long rivers in which animals he's sure could have killed him lived, and sleeping on leaves in the jungle rich with animals and insects that would make most people squirm. The group walked from sunrise to sunset.
``We were very hungry all the time; we ate mushrooms, leaves, grass, any vegetation we could find,'' he said. They walked in a zig-zag direction, knowing if they walked in a straight and westerly direction, they were more likely to encounter military opposition.
In all, between the trio of ambushes, Seth was shot three times and in addition survived stepping on a land mine that caused serious injury to his foot. He said 26 days on the run -- barefoot no less -- was too emotionally and physically draining to even put into words.
Into Thailand
Bereft of ``Welcome to Thailand'' signs, the border to Cambodia's neighboring country wasn't realized until Seth and his friend emerged from the heavy jungle and stumbled upon a country road. They watched several cars pass and noticed all had provincial license plates based in Thailand.
Confident he and his friend were finally out of Cambodia, Seth said a bus -- on the line of what we in the United States would know as Greyhound -- approached and they flagged down the driver. Seth said neither he nor his friend spoke Thai, but a few passengers aboard knew Cambodian dialect. Also, they had the good fortune of a municipal official from the nearby village being on the bus, and he took them in, providing food and shelter.
Seth said he was afforded medical treatment in Thailand; shrapnel was removed from his head and he received care for his injured foot. Seth said he was treated with great care in Thailand and eventually attended the American equivalent of a medical school.
``I wanted to get medical training so I could go back to Cambodia and treat the (rebels) who were injured in their fight against the Khmer Rouge,'' he said, noting his friend who accompanied him into Thailand also had intentions of returning to Cambodia to fight against the communist military.
Though his medical training was brief, Seth was able to administer an extensive amount of aid to injured Cambodian dissidents in the Thailand refugee camp that he, too, eventually called home.
To the U.S.
At some point, he doesn't recall exactly when, Seth filled out paperwork that qualified him to become sponsored by a U.S. citizen, but his heart was set on returning to Cambodia to fight the Khmer Rouge. Living in the United States, he said, was the last thing he ever expected to do.
Meanwhile, at the same time another world away, Mary Kennedy, a Mendon resident, was attending St. Peter's Lutheran Church and agreed to sponsor a Southeast Asian refugee. Seth said he was pulled from ambulatory duty one day when he was interviewed by a team of Thai officials who asked him a battery of questions. Through doctors on site, Seth said he had learned a substantial amount of English and, in the eyes of the Thai officials, good enough English to qualify for the sponsorship tendered by Kennedy and her church.
On Christmas afternoon in 1979, after almost 24 hours of flight, Seth's plane landed in Lansing. It was a whirlwind time compromised by Seth still being uncertain whether he wanted to live in the United States.
``I thought I would surely go back to Cambodia and help the rebels,'' he said. ``My heart was with them.''
Seth said the cold wind and a temperature he had never come close to experiencing as he stepped off the plane made him question whether he had made the right decision. Besides coping with the snow and bitter cold, weighing heavily on Seth's heart were his mother, two sisters and a brother still in Cambodia.
Settling in Three Rivers
Seth was one of the few Cambodian refugees in Michigan to not end up in the Detroit area. He said he had ambitions to attend medical school in the United States, but the opportunity never materialized.
Kennedy eventually found Seth an apartment in the Mendon area and later a job with Three Rivers Community Schools. Seth's wife was a Cambodian refugee living in Kentucky; they married in 1986. Their daughter graduated in June from Three Rivers High School and attends Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Seth has two sisters and two brothers living in the United States, close by in Ohio and Indiana. Though Seth has not heard from his friend with whom he escaped from Cambodia (Seth said his friend went back to their native country as a rebel to fight the Khmer Rouge military), someone he befriended while in the Thailand refugee camp -- a person whom he considers his best friend -- is living in Chicago. They visit frequently and often stay up late into the night recalling their experiences.
Life in Cambodia today is not like it was in the 1970s, and Seth said he has been back to his homeland five times. Though he has spent more than half his life in the United States, Seth said he thinks often about his native country and wishes to live there still.
``I love my country, my nation ... it's safer there now than it was in the 1970s,'' he said. ``My daughter has been there once and she talks about wanting to go back all the time ... it's hard to not be drawn to your heritage.''
Seth became a U.S. citizen in 1989; his wife gained her citizenship in 1990.
Monday, November 19, 2007
BY JEF RIETSMA
Special to Hometown Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA)
THREE RIVERS
He calls his survival ``a miracle,'' and after listening to the captivating story of how Vantha Seth in 1976 fled Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge-backed military takeover of the Southeast Asian country, it's impossible to disagree with his assessment.
Now 53 and living a quiet life with his wife, Sophal, and 18-year-old daughter, Chandera, in Three Rivers, Seth said fate played a big role in how he survived a 26-day walk from his native village in Cambodia to freedom in Thailand and eventually a new life in the United States.
``If I stayed in my village, I would have been killed,'' he said. ``I had nothing to lose by leaving.''
The escape
The amazing story of Seth, who has spent the past 27 years as a janitor at Three Rivers High School, begins on a fall evening in 1976 when he and about 100 residents from his native village made the bold decision to flee the country. It was a year after the end of the Vietnam War and communist government was strengthening its grip in the area -- Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were subject to the greatest influx. Seth said the Pol Pot-led Cambodian military obediently followed through on orders to kill anyone who was educated -- an umbrella under which teachers, doctors and university-aged students fell -- a type of genocide that eliminated people who had the logic and smarts to potentially pose a threat to the Khmer Rouge.
The group of 100 poised to leave the village under the cover of night included many of Seth's uncles, aunts and cousins.
They knew Thailand was in a western direction; they fled without a compass or map. Seth said had they stayed, eventually most of them would have been shot and killed anyway, so it was an act of desperation.
Traveling together through the dense and humid Cambodian jungle, the group was ambushed three different times by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
The first time was their second night on the run.
Members of the group scattered as they were under attack; Seth was shot in the shoulder but still managed to remain undetected by opposing soldiers.
After the second and third ambushes, Seth and another man were the only people left together from the original 100-person group, though they would later find in Thailand a total of 15 who individually or in pairs had successfully made it to freedom in the neighboring country, he said.
Seth, 23 at the time, managed to hang on to a small bag that contained a change of clothes and nothing more, no family memories or pictures. He recalled journeying past elephants eating bamboo, traversing mile-long rivers in which animals he's sure could have killed him lived, and sleeping on leaves in the jungle rich with animals and insects that would make most people squirm. The group walked from sunrise to sunset.
``We were very hungry all the time; we ate mushrooms, leaves, grass, any vegetation we could find,'' he said. They walked in a zig-zag direction, knowing if they walked in a straight and westerly direction, they were more likely to encounter military opposition.
In all, between the trio of ambushes, Seth was shot three times and in addition survived stepping on a land mine that caused serious injury to his foot. He said 26 days on the run -- barefoot no less -- was too emotionally and physically draining to even put into words.
Into Thailand
Bereft of ``Welcome to Thailand'' signs, the border to Cambodia's neighboring country wasn't realized until Seth and his friend emerged from the heavy jungle and stumbled upon a country road. They watched several cars pass and noticed all had provincial license plates based in Thailand.
Confident he and his friend were finally out of Cambodia, Seth said a bus -- on the line of what we in the United States would know as Greyhound -- approached and they flagged down the driver. Seth said neither he nor his friend spoke Thai, but a few passengers aboard knew Cambodian dialect. Also, they had the good fortune of a municipal official from the nearby village being on the bus, and he took them in, providing food and shelter.
Seth said he was afforded medical treatment in Thailand; shrapnel was removed from his head and he received care for his injured foot. Seth said he was treated with great care in Thailand and eventually attended the American equivalent of a medical school.
``I wanted to get medical training so I could go back to Cambodia and treat the (rebels) who were injured in their fight against the Khmer Rouge,'' he said, noting his friend who accompanied him into Thailand also had intentions of returning to Cambodia to fight against the communist military.
Though his medical training was brief, Seth was able to administer an extensive amount of aid to injured Cambodian dissidents in the Thailand refugee camp that he, too, eventually called home.
To the U.S.
At some point, he doesn't recall exactly when, Seth filled out paperwork that qualified him to become sponsored by a U.S. citizen, but his heart was set on returning to Cambodia to fight the Khmer Rouge. Living in the United States, he said, was the last thing he ever expected to do.
Meanwhile, at the same time another world away, Mary Kennedy, a Mendon resident, was attending St. Peter's Lutheran Church and agreed to sponsor a Southeast Asian refugee. Seth said he was pulled from ambulatory duty one day when he was interviewed by a team of Thai officials who asked him a battery of questions. Through doctors on site, Seth said he had learned a substantial amount of English and, in the eyes of the Thai officials, good enough English to qualify for the sponsorship tendered by Kennedy and her church.
On Christmas afternoon in 1979, after almost 24 hours of flight, Seth's plane landed in Lansing. It was a whirlwind time compromised by Seth still being uncertain whether he wanted to live in the United States.
``I thought I would surely go back to Cambodia and help the rebels,'' he said. ``My heart was with them.''
Seth said the cold wind and a temperature he had never come close to experiencing as he stepped off the plane made him question whether he had made the right decision. Besides coping with the snow and bitter cold, weighing heavily on Seth's heart were his mother, two sisters and a brother still in Cambodia.
Settling in Three Rivers
Seth was one of the few Cambodian refugees in Michigan to not end up in the Detroit area. He said he had ambitions to attend medical school in the United States, but the opportunity never materialized.
Kennedy eventually found Seth an apartment in the Mendon area and later a job with Three Rivers Community Schools. Seth's wife was a Cambodian refugee living in Kentucky; they married in 1986. Their daughter graduated in June from Three Rivers High School and attends Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Seth has two sisters and two brothers living in the United States, close by in Ohio and Indiana. Though Seth has not heard from his friend with whom he escaped from Cambodia (Seth said his friend went back to their native country as a rebel to fight the Khmer Rouge military), someone he befriended while in the Thailand refugee camp -- a person whom he considers his best friend -- is living in Chicago. They visit frequently and often stay up late into the night recalling their experiences.
Life in Cambodia today is not like it was in the 1970s, and Seth said he has been back to his homeland five times. Though he has spent more than half his life in the United States, Seth said he thinks often about his native country and wishes to live there still.
``I love my country, my nation ... it's safer there now than it was in the 1970s,'' he said. ``My daughter has been there once and she talks about wanting to go back all the time ... it's hard to not be drawn to your heritage.''
Seth became a U.S. citizen in 1989; his wife gained her citizenship in 1990.
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