'SURELY EXTRAORDINARY': Sydney Schanberg, former Times colleague of Dith Pran, pays tribute to his friend yesterday at the South Plainfield, NJ, funeral of the man who endured unspeakable horrors in Cambodia.By AUSTIN FENNER and ANDY GELLER
New York Post (USA)
April 7, 2008 -- Dith Pran, the diminutive photojournalist whose barbaric enslavement in Cambodia was made into the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," was remembered yesterday as a man who embodied "extreme bravery."
"There are special human beings - Pran was one of them - who are not perfect, not saintly, but are surely extraordinary," Sydney Schanberg, his friend and former colleague at The New York Times, said at Dith's funeral in South Plainfield, NJ.
More than 400 people - some colleagues wearing photographers' vests like Dith's trademark one - filled the South Plainfield Funeral Home to take part in a Buddhist service for the journalist, who died March 30 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.
Dith was diagnosed with the illness three months ago, and Schanberg said that when he visited his friend in the hospital, the two discussed the possibility of life after death.
"Pran thought for a couple of seconds and said, 'I'll send you my dreams,' " Schanberg recalled.
"I'll send you mine," Schanberg said he replied.
'"Pran is still with us," the former correspondent said. "I believe Pran is still with us."
Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant to Schanberg, who was covering Cambodia for the Times in the 1970s, when the country was taken over by Khmer Rouge revolutionaries who installed a murderous regime.
Schanberg managed to escape - and won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting - but was forced to leave his friend behind.
Dith - Cambodian first and last names are often reversed - remained in the war-ravaged country for 41/2 years, working in the countryside as a virtual slave and surviving on a diet of rats, snails and insects. He coined the phrase "killing fields" to describe the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains he saw.
After leaving Cambodia, Dith moved to the United States and became a photographer for the Times.
His harrowing story became the subject of the famed 1984 film "The Killing Fields."
At the service, Schanberg recalled how Dith argued for two hours to stop Khmer Rouge soldiers from killing Schanberg and two other journalists.
"He risked his own life to save ours," Schanberg said, adding that his friend's life was the definition of "extreme bravery."
austin.fennerlastname@nypost.com
"There are special human beings - Pran was one of them - who are not perfect, not saintly, but are surely extraordinary," Sydney Schanberg, his friend and former colleague at The New York Times, said at Dith's funeral in South Plainfield, NJ.
More than 400 people - some colleagues wearing photographers' vests like Dith's trademark one - filled the South Plainfield Funeral Home to take part in a Buddhist service for the journalist, who died March 30 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.
Dith was diagnosed with the illness three months ago, and Schanberg said that when he visited his friend in the hospital, the two discussed the possibility of life after death.
"Pran thought for a couple of seconds and said, 'I'll send you my dreams,' " Schanberg recalled.
"I'll send you mine," Schanberg said he replied.
'"Pran is still with us," the former correspondent said. "I believe Pran is still with us."
Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant to Schanberg, who was covering Cambodia for the Times in the 1970s, when the country was taken over by Khmer Rouge revolutionaries who installed a murderous regime.
Schanberg managed to escape - and won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting - but was forced to leave his friend behind.
Dith - Cambodian first and last names are often reversed - remained in the war-ravaged country for 41/2 years, working in the countryside as a virtual slave and surviving on a diet of rats, snails and insects. He coined the phrase "killing fields" to describe the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains he saw.
After leaving Cambodia, Dith moved to the United States and became a photographer for the Times.
His harrowing story became the subject of the famed 1984 film "The Killing Fields."
At the service, Schanberg recalled how Dith argued for two hours to stop Khmer Rouge soldiers from killing Schanberg and two other journalists.
"He risked his own life to save ours," Schanberg said, adding that his friend's life was the definition of "extreme bravery."
austin.fennerlastname@nypost.com
12 comments:
Indeed,there were more non Khmers than Khmers in his funeral service.
Pran is still a hero to common men with a sense of humor and cultural bound.
Rare,Khmer born will keep his parents given name no matter where he goes.
"What a country",Schanberg quoted Pran with humourous tone.
What a country,brother,sleep well in worldly dream.
Peace be with you,....
No way, he'll burnt in hell for exploiting Khmer people in Cambodia for Hollywood profits in his pocket.
Hey Viet troller/pimp/parasite/plunderer @3:28 AM,
You Viet troller/intruder/parasite are getting too predictable now.
In plain and simple English, now, and again what part of you "getting the fuck out of KI-Media" don't you fucking Viet troller/intruder/pimp/plunderer understand huh?
Let's see you Viet pimp/parasite's tail between your legs and run on home out of KI-Media now!
Go home Viet, go home!
The World sees and knows you Viet parasite true colors already!
You will hurt the Viet more that you hurt KI-media and its readers if you hang around with such a comment having no respect for the dead.
Go home Viet, go home!
Hello MR 3:28 AM!
If you are Khmer, your mother did allow you to speaks like this? No one in the Globe allow to blame the death man like you. You are really barbarian in this world.
5:50, I did not blame him for anything. I am telling you fact. He's alway promoting the atrocity to sell his books and Hollywood DVD.
Let's face fact: What good is leaning about how people is torturing and abusing and killing ... That ain't gonna stop the atrocity. Only knowing the CAUSE of Atrocity might help. This is no difference from a fire. Everyone knows the damn think is destructive. And to prevent it we always investigate the cause of the fire. Do you see the difference here?
Do you know what I learn from Dith Pran?
Nothing!
Hey Viet troller/pimp/parasite/plunderer @6:29 AM and again @6:56 AM,
You Viet troller/intruder admitted yourself to be a Viet-born and national here on KI-Media.
You Viet troller/intruder have been dumping tons of trashes here on KI-Media over God knows for how long.
You Viet troller/intruder pretend to be Cambodian/Khmer speaking up for Cambodian/Khmer and giving Cambodian/Khmer a bad name.
You Viet troller/intruder trash everybody here on KI-Media calling Cambodian/Khmer all sort of names to boast, to sabotage and to destroy Cambodian/Khmer for the benefit of you Viet intruder/plunderer....
Now, you Viet trash/troller/intruder/parasite want to have some real debates?
Does history and now a live example of you Viet trash/troller here on KI-Media tell Cambodian/Khmer anything about the Viet's trustworthiness?
Cambodian/Khmer and the whole world see and know the true colors of you Viet troller/intruder/invader/plunderer/parasite too well already.
In plain and simple English, now, and again what part of you "getting the fuck out of KI-Media" don't you understand huh you fucking Viet troller/intruder/pimp/plunderer?
Let's see you Viet pimp/parasite's tail between your legs and run on home out of KI-Media now!
Go home Viet, go home!
You will hurt the Viet more than you hurt Cambodian/Khmer by hanging around here on KI-Media and having made such a comment.
Go home Viet, go home!
6:29 AM you quote:"What good is leaning about how people is torturing and abusing and killing ... That ain't gonna stop the atrocity." It maybe true, but you learned from it. You IDIOT!!! What an ignorant fool!
Don't dare tell me you're Khmer! Cause I will slap the living out of your mother for raising a stupid!
What have I learned from this site?
Absolutely NOTHING!
Well let's see your tail between you legs and head on in to Hanoi then you bloody parasite @12:40PM you! lol!
8:34 has lost is rationality. He insisted that we learn crap from Ah Jkout (Pran).
Hey you ill-brought up Viet pimp/parasite @10:59 AM,
Go home to Hanoi, you Viet parasite!
Quit spamming KI-Media!
Quit wasting space on KI-Media!
Post a Comment