Part 1 of life story under the KR regime: April 1975 … that I remember

April 1975 … that I remember

April 2008
By Krakmo Kaing
Translated from Khmer

Click here to read the story in Khmer

April 15th was the day that my wife just had her surgery at the Russian Hospital (Phnom Penh), and she was just released from the surgery room, and she was sent to the post-surgery room, located along the back of the hospital, on the first floor of the Tuberculosis (TB) building.

The surgery was a total failure, my wife had high fever, she was shaking and her stomach was swollen. Panic and hopelessness started to get the better of us. We were somewhat fortunate that my father was staying there and he gave us some highly needed encouragements in this time of panic. Meanwhile, rockets launched by the Khmer Rouge (KR) fell down regularly at 5-minute interval. The rockets fell around the hospital and they shook the hospital building.

The next morning, on April 16th, at 10:00AM, I decided to drive my Peugeot 404 car which I parked underneath the hospital building, to go fetch Dr. Sun Lay, a surgery doctor who lives along Preah Monivong Boulevard. The street was eerily quiet, there was no traffic at all, only my car was moving at a deadly speed. I no longer care about the rockets explosions that rain down on Phnom Penh city anymore. When I reached Dr. Sun Lay’s home, I told him about my wife’s illness which necessitated another surgery. Dr. Sun Lay told me that he regretted he did not take care of my wife from the start, otherwise, she would not be facing danger as she is now. He agreed with me to undertake another surgery in the surgery room which was already prepared by the nurses. I was amazed to see the professional dedication of the hospital personnel who remained at their posts in spite of the upheaval taking place outdoor.

The surgery took more than one hour long, and my wife was brought back on a stretcher to the hospital room. Dr. Sun Lay then left to return back home, I did not even know how he went home, it could be that a hospital personnel gave him a ride back.

My wife’s care fell entirely on my shoulders. I had to give her intravenous fluid injection 24-hour long, as well as injecting a high dose of antibiotic into the serum fluid. I was lucky that the hospital pharmacy stockroom door was smashed open and medicines were spread all over the place two days earlier. I went in to look and found the medicines I needed to care for my wife after her surgery and I also took the opportunity to collect all that I needed for myself in case of a minor surgery, because I knew that the KR will surely evict us and send us somewhere far, and that we will not have the opportunity to return back home anymore.

At the back of the Russian hospital, there was also a building for TB care, during that time, the building was almost empty, except for two or three patients who still remained there. Other than these, all the other patients were taken home by their relatives because they knew that upheaval will occur in the next few hours. Among those still remaining in the hospital, there was a pregnant young woman, she was all by herself, no relative or husband was there with her. She came near me and begged me to help her when she will deliver the baby. In my mind, I was already prepared to help her when the time comes.

In the morning of April 17th, after an entire night of rocket rain, the situation became quieter. I was standing along the hallway in front of the room where my wife was resting, waiting to see how the situation would turn out to be. At around 08:00AM, a group of about ten KR soldiers appeared, they were all dressed in black uniform, armed with AK-47 rifles, their faces serious, they look as if they were about to shoot in a battlefield. The soldiers walked towards me, before they asked me anything, I smiled to them and explained to them that I had to wait for my wife to recuperate and I told them that by the next day, my wife would be able to walk. The soldiers agreed for me to stay in the hospital, but all the patients must gather into the contagious disease building instead. This building is located next to the personnel building at the Russian hospital. The KR soldiers also gathered all the hospital personnel who could not return home in this building as well. By then, there was no electricity, no water and no food anymore. Everything was cut off, each person had to feed themselves. As for me, I did not have any food with me at all, as I did not bring anything from home. I had to scrounge for rice leftover from patients who left the hospital.

A surprising event took place during that time: among the patients whom the KR soldiers forced to leave the hospital, if they were accompanied by their relatives, the latter must take them out, for the others, the Angkar transported them for healthcare in the so-called back of the battlefield. Two GMC trucks can be seen transporting the patients out nonstop, however, these trucks took only 10 minutes to come back. Everybody was wondering why the Angkar hospital is located so close by.

Svay Rolum village

Sacrava cartoon

Traffic in front of the Russian hospital was jammed for the past three days. People were traveling out of the city, using any means they can find: some were leaving in slowly moving cars, some even had to push their cars forward, while others were carrying their belonging on their shoulders or on their head, and others were pushing their relatives on wheeled-stretchers out of the hospital. Under the scorching sun of April, most likely, these patients may not be able to go anywhere far…

As for us who are packed inside the small contagious disease building, we were waiting for the traffic to become lighter so we can leave also. However, during the wait, we were ordered by the KR soldiers to carry dead bodies left in the surgery room and those who died and left behind by their relatives on the hospital beds, and burry them in the open hospital courtyard. While we were resting at night, the KR soldiers were patrolling, they would shine their flashlight on us, and they would mumble to their comrades that we were the imperialists who sleep inside mosquito nets and on comfortable mattresses.

Two days later, we saw the KR soldiers bringing two trucks to park near the building where we stayed. In our minds, we were wondering which mysterious place will they take us to, but maybe it was also our luck that they gave us a truck ride rather than having to walk, especially with my wife recent surgery condition. I overheard some of the soldiers said among themselves that they prepared a special place for my wife who needed to lie down on a stretcher. As for my car which I parked underneath the TB building, the Khmer Rouge requested it from me since the very first day. I gave it to them with a broad smile, trying to act as if I had no regret whatsoever, but I asked them to keep a small kerosene lamp which I kept in the trunk of my car. We climbed on the KR truck on our first leg out of Phnom Penh, we arrived at the round about in Kbal Thnâl. However, instead of crossing the bridge, the truck headed to Takhmao instead. Along the roads, there were numerous cars parked along the roadside. When we reached Takhmao, the truck did not stop, and it kept on moving until it dumped us out at a village called Svay Rolum village.

To be continued...