Welcome to Project 848 Days! The thought of writing about my childhood experiences during the unspeakable horror of the Cambodian genocide had crossed my mind numerous times over the years but for one reason, or another it never went beyond just the thought of it. The urge to circle back to my past has only increased when I sat down and watched Angelina Jolie's Cambodia genocide movie "First They Killed My Father" with my family. I was about the same age as the main character in the movie and went through a similar ordeal. I realized my wife and daughter know very little, if at all, about what happened in Cambodia. Not surprisingly, most people are unaware of what happened in Cambodia, which is one motivation for this project -- to write my memoirs. I'm extremely grateful and humbled to have survived the Cambodian genocide that cost so many others their lives and to have an abundance of opportunities to succeed through sheer hard work to achieve the American dream.
Project 848 Days: <Title-TBD> tells the story of Cambodian genocide survivor David and his family's journey to reach America in 848 days after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Born in 1969 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, David was only six years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power; forced the entire country of Cambodia to the countryside as part of their radical Year Zero cleansing campaign. It is estimated that 25% of the Cambodian population or one in every four Cambodians, perished during the four years of forced labor, starvation, brutal torture, mass executions, and illness. He narrowly escaped death in the youth labor camps. This is the inspiring story of David and his family's cunning survival during the Khmer Rouge genocide period and his enduring struggles at the youth labor camps; their extraordinary journey by foot, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, to Thailand; forced repatriate to Cambodia; survived crossing landmine field; and their eventual settlement and integration in the United States. Despite his traumatic experience and lack of childhood development and learning gaps, David went on to earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has enjoyed an adventurous career that spans over 25 years from high-tech product development to experience life packed in a suitcase and expatriate oversea assignments to working at remote classified locations and at maximum security prisons throughout the United States. He has traveled extensively throughout the world and found love and happiness along the way. A short period summary of David's life is illustrated below.
David's e-book memoirs can be downloaded here: Coming Soon
David's e-book memoirs can be downloaded here: Coming Soon
1969-1975
In The Beginning |
I was born in 1969 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to a middle-class family. I am a middle child with 4 siblings. My father is a businessman. He owned a successful wholesale distribution company while my mother is a homemaker taking care of her young children. We lived in a spacious two-story house with live-in maids.
Declassified information on secret United States B-52 heavy bombing campaigns from 1965 to 1973 where the US Air Force dropped more than 230,000 sorties on over 113,000 sites in Cambodia, a neutral country. This resulted in over 100,000 Cambodian causalities and displaced millions from their homes and drove ordinary Cambodians, mostly peasants, to join Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime.
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1975-1979
Genocide Period |
On April 16, 1975, the U.S. Marines evacuated the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh. The next morning, the city fell to the Khmer Rouge where they forced evacuation of the city's 2.5 million people to rural countryside to reset the clock to "Year Zero", that all cultures and traditions are to be abolished and to purify Cambodia through a genocidal purge of intellectuals and targeted groups. The mass evacuation in Phnom Penh is ranked at number 1 in the Top 10 Cruel Death Marches from Modern History.
I was forcibly separated from my parents to youth labor camps where I was driven hard to work in the rice paddies every day from dusk to dawn. I attempted to escape but was catch, beaten and starved. As time passed, all of us children were getting weaker and weaker. With the production drop in rice harvesting, the Khmer Rouge dramatically cut down on our rice consumption where we were given one meal a day of heavily watered-down rice porridge. We all had a large bony head, a skinny body where you could see our bones and a bloated stomach. The children started to die in large numbers from starvation and disease. Some died overnight in their sleep, some died in the work field, and some just collapsed and died. The starvation caused the children to develop diarrhea and disease due to vitamin deficiencies.
We were liberated by the Vietnamese troops in early 1979. An estimated 1.8 to 2.5 million deaths or approximately 25% of the population. The Khmer Rouge had retreated to the remote areas and all the children who had survived, including me, immediately took off to each of our respective villages to find our families. It is estimated that at least 20,000 mass graves, known as the Killing Fields, have since been uncovered according to a Wikipedia article on the Cambodia genocide. Back at the village, I was very fortunate to find my parents and siblings alive. I learned that my uncle, my mother’s brother, and his entire family of five had been taken away and executed at a mass grave. My father's younger brother's wife and her son died from malnutrition and disease. I was also very saddened to learn that both my grandmothers from my father's and mother's died of starvation. We found my father in extremely poor health due to malnutrition. Both of my legs were swollen, and my lower left ankle area was severely infected. To this day, it had left a nasty mark on my lower left leg.
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1979-1981
Migration Period |
Forced repatriate, the Preach Vihear temple drop-off incident occurred in June 1979 where the Thai government forced more than 40,000 Cambodian refugees back to Cambodia at the mountain top. Under international pressure, Thailand revised its refugee policy, but the damage had already been done to us and the more than forty thousand unlucky Cambodian refugees.
We witnessed the sick and the elderly being left behind as the Thai army fired their guns up in the air to force people to descend the steep mountain. It took us days to reach the bottom of the mountain. Some families had to leave their elderly parents behind as they could not carry them. At the bottom of the mountain lay the Cambodia-Thailand border, littered with landmines. These landmines were placed there by the Khmer Rouge, the U.S. backed Lon Nol government and the Thai army. We saw families being blown up during the chaos. At least 3,000 Cambodians were killed. We felt trapped, full of anxiety and panic. Our chances of survival seemed grim and my mother commented that had she known this, she would have wanted me to escape at the bus stop to attempt to survive in Thailand. It was not until the Vietnamese soldiers came to our rescue by sweeping out the landmines that we had order and a sense of calm. Because there were many people and landmines to clear, the Vietnamese soldiers placed stick flags to designate the presence of the landmines. We were forced to be methodical and walked in a single line following a path dotted by the stick flags, and once an area or sector had been declared safe, were we allowed to rest and sleep. It took us days to navigate through the minefield. Once cleared, we had no choice but to walk for the next two months to Phnom Penh. Our morale was very low, especially that of my parents. For the next two months, we were on foot walking every day from dusk to dawn, carrying and pushing whatever belongings we had at the time, which amounted to some clothes, pots for cooking, and leaky tent covers. The distance to Phnom Penh is over 200 miles or about 322 km. Some days were impossible due to heat exhaustion, heavy rain, tiredness, and voracious hunger. We would survive on a minimal amount of rice given to us by the kindhearted farmers and what we could find along the way. Some nights during the rain, our small and leaky tent was dripping with water. We had to sleep in a sitting position back to back with my siblings and parents. As a young boy, I vividly remembered night after night of being very hungry, and thus I would daydream that one day when I had enough rice, I would stuff all of it in my pockets so I would never run out of rice. This is one of the reasons I hate to waste food today.
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1981-1994
Integration Period |
Middle school: Settled and grew up in inner city neighborhoods of Chicago. Attended a gang infested school in 7-8 grades. Attacked by gang groups, joined Laotian gang for protection. Suffered from extreme anxiety disorders. Apartment was burglarized and robbed of belongings.
High School: Moved to better neighborhoods, chance to integrate into the American society. The two years in middle school did not prepare me for high school. I was thrust into a highly competitive high school for which I was ill prepared. I struggled in all subjects including basic English language; socially awkward; experienced persistent anxiety and panic attacks. Through hard work and perseverance of consistent late night studies, graduated and accepted into The University of Illinois at Chicago.
College: Progressively excelled in engineering; graduated with a B.S. and a M.S degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Held part-time jobs as electronic technicians and engineering internship at Xerox Corporation in Rochester, New York. Financed own tuition with part-time jobs and student loans throughout studies.
First jobs: At 12 years old, first odd jobs were going door to door, offering lawn mowing services and selling bakery goods at street fairs without speaking English. Gradually progressed to stable and lucrative jobs in caddying; supermarkets and drugstores; part-time electronics technicians; and interning at Xerox Corporation. All earnings went to my mother to help the family. The same is also true for my siblings. It was an investment in us and in our future. This taught me the importance of hard work, responsibility, and financial literacy at a young age. Started formal engineering career at Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois after graduation in April 1994. Bought my dad a car and paid off my student and car loans within the first few years.
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1994-Present
Career & Family |
Successful engineering career spanning over 25 years in high-tech industry. Worked for six different companies at Motorola, Globalstar, IBM/inCode Wireless, TruePosition/Skyhook, JT3 Defense Contractor (now JT4), T-Mobile USA, and L3Harris Corporation. At each company, I was exposed to different processes, cultures, technologies, and people while gaining broad insights and experiences, better equipped to tackle challenging problems to stay relevant.
Work and family related travels have taken David to 27 countries. Met his beautiful wife while on a three year expatriate work assignment in a small town in Northeastern Brazil. A family picture, from left to right: son-Dudu, wife-Mari, daughter-Melissa, and David.
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