Patrol to ANGKOR WAT (1970)
Distance from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat is 5 km. It took us five hours to get to the temple; we ran into three ambushes (1 K.I.A. 12 W.I.A’s) It took us one hour to get back.
Many of the girl soldiers were former students of the destroyed Lycee.
08:00 hrs, Time to go.
On the way to Angkor Wat was what was left of the Lycee.
Close to Angkor Wat: 'Auberge des Temples'
No ambulance to take the wounded back to Siem Reap.
The soldiers rushed to get blessed by a Buddhist priest, who had appeared from the temple.
It took us five hours from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat-5 km. Three times we were ambushed.
The return to Siem Reap was a joyous one. It took one hour and not a shot was fired.
The girls sang school songs and picked flowers when they reached the Lycee.
It would be nine years till the Khmer Rouge was defeated in 1979.
And none of them had been hurt.
Too many dead. They were running out of wood.
A brief ceremony.
When they ran out of wood, the K.I.A. were buried behind the Hotel Royal.
The military had taken over the Hotel Royal. The tourist buses stood empty.