MEMOIR CAMBODIA (1975–2025) Veteran USAFA '59 Major General Dick Carr
- Christina DeSantis
- 2 days ago
- 12 min read
Updated: 15 hours ago
From the banks of the Mekong to the quiet courtyards of Phnom Penh, Cambodia carries a history marked by extraordinary beauty and unimaginable loss. Half a century after the Khmer Rouge seized power and reshaped the nation through terror, the country continues to rebuild—its people young, resilient, and determined to reclaim a future once nearly erased. The rivers that once sustained ancient kingdoms now carry floating communities, fishermen, and families whose lives unfold entirely on the water. Cities once emptied by force now rise again with new skylines and renewed purpose.
Against this backdrop of history and renewal, Major General Richard “Dick” Carr returned to Cambodia in 2008 and 2025, decades after first encountering the region during the Vietnam War era. His journey along the Saigon, Mekong, and Tonle rivers offered not only a window into Cambodia’s past, but also a deeply personal encounter with the endurance of its people and the echoes of a conflict that reshaped Southeast Asia.
What follows is General Carr’s own account—told in his voice, with the clarity of a seasoned observer and the warmth of a man who has spent a lifetime reflecting on service, sacrifice, and the places forever changed by war.
CAMBODIA MEMOIRS (1975–2025)
By Major General Richard "Dick" Carr, USAF (ret.) — USAFA Class of 1959
NOTES ABOUT CAMBODIA
Using the map below of Vietnam and Cambodia, you can easily follow our cruise on a 36-passenger boat along the Saigon, Mekong, and Tonle rivers, stopping at many villages along our way.
We made an extended stop at Phnom Penh before continuing our travels northwest on the Tonle River.
Photos 1-2: Cambodian Royal Palace in Phnom Pehn; Photo 3: Modern city traffic; Photo 4: Modern hotel, live soft music with breakfast
Village life in CambodiaThe Tonle River is a true geographic oddity: it is the only river on Earth to "back-feed" a lake, the Tonle Sap. The Mekong River is fed by melting snow from the Himalaya Mountains. In the spring, when this snowmelt combines with heavy monsoonal rains to fill the Mekong, the abundance of water struggles to push through the dense jungles of the Mekong Delta. Because the water cannot escape quickly enough, it "backs up" into the Tonle River, flowing northwest and filling the Tonle Sap Lake. In the dry season, the flow completely reverses again, draining the lake back into the Mekong.
The Tonle Sap is also historically significant due to an incident during the 1968 Tet Offensive—the surprise attack by communist forces in South Vietnam. At the time, many Christians were living along the Mekong River in southern Vietnam. When word spread that enemy forces were specifically targeting Christian communities, these families boarded their boats and sailed up the Mekong and Tonle rivers to seek refuge in the Tonle Sap. They successfully escaped the offensive and, to this day, continue to live on their boats. Their entire community floats with them, complete with churches, schoolhouses, and ordinary neighborhood buildings. They make their living by fishing, moving across the lake as the fish migrate, while also raising chickens and cultivating floating vegetable gardens. When we visited, we even saw one family raising crocodiles—a remarkable sight!
These photos are from our 2008 visit 1) A section of the floating Christian village on the river; 2) Church from the floating Christian village on the river; 3) Crocodile Farming! 
This photo of Phnom Pehn was taken from the air and shows the Tonle Sap looking NW and the new high-rise buildings of the city due to investment.LIVING ON THE RIVERS
Our small vessel gave us the distinct advantage of getting up close and personal with the ordinary people who live on the water and earn their livelihoods from the river. While there were few large commercial vessels, the water was alive with small, one-man boats carrying supplies and numerous fishing crews casting their nets.
In many areas, the riverbanks were lined wall-to-wall with floating fish farms. Fishing and aquaculture compose about 10% of Cambodia’s GDP—a reminder of how deeply the nation's economy is tied to the river.
1) Daily life on the river: a fisherman casts a net from a narrow wooden boat. 2) Homes on the bank of the Tonle Sap
The rivers serve as vital arteries for transporting goods and supporting fishing communities. This structure represents the primary type of work along the Saigon, Mekong and Tonle Rivers. The white upper section is the family's living space. The lower portion is sealed with wire mesh. Cranes will lift the structure into the river so that the lower portion is fully submerged underwater. Once submerged, the lower chamber will be a fish farm supplying markets and grocery stores in the region.Our boat's smaller size enabled us to step ashore in fascinating locales, such as a historic Hindu temple complex where we were invited to participate in a traditional prayer service.
Stepping ashore at a Hindu temple complex to witness and participate in a traditional prayer ceremony.CAMBODIA AS THE WAR ENDED
In 1975, as South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese communists, the Kingdom of Cambodia simultaneously collapsed under the Khmer Rouge—a violent communist movement that would unleash one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. Advancing on all fronts, the Khmer Rouge forced the collapse of the capital city of Phnom Penh and its government. Pol Pot was installed as Cambodia’s absolute ruler. Prior to the fall, the primary fighting in Cambodia had been concentrated in the east, a result of U.S. military efforts to disrupt North Vietnam’s movement of troops and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Under the new regime, Cambodia was thrust into "Year Zero," a radical and devastating communist experiment that south to erase all traces of modern society. Money, markets, and private property were instantly abolished. Citizens were forced to wear identical peasant clothing; publishing was banned; travel without strict permission was forbidden. Schools, hospitals, shops, offices, and monasteries were systematically closed. Religious practices were outlawed. Even the family unit was dismantled; loyalty belonged solely to Angkar (the shadow leadership, "The Organization").
We first were introduced to the atrocities of Pol Pot's "Killing Fields" during our initial trip in 2008, but returning in 2025 revealed the full depth of the horror.
Upon seizing power, Pol Pot immediately announced—falsely— that American B-52s were going to bomb the cities. Using this lie, the Khmer Rouge forced the entire urban population into the countryside, driving millions into rice paddies and labor camps. Once these able-bodied citizens were relocated, they were given questionnaires regarding their past employment and education. Anyone identified as educated, professional, or connected to the former government were told they were being moved back to the city for a new job and home. Instead, they were loaded onto buses, driven ten miles out of town, forced to kneel by large pits, and murdered in a gruesome manner. Mass graves contained anywhere from 100 to 450 bodies. Roughly one million people were executed this manner.
Not everyone was killed immediately. Those suspected of having foreign connections or resistance groups were sent to prisons for interrogation and torture. The most infamous of these is S-21 in Phnom Penh.
TUOL SLENG (S-21 PRISON)
To grasp the depth of the tragedy that befell Cambodia, one must understand how the regime systematically targeted its own people. Before the victims were taken to the mass graves of the Killing Fields, thousands were first brought to a former high school in the heart of Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge converted this peaceful place of learning into a secret interrogation and detention center known as Security Prison 21, or S-21. The history of S-21 (Tuol Sleng) and the rise of the Khmer Rouge mark one of the darkest chapters in human history. In less than four years, a radical, agrarian communist regime decimated roughly a quarter of Cambodia's population. S-21 was the administrative heart of Pol Pot's communist state-sponsored terror.
As Pol Pot's paranoia deepened, he became convinced that the party was infested with traitors working for the CIA, the KGB, or Vietnam. S-21 became the central clearinghouse for forced confessions and purges. Prisoners were stripped to their underwear, shackled to concrete floors or long iron bars, and subjected to brutal torture (including severe beatings, waterboarding, electrocution, and suspension from gallows). The goal was to force them to sign absurd, fabricated confessions of espionage and name "networks" of accomplices—which routinely included their own friends and family.
Once confessions were signed, prisoners were transported at night to the Choeung Ek extermination site—the Killing Fields—located 15 kilometers outside the city. To save ammunition, they were beaten to death with iron bars, agricultural tools, or bayonets, and buried in mass graves.
Today, S-21 stands as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Walking through the complex, the contrast between its original purpose and its wartime horror is heartbreaking. The classrooms were hastily divided into tiny, crude brick cells where prisoners were chained, while the open courtyards where children once played were strung with barbed wire to prevent desperate inmates from jumping from the balconies.
Photos from S-21:
Phase 1 Entry and Initial Processing
1) At the entrance to S-21, this memorial plaque reads: "WOULD YOU PLEASE KINDLY SHOW YOUR RESPECT TO MANY MILLION PEOPLE WHO WERE KILLED UNDER THE GENOCIDAL POL POT REGIME."
2-3) Upon arrival of S-21, prisoners were confronted with the "Regulations of the Security," a chilling set of ten rules designed to strip them of all identity and humanity. Violations were met with immediate torture.
Phase 2: Converting a School to a Prison
4) One of the most heartbreaking visual contrasts is the exterior architecture. These multi-story buildings, connected by open balconies, were originally for Tuol Svay Prey High School. The Khmer Rouge retrofitted them into isolation wings in the prison.
5) High-security wings like Building B were wrapped in barbed wire to prevent prisoners from attempting suicide to escape brutal interrogation. Gallows were used in the center area. Victims were hung upside-down until they lost consciousness, then revived in barrels of filthy water to continue interrogation.
Phase 3: Interrogation and Isolation
1) Classroom interior where students once studied were divided into rows of these tiny, crude, windowless brick and concrete cells measuring approximately 3 x 6 feet. The narrow brick cell (replicated) shows where prisoners were shackled, with very limited room to lie down.
2) A classroom converted into torture chamber where prisoners were punished to force confessions being chained to metal bedframes for electrocution. Sometimes they were subjected to ten lashes or five trips to this room.
3) One of the four survivors of S-21 selling his book.
4) A memorial of one of the survivors.
Phase 4: S-21 to the Killing Fields (The Transition)
Victims were loaded onto trucks, blindfolded and hands bound, before being transported 9 mile south to Choeung Ek (the Killing Fields).
1) A pit of 100 people massacred mostly women and children.
2) A pit of 450 people massacred.
3) The glass-paned stupa memorial at Choeung Ek with thousands of human skulls from victims of the communist Khmer Rouge regime.
4) An archival photograph on display, documenting the massive shelves of exhumed skulls and bones discovered at the Killing Fields, an undeniable record of Cambodia's tragic past. Perhaps the most staggering aspect of S-21 is the meticulous documentation kept by the jailers. The Khmer Rouge kept detailed records of their cruelty, photographing nearly every man, woman, and child who entered the facility. Rows upon rows of these black-and-white portraits now line the walls of the museum. Looking into the eyes of these victims—some defiant, many utterly bewildered and terrified—is an indescribably heavy experience. Of the estimated 18,000 people imprisoned within the walls of S-21 between 1975 and 1979, only a handful survived. Bearing witness to the preservation of this dark history underscores the profound resilience of the Cambodian survivors we met throughout our journey.
Forced Labor, Starvation, and Depopulation
Tragedy struck from all sides. Another million Cambodians, many unaccustomed to brutal agricultural labor, died from exhaustion, starvation, and disease in the fields. Furthermore, as the Khmer Rouge emptied the cities, they abandoned the elderly, the hospitalized, and anyone unfit to perform hard labor. With the able-bodied population forced into the countryside, an estimated 1.3 million more Cambodians died in the cities from a total lack of medical care, services, and food. In 1975, Cambodia’s population stood at 7.3 million; by 1980, it had plummeted to just 4.0 million.
Rebuilding a society after such horrific devastation has taken generations. In 2008, 65% of Cambodia’s population was under the age of 15. Even in 2025—half a century after the regime began—the shadow of that demographic collapse remains with 50% of Cambodia’s 18 million people still under the age of 25.
THE PATH TO PEACE AND MODERN GROWTH
The Khmer Rouge government also violently clashed with its neighbors. Finally, beginning in late 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion, sending tanks and soldiers across the border. By 1980, the Vietnamese military fully removed the Khmer Rouge from power and establishing a new government in Phnom Pehn. Opposing Cambodian factions retreated to the Thai border, forming a coalition to resist the Saigon-backed government in Phnom Penh.
True peace finally began to return with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991. The Vietnamese military withdrew, and despite a lingering Khmer Rouge insurgency in the countryside, national stability slowly took hold. In 1993, a United Nations peacekeeping operation stepped in, establishing a temporary commission to oversee government agencies and organize national elections. These resulting elections were won by Prince Sihanouk’s party, returning him to the throne as the King of Cambodia, with Hun Sen serving as Prime Minister.
As the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, monetary and military aid for communist regimes worldwide dried up. Today, Cambodia operates as a constitutional monarchy with a freely elected parliament. Much like Vietnam, Cambodia is experiencing a massive surge of foreign investment, predominantly from China. All around Phnom Penh, we witnessed a rapidly changing skyline dominated by rising high-rise buildings and expanding industrial zones.
1) Modern Skyline with High-Rise Buildings in Phnom Pehn; 2) Catholic Church in Cambodia; 3-4) Aerial view of Vattanac's two golf courses. One course can be played at night, "Dragons Turn". It was named the best 9-hole course in the world in 2021.SIEM REAP AND ANGKOR WAT
Our journey next took us to Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Wat—the world’s largest religious monument, sprawling across 402 acres. Dating back to the 12th century, the temple complex remains remarkably well-preserved, allowing visitors to view its vast, intricate stone carvings. The capital area was largely abandoned in the 14th century after the Khmers lost a decisive war, and it slowly faded into the jungle until European explorers documented it in the 16th century.
Intricate stone carvings and towering structures of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap—a testament to how remarkably the ancient Khmer capital has endured after centuries in the jungle.Today, Siem Reap is a vibrant tourist hub. One of the most famous evening attractions is the "Red Piano Bar," which achieved global fame after Angelina Jolie frequented it while filming the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movies. The walls remain covered with photographs from her visits. Between its deep ancient history and the energetic modern nightlife, Siem Reap offers an unforgettable blend of past and present. experience.
1) The gateway to Siem Reap's energetic evening culture. The Night Market is a lively atmosphere filled with neon signs and outdoor food stalls. It offers a contrast to the ancient history explored during the day at Angkor Wat and a taste of modern Cambodian life. 2) Famous tourist Pub Street in Siem Reap. 3) A popular landmark—the Red Piano Bar, known for its connection to the films with Angelina Jolie, Tomb Raider.As our journey came to an end, I found myself thinking not only about Cambodia’s past, but about the men and women who served throughout Southeast Asia during those turbulent years — classmates, friends, and fellow Airmen who carried the weight of that era with courage, discipline, and conviction.
Walking through Cambodia today, I was reminded that history is not just something we read. It is something we carry. Something we honor. Something we pass on. And service does not end when the uniform comes off. It lives on in memory, in responsibility, and in the enduring commitment to bear witness to the truth — especially when the cost of ideology is measured in human lives.
The people of Cambodia have rebuilt their lives with grace and determination. May we honor their story — and our own — with the same strength.
For those who served, and for the families who stood behind them, this region is more than a place on a map. It is a chapter of our shared history — one written in sacrifice, duty, and the steadfast belief that freedom matters.
And yet, amid the scars of the past, the people of Cambodia have rebuilt their lives with grace and determination. Their resilience honors the fallen, challenges the living, and reminds us that even in the aftermath of great darkness, the human spirit can rise again.
About the Author
Major General Richard "Dick" E. Carr is a distinguished member of the USAFA Class of 1959. A command pilot with over 7,500 flying hours, he is a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he flew over 200 combat missions, 900 flying combat hours, and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and 12 Air Medals.
His career includes senior intelligence and reconnaissance roles, including Director for Foreign Intelligence at the DIA during the onset of Desert Shield and he held high-level positions including Chief of Staff for the UN Command/US Combined Forces Command in Seoul.
Today, General Carr remains deeply committed to his fellow service members. As a Vietnam veteran himself, he is actively involved in working with and supporting Vietnam Veterans organizations, ensuring that honor and the "bridge" of support for those who served remains strong. He was the Chairman of a committee who raised funds and built an exact replica of the Vietnam Wall in Punta Gorda, Florida. Today, he is President of a non-profit corporation formed for the perpetual care and maintenance of that Wall.
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