50 years on, U.S. bombings still terrorize Cambodia

geovalin · May 15, 2022

Yan Sam En is a farmer in northeast Cambodia’s Chetr Borei district. One day, almost 20 years ago, the father of five was working in the forest close to his home when he found four cluster bombs, unexploded remnants of the U.S. carpet bombing that devastated the area in the 1960s.

“I didn’t want my children to play with the bombs, so I collected them, and as I did, one exploded. It blew off both my arms, and left me totally blind,” Sam En told Xinhua on Friday. “I was 43 years old. I’m almost 61 now, but time has not healed." Sam En says he has been nothing but a burden to his family since the blast. He cannot do anything. He just sits at home all day. “The U.S. deprived me of everything. In a few seconds, I went from breadwinner to useless person.”

The cluster bombs that claimed Sam En’s eyes and arms are just a reminder of countless bombs that the U.S. dropped on Cambodia during the U.S.-Vietnam War, claiming countless other arms, legs and eyes, and thousands of lives. Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. dropped 230,516 bombs in Cambodia.

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501075624/50-years-on-u-s-bombings-still-terrorize-cambodia/