76-14-B1
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Cambodia II[edit]
Transcript[edit]There is no parallel in history for the forced march, in spring, 1975, of millions of Cambodians from their towns and city homes out into the jungles and fields. All along the line of march, communist soldiers goaded them onward and shot them when they couldn't keep up. There were no provisions for feeding or even providing drinking water and the temperature was a hundred degrees, The authors of MURDER OF A GENTLE LAND tell us the very young and the very old were the first to die. They also quote a Cambodian doctor who was driven from his clinic with his patients and who spent a month on the highways until he was able to escape to Thailand. He said he passed by the body of a child at least every 200 yards. With the living suffering from dehydration and gastro-intestinal afflictions, he finally had to face the dread decision of saving his remaining medicines for those he thought had some chance of living. The fields were littered with the cast-off belongings of the marchers and with the bodies of the marchers themselves. A few of the living were ordered to stay in certain villages and only had to endure the march for a matter of days. But most continued on for weeks to unknown destinations in the jungle or to death from cholera, starvation, thirst or sheer fatigue. There was something of a plan to the horror. Eventually there would be a roadblock and a communist commander would send a group down a jungle trail. There they would find they were to create a new settlement in the wilderness -- very often with no tools but their hands. In these "settlements-to-be" there would be a meager daily ration of rice. Out on the road the march would go on. More and more frequently there would be tragic scenes as families would find themselves too weak to carry the old or the children or the sick. Their heartbreaking choice was to abandon them or slow down to their pace and be shot with them. Hear one story of such a choice. A slender young airline stewardess and her husband took turns carrying their four month old daughter. The infant was accustomed to canned milk because her mother had not breast-fed her, and now her body could produce no milk. The canned milk they had brought from Phnom Penh was gone. The young mother, whose name was Lon, suffering from dehydration and malnutrition, struggled on trying to keep the pace set by the soldiers. She hoped that someplace they would find food for their daughter. Finally, she knew the end had come. In tears, she begged her husband to save the baby and himself. As he cradled their daughter in his arms, the baby smiled and laughed happily. Then, through his own tears, he said to his wife, -- QUOTE -- "We stay together". -- UNQUOTE. The friends who witnessed this scene told it to John Barron and Tony Paul and who had to move on themselves -- said that, of course, he really was saying, -- QUOTE -- "We die together". -- UNQUOTE. There were probably four million souls in this tragic march. More than half of the total population of Cambodia. By even conservative estimates, and after checking with every possible source, a safe guess is that possibly one-third of the Cambodian people died in this murder of a gentle land. If you are wondering what the purpose might be behind this ghastly slaughter, the authors provide that also. I'll close this subject on the next broadcast with their explanation. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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