War Museum in Cambodia.

We decided to go and see the war museum, and were shocked to find out that the site it was sitting on was a killing field with more than 200 people found in this grave. Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and during his rule more than 2 million Cambodians were killed because they didn’t suit the style of life he had planned for Cambodia. This is called genocide when so many people from the one country are deliberately killed. It is so awful.

 

If you brush away the leaves you can see the hidden landmines.

 The man that was showing us around was once a soldier fighting the Khmer Rouge, and he says he wasn’t a good one because he had been shot 3 times and blown up by land mines 6 times . He showed us his missing leg and we felt the metal shrapnel throughout his body. He was 3 years older than mum and dad and was covered with scars; even a piece of bone off his missing foot flicked up and blinded him in one eye. In 2006 his wife and daughter stepped on a land mine and both died. We were told that there are still 4 million active land mines in Cambodia today. We felt very sad for this man.

 

The museum was all outdoors with a mango orchard growing between old tanks, big cannon style guns , and amphibious landing crafts most of which had been been blown up. On each sign it told us how many people had died in each vehicle. Our favourite thing was the huge helicopter in the front yard that the Khmer Rouge had bought off the Vietnamese for 16 million USD to drop bombs on their own people.  When I left this place I felt very sorry for all the people who died and were injured. We see so many people in Cambodia with no arms or legs.

Russian helicopter

122mm   K38

Rocket launcher

Madison and dad