A Hope in Vain

Hoeun Hach was a child in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. As a young student, he remembers school being interrupted frequently by shelling. Hoeun and his classmates would have to run to safety.

"I never saw my father.... All we were told was that he worked with the Americans, with the CIA," said Hoeun. "Beside that, we had no clue."

His experience echoes many Cambodians' during this time. Hoeun is quick to point out that the war affected more than just US and Vietnamese citizens. Cambodians, like his father, were recruited by the CIA to fight on the frontlines. Today, Hoeun wants people to know that Cambodians fought and died in the Vietnam War. Their story is often a forgotten narrative in the story of the war.

"We would love to be part of the story," Hoeun shared.

Fleeing Cambodia

Many hoped that US troops would return to help their Southeast Asian allies after the war. But for many, help never came, and they were forced to flee their homes.

Hoeun fled Cambodia as a teenager to a UN-operated refugee camp in Thailand, and eventually came to the US alone in 1981. His parents stayed behind and were killed.

Hoeun didn't speak a word of English when he arrived in the US, but eventually learned the language. He went on to earn his high school diploma, bachelor's degree, and a master's degree. He currently resides in Oakdale, Minnesota.

In the shadow of the war

Cambodia was officially a neutral country during the Vietnam War. However, North Vietnamese troops used the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which ran throughout the northern part of Vietnam to neighboring Laos and Cambodia, to transport arms and supplies.

In March 1969, Nixon approved his "Operation Menu," allowing for secret bombings of communist camps and supply areas in Cambodia. When the New York Times reported on this mission, the public was outraged and international protests ensued.

But Cambodia wasn't the only neutral country to be bombed by the US during the war. Laos became the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world after the US began its secret bombing campaign of the country in 1964.

In the shadows of the Vietnam War, the CIA conducted a secret war in Laos that relied on Hmong soldiers to prevent the threat of communism from spreading deeper into Southeast Asia. Tens of thousands died, both fighting in and escaping the war.

TPT's documentary, America's Secret War, explores this untold, turbulent history.