Srey Austin, director of Black Hills National Cemetery, told an audience gathered for the annual Veterans Day program Tuesday, that her family escaped Cambodia and ultimately ended up in the United States.
STURGIS | From the shadows, 9-year-old Srey Austin and her father watched a slaughter that was meant for them, too.
It was part of a harrowing tale Austin, director of the Black Hills National Cemetery and a native of Cambodia, told on Tuesday at the annual Veterans Day Program at the Sturgis Vets Club.
She and many family members eventually reached the United States, but they barely escaped the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime, which terrorized the populace of her native land between 1975 and 1979. Led by the bloodthirsty dictator Pol Pot, the regime killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians, including many in her hometown.
Her words were frightening yet uplifting, as she told of showing her devotion to her new home by joining the U.S. Army.
When she was very young, she said, "Life was good" in Cambodia. Her dad, an officer in the national army, was the mayor of a town, and her mother came from a upper-middle-class family.
However, Austin was curious: Why wouldn't her parents allow her to attend school?
The answer: The Pol Pot regime was intent on wiping out Cambodia's intellectuals. Years later, she realized that by keeping her out of school, her parents actually were protecting her.
The Khmer Rouge "wanted to get rid of anybody who was in the middle or upper-middle class," she said. "They were against any modernization whatsoever in the country."
She recalled the day her dad told family members they had to leave the country because people were targeting him.
One night in 1979, as they started the escape, a problem arose: Her grandmother refused to go along.
"She said she was too old," Austin said, "and that she was going to stay home and take care of the house until we came back for her."
The family left, then interrupted the escape. Austin and her father returned to their town, determined to persuade her grandmother to leave.
They arrived near their home about dusk.
"It was getting dark, but there was still enough light that we could see a group of men, women and children," Austin said. "They were on their knees. Surrounding them were Pol Pot soldiers. Before I even knew it, they opened fire. Everyone in that circle died, including my grandmother."
Austin said she and her father waited for the soldiers to leave. Then they buried her grandmother.
Rejoining the family, they traveled by night and hid during the day. But they were caught and put in a concentration camp for 8 to 10 months. Two of her brothers died there.
Eventually the surviving family members escaped the camp and made it to Thailand. There, a church in Orlando, Fla., sponsored them to come to the United States.
It was on the 1982 flight to her new home that Austin had an epiphany: "I remember sitting on the airplane. They were showing a movie, and although I didn't understand English, they were showing American flags waving. I saw that and just knew something great was going to happen."
That inspired her to ultimately join the U.S. Army.
She explained: "I wanted to show my appreciation for the men and women who have made the sacrifice, and some of them the ultimate sacrifice, so that my family would know what freedom is all about."
