First They Killed My Father

The chapter opens with the supervisor, Met Bong, pacing and telling the girls that the Vietnamese or the Youns have finally attacked. That night, the children cannot sleep because of the constant explosions. Eventually, a mortar strikes Loung’s hut, killing some of the girls. Loung runs away to locate Chou, whom she finds with Kim. The three siblings grab what they can and join a large crowd of people walking somewhere. They listen to the discussions about Pol Pot and scavenge for food as they walk. They question the truth and power of the Khmer and the Angkar. Eventually, they learn that the crowd’s destination is Pursat City, where the siblings hope to find their other two brothers, Meng and Khouy.

As soon as the crowd reaches Pursat City, they are kindly greeted by the Vietnamese. Instead of killing the Cambodians, like the Khmer promised the Vietnamese would, they provide food, shelter, and protection. The siblings now need to find a foster family.

A week after their arrival in Pursat City, a family agrees to take them in. The family that decided to take the Ungs includes the boy Loung saw collecting palm fruit. This gives Loung hope that everything will be alright. Unfortunately, the mother steals from Kim’s bag, the boy tries to kiss Loung, and the family constantly insults the children.

One afternoon, Chou, Loung, and a friend named Pithy are out collecting water when a Vietnamese soldier approaches them. Loung goes with the soldier, leaving the other two girls behind. The soldier attempts to rape her, taking down his pants and pulling hers down. Loung fights him off, kicking at the man and screaming until she kicks him in the groin and runs away. She reaches her friend, and they run back to the camp where her caretakers tell her she will amount to nothing. Loung replies, “No, you’re wrong. I’m going to be somebody great” (182).

Although Loung hates the family a month after living with them, she remains with them for safety purposes. The Khmer Rouge continue to close in on the refugee camp, but everyone struggles to determines who is Khmer or who is a refugee because they are all wear the same black clothes. One afternoon, bullets enter the camp and the hut where Loung stays. The bullets hit the grandmother of the family that cares for the Ungs. The grandmother is taken to the infirmary where Loung is ordered to bring her food. Later, Kim decides that they need to leave that family, which they do.

The Ungs move in with another family that treats them much better than the first one. They share in the chores and help take care of the family’s children. During their time with the new family, people in Pursat City start to wear colorful clothing. The family gives Loung and her siblings good food in exchange for their work. While searching for firewood, Loung comes across a decaying corpse of a Khmer soldier. Just a few days later while collecting water, she comes across another dead body in a river. Interestingly, the Ung children all develop “red eye disease” (193) which supposedly comes from looking at dead bodies. The mother of their new foster family shames them for their red eyes.

In February of 1979, the Khmer soldiers attack Pursat City. The Ungs’ foster father guides his family and the Ungs across a river to an abandoned warehouse with many other families from Pursat City. Unfortunately, the Khmer attack the warehouse and several people inside die, including Loung’s friend Pithy. Kim, Chou, and Loung run as fast as they can, but Kim shouts that he left their mother’s backpack behind. Loung runs back and retrieves it. She views this as a chance to help her family in a way that she was unable to do earlier. Later, the siblings and the foster family find a safe place to stay while the men clean up the dead bodies.

Two months later, Loung and her siblings still live with the foster family. Meanwhile, Kim finds Meng and Khouy in another Vietnamese camp. It does not take him long to find them and he brings Meng back to get Chou and Loung. The four siblings reunite and share their stories of escape and survival. With the remaining members of her family together, Loung finally feels safe and secure. The older brothers share their desire to search for their remaining aunts and uncles in Bat Deng, their mother’s hometown. Unfortunately, Bat Deng is far away, and many of the areas along the way are still controlled by Khmer soldiers. 

When the Vietnamese capture a Khmer soldier, the people of the refugee camp want revenge with a public execution. Loung wants to attend, but Chou is adamantly opposed. Loung goes anyway and makes her way to the front of the circle of refugees surrounding the Khmer soldier. The Vietnamese invite volunteers to carry out the killing. Several women volunteer, but the task is awarded to an old woman who lost her children and grandchildren to the Khmer. She is given a hammer that she uses to crack the soldier’s skull. The old woman then gives the hammer to a younger woman who continues smashing the soldier’s head. Once he is dead, people return to their home, but Loung and some other children stay to see what will happen to the body.