A war that nearly stole a family from a soldier
Six months, was what they told him. Sitting in the back of a truck, he was being driven to a place unknown. All he knew was his destination was in another province up north. He was among 450 fellow officials and soldiers. Each minute that passed was a kilometre farther away from his loved ones. Little did he know, those six months would become eight years. Colonel Khamtanh Thirakul, who served in the Royal Lao Army, found himself at a prisoner-of-war camp in 1976. In a fenced-off area in the middle of a forest, the men were instructed to build a tent to live in, from scratch. Each tent would house up to 35 men. It did not take long for the men to realize that this will not be a short stay. “That’s the way they lie to you,” Khamprasith Thirakul, son of Khamtanh Thirakul, said. The camp became a prison.
