Hut in Cambodia

Our Company was in Cambodia in early May 1970.  We had invaded Cambodia a week before in a campaign called the Cambodian Incursion.  We were on the move heading toward Rock Island East; a large weapons cache that was discovered by Company D.  Along the way, we walked into an abandoned village and set up there for the night.  While there, I took a snapshot of this hut.

I could not get over how different the hut was from Vietnamese homes.  The more affluent Vietnamese had large homes designed by the French.  Those with a lot less lived in shacks made of scraps of plywood for walls and steel sheet for roofs. In contrast, this house was so natural feeling with its grass roof and walls.  It was as if the Cambodians were 200 years behind the Vietnamese in progress.  Maybe a house like this was typical of rural farmers in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

The villagers had run off recently due to firefights in the area but had left behind a small pig tied to a stake.  One of our Vietnamese scouts decided to butcher the pig and cut the meat into small pieces while we built a fire.  When hot coals from the fire were ready, we skewered pieces of raw pork with pointed sticks and then held it over the fire as if we were toasting marshmallows.  That pork was one of the best tasting meals I ever had in Vietnam.