Man, talk about achieving the American Dream. The destroyer USS Mustin docks this Friday in the Cambodian beach resort of Sihanoukville, a not-unpleasant little place. The commander is a native Cambodian with the unlikely name of Michael Misiewicz.
In 1973, at the age of six and amid the raging Khmer Rouge civil war, his father arranged for him to be adopted by an American lady at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh as she was about to join other other staff in leaving the increasingly unstable country. The Khmer Rouge eventually executed his father, while a sister died of malnutrition. His mother and remaining three siblings managed to escape the country and made it to the US, but they couldn’t find him until 1989. This week will be his first time back in Cambodia.
Stories here and here, with his photo in the first link. My hat’s off to you, Commander Misiewicz.
That first news site could use better editing, but hey, I can read it at work so it’s good. Nice story, and I’m specially glad that he was able to reunite with his biological family.
That deserves a cartoon. Some guy labeled “Former Khmer Rouge thug” looking up at the destroyer, guns sticking out of it in implausible profusion, and the commander smirking down at him, “I’m baaaack!”
Both links say it was “Vannak Khem.” So while YMMV, I think his birth name has at least a guessable pronunciation that seems right and that people would be comfortable in saying without a LOT of fear of being wrong. (ETA: Tho’ that may be just me; my instinct is use a short a’s and emphasis on the second syllable.)
The story in that first news link seems to have been written by someone with a not-quite-perfect command of English. He says Commander Misiewicz was “born in Vanna Khem,” but yes, he should have said “born as Vanna Khem” or “born Vanna Khem.” I believe Khmer, like Thai, has no V sound, and that would be pronounced as a W.
Wow. I live in Austin, Texas, and had a lot of Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Thai friends. Actually, only a few Cambodian friends - definitely the smallest national group out of Southeast Asia. I wonder if any of my friends knew his family? It’s a pretty tight knit group, from what I can tell.
That deserves a cartoon. Some guy labeled “Former Khmer Rouge thug” looking up at the destroyer, guns sticking out of it in implausible profusion, and the commander smirking down at him, “I’m baaaack!”
