Operation Menu
In 1969, President Nixon ordered a covert air campaign, later referred to as Operation Menu, on Cambodia. While Cambodia had previously been a neutral country in the Vietnam War, the bombings quickly changed things. During the raids, the U.S. flew 3,875 sorties over Cambodia, dropping over 100,000 tons of bombs. These air raids were top secret. The pilots were even told not to tell their superiors about the bombings. Records were falsified, and Cambodia became a tragic battlefield. While the air raids were said to have been meant for suspected People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong stationed in Cambodia, they mainly affected civilians.
Power Shift in Cambodia
After the bombing raids, Cambodia was in shambles. The people looked for someone to help them out of their predicament, and thus turned to Lon Nol. A military coup in 1970 overthrew Prince Sihanouk and Lon Nol quickly came to power. Not long after, the Cambodian civil war began between the Khmer Republic and the Khmer Rouge. Lon Nol then ordered the round up and internment of thousands of Vietnamese living in Cambodia. Cambodian civilians even killed the Vietnamese, once sending hundreds of dead bodies down the Mekong River and into South Vietnam. This was the start of many atrocities against innocent civilians in Cambodia,