Vietnam 50 Years Later: Cambodian Minnesotans and the majestic Watt Munisotaram
Cambodia's involvement in the Vietnam War would have lasting impacts on the country and its people.
During the war, the North Vietnamese troops were moving supplies and weapons through northern Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In March 1969, President Richard Nixon approved secret bombings of suspected communist base camps and supply zones along the trail.
The U.S. would drop around 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia in the next four years. It's estimated that upwards of 150,000 people died by those bombs.
The bombing campaign paved the way for one of the worst genocides of the 20th Century. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Vietnamese communist forces would invade Cambodia and try to take over the country.
It's estimated that nearly 2 million people — or about a quarter of the country's population — died at the hands of leader Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge communists from 1975 to 1979.
Cambodians arrive in Minnesota
Cambodian refugees came to Minnesota in the early 1980s. Now, the town of Hampton, about 35 miles southeast of Minneapolis, is home to Watt Munisotaram, one of the largest Buddhist temples in North America.
"There's no big donation or anything like that," said Chanda Sour, with Watt Munisotaram. "There's no millionaire guy who donated money. It's all $10 from this guy, $10 from that guy, $40 from this guy or $50 from that guy."
Every detail on the temple was hand-crafted in a small workshop on the 40 acres the temple now calls home.
"The temple is a symbol of what our community can accomplish," Sour said.
Watt Munisotaram, and a handful of other projects on the site, should be completed in the next few years.
This story is part of the WCCO documentary "Vietnam 50 Years Later: Reflection on a War that Changed Minnesota," by reporter Pauleen Le and photojournalist Art Phillips.
Watch the full documentary below, or on our YouTube channel.