In March 1969, under Operation Menu, President Nixon authorised a bombing campaign in eastern Cambodia, lasting till May 1970, to target North Vietnamese supply routes. Bombing in eastern Cambodia on the Vietnamese border began in 1965, four years earlier than Nixon later revealed. Between 1965 and 1973 the United States dropped almost three-million tonnes of ordnance on Cambodia, making it one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world.

The Post travelled to Svay Rieng, a province where the memories of that time - and the physical effects - are still keenly felt.