US Family’s 40 Year Search

A Cambodian now living in Washington State, USA, has contacted CNE in a last ditch attempt to find the whereabouts of her father, whom the family haven’t seen since 1977.

Chorvyvann Hap, nicknamed Ago by her father, was born in Battambang province in 1971 and is the youngest of 5 children.

In 1977, when Chorvyvann was 6 years old, Khmer Rouge soldiers came and took her father away, something she still remembers over 40 years later.

“I was only a little girl at the time, but can still see them leading my father away. I’m sure he wasn’t killed and survived at least until after 1980” she said.

“I just hope and pray he’s still alive, or somebody in Cambodia knows where he is and help us find some sort of closure.”

Hap Hoy was a police chief in Battambang, and of mixed Chinese-Khmer ancestry. He would now be in his 80’s, if he is still alive.

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, Chorvyvann’s mother took her 5 children out of Cambodia, eventually settling in the USA. Since then, family problems have prevented the children from knowing the truth about what happened to their father.

Hap Han, Hoy’s brother, who also lives in the USA, has visited Cambodia and searched for him, but without success.

“I know my brother is still alive” he said, “and that his heart is still beating.”
The family have only one photograph of Hap Hoy, taken before the genocide.

Nathan Pilcher, Chorvyvann’s American husband, told CNE
“Maybe someone will recognize him, he could have got married again and had more children.” he added, ”It would be great if somebody has any information at all.”

If anyone does have any news on Hap Hoy, who would have been born around 1935, and may have returned to the Battambang area in the 1980’s, where the family are told he was spotted, they can contact Nathan Pilcher by email at [email protected].
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