Fallen journalists in Cambodia remembered

By Jim Axelrod
June 1, 2013 
Watch the video here.

Here at CBS, we are marking the deaths of nine TV journalists killed 43 years ago this week -- covering the war in Cambodia.

Six of the journalists worked for CBS News: correspondent George Syvertsen; producer Gerry Miller; cameramen Remnik Leckhi and Tomaharu Ishii; soundman Kojiro Sakai; and Sam Leng, a Cambodian interpreter and driver.

In another car, a crew from NBC: Welles Hangen; soundman Roger Colne; and cameraman Yoshiniko Waku.

A jeep carrying four from CBS was hit by a rocket powered grenade. All were killed. The other five were captured by the Khmer Rouge and beaten to death.

Recently a group of friends and colleagues of those killed went back to the scene to dedicate a memorial. Longtime CBS cameraman Kurt Hoefle was expected to work with Syvertsen that day, but Leckhi was assigned instead.

"This for me is very emotional because my friends were killed here in the war, so I was very close to them," said Hoefle.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 70 journalists were killed doing their jobs around the world in 2012 -- 20 so far this year.