Historical Society of Long Beach

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Oum Ry Ban with Champion

Oum Ry Ban (left) and one of his champion students, Mamaron May. Oum Ry was a national Pradal Serey (free boxing) champion in Cambodia who came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1981. He moved to Long Beach in 1986 and a year later opened the Khmer Kickboxing Center on Anaheim Street. He trains young men of all ethnicities and has a successful after-school program that keeps many young men off the streets.

Oum Ry Ban at Community Event

New Year Party hosted by Los Angeles County Supervisor, Don Knobe (left) and the Los Angeles County Gang Intervention Program. Oum Ry Ban (center) was honored for his dedication to the program. Over the years, many young men, of all backgrounds and ethnicities, have come together to train in his gym.

Section 5 at the Remembering the Killing Fields Exhibit, Chicago

The Remembering the Killing Fields exhibit opened in 2011 and is a permanent exhibit at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum (formerly known as the Cambodian American Heritage Museum) in Chicago. The final section of the exhibit, “How I Survived,” features video of survivors expressing how they survived the Khmer Rouge period. (Cambodian Association of Illinois)

Map of Mass Graves and Memorial Sites in Cambodia

A map showing mass graves and memorial sites across Cambodia, featured in the permanent exhibit, Remembering the Killing Fields, at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum (formerly known as the Cambodian American Heritage Museum) in Chicago. The map is part of the fourth section of the exhibit titled, “The Killing Fields,” which documents the horrors and death tolls of the Killing Fields across Cambodia and Tuol Sleng (S-21), the school-turned-prison torture and execution center in Phnom Penh. (Cambodian Association of Illinois)

Section 4 at the Remembering the Killing Fields Exhibit, Chicago

The Remembering the Killing Fields exhibit opened in 2011 and is a permanent exhibit at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum (formerly known as the Cambodian American Heritage Museum) in Chicago. The fourth section of the exhibit, “The Killing Fields,” documents the horrors and death tolls of the Killing Fields across Cambodia and Tuol Sleng (S-21), the school-turned-prison torture and execution center in Phnom Penh. (Cambodian Association of Illinois)

Section 3 at the Remembering the Killing Fields Exhibit, Chicago

The Remembering the Killing Fields exhibit opened in 2011 and is a permanent exhibit at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum (formerly known as the Cambodian American Heritage Museum) in Chicago. The third section of the exhibit, “Constant Fear,” represents how individuals lived in a constant state of uncertainty, stress, and fear of death by execution, overwork, starvation, or untreated illness under the Khmer Rouge. (Cambodian Association of Illinois)