CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – “I still can’t believe this happened because he was such a devoted person to his wife and to his family,” Davin Depoe said of his longtime friend and Army buddy, Sothon In.
“The guy is a war hero,” he continued.
The 38-year-old Sothon In was shot and killed Jan. 3 at his residence in Clarksville, and his wife, Theary Lim, has been charged with homicide. His family and friends remember him as a veteran, a family man, and someone who overcame incredible obstacles in order to serve his country.
Fleeing war-torn Cambodia
Sothon was Cambodian and proud of it, his friends told Clarksville Now. He was born in 1983 at the Khao I Dang refugee camp, which once sat on the border of Cambodia and Thailand.
Sothon’s younger brother Sokhen told Clarksville Now their parents fled to the camp after escaping the Khmer Rouge, which, under the communist Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, was responsible for the genocide of about 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.
Their father was set to be executed for his support of U.S. Army operations around the time of the Vietnam War.
“Almost to the day they were set to execute him, that’s when Vietnam liberated/invaded Cambodia, and he escaped. He went with my mom to Thailand and the refugee camp,” Sokhen said.
After escaping the genocide, they bounced around various camps for eight years before the family received a sponsor to resettle in America.
Even so, the sponsorship was bittersweet: Five of Sothon and Sokhen’s older siblings died from starvation and various other causes during the Khmer Rouge regime.
They finally arrived to the U.S. in 1989 when Sokhen was 6 years old, Sothon was 7, and their older sister was 8. They made Long Beach, California, their home.
“We were one of the last groups (to leave) before the camps closed down,” Sokhen said.
Despite making it to the U.S., Sokhen said the language barrier, struggling to catch up in school and bouts of poverty made it hard for his family to adjust to a new culture.
Army battle buddies
Sokhen said ever since childhood, his brother had wanted to join the military.
“We have pictures of him as a kid and he’s in uniform. He always wanted to serve our country here,” Sokhen said.
And he did just that. When Sothon graduated from high school in 2001, he joined up and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, N.C.
Depoe, who served with Sothon in the 82nd Airborne, told Clarksville Now that Sothon was a paratrooper who deployed on multiple tours to Iraq around the 2003 invasion. He called Sothon one of his “battle buddies.”
“My whole platoon is devastated right now. The majority of us are out of the service, but we keep in contact, and I just talked to (Sothon) a couple months ago,” Depoe said.
Depoe said that not only was Sothon a hero on the battlefield, his character acted as a bond among his fellow service members.
“In our company, he was the glue because you might go do a 12-month road march and at the end you’re sucking, you’re just hating life and you look over at (Sothon) and he’s just smiling all the time,” Depoe said.
Even in his death, Sothon is bringing people together.
“Obviously, as all tragedies do, I had lost track of a lot of my Army buddies that we were in combat with, and In’s death brought a lot of us back together,” said Tyler Harper, another veteran who served with Sothon.
The 20th anniversary of the Iraq War is next year, and several of the men who served with Sothon said they were planning on getting together next year for it.
Now, Harper said he’s planning to travel to Clarksville from southern Alabama next week to help Sothon’s siblings make arrangements.
“He was just a really good guy, and I think our whole company is very hurt by what happened. It’s something that I never thought, that he would be in a situation like this,” said Justin Merrell, another of Sothon’s Army buddies.
‘A light in a dark world’
Sothon was honorably discharged from the military, and then served in the National Guard. He returned to Cambodia for a while before settling down in Clarksville.
After the service, he got into photography and started Sin Photography. His friend Jared Donahue, who also served with Sothon in the 82nd Airborne Division, told Clarksville Now that Sothon’s knack for creativity and attention to detail was inspiring.
“He was always in the barracks, when we weren’t out on training missions or on a deployment, he was in the barracks tinkering around in Photoshop on his computer. I just saw what he was doing and I really was interested,” Donahue said.
Sothon’s flair for the creative arts was so inspiring, Donahue said it motivated him to get a degree in graphic design once he reentered civilian life.
“Of all the guys I served with, he was one of the few I kept in touch with. You have a bond with everyone you serve with, but some guys have extra special bonds,” Donahue said.
“He was a light in a dark world, I don’t know how else to put it,” Donahue continued while choked up.
Sothon had five children, three from previous relationships who are with their respective mothers, and two with his wife. Sokhen said the two children from his marriage with Lim are currently in DCS foster care, but he is trying to get custody of them.
Sokhen added that the family plans to bury Sothon in Hawaii, and a GoFundMe has been set up for covering funeral costs. Any remaining funds will be put into a fund for Sothon’s children.