Dith Pran was certainly an important figure in Cambodian History. He is best known as a former refugee of the Cambodian Genocide during the 1970s. Dith was part of the educated class. He learned how to speak French in school and learned English by himself. He became a photojournalist and focused mainly on Cambodia and Khmer Rouge. American journalists traveled to Cambodia cover stories about the Cambodian Genocide. Dith Pran worked with a New York Times reporter by the name of Sydney Schanberg. Dith planned on leaving the country to cover this story and have a better life, but unfortunately, he was not allowed to leave the country. Sydney and Dith tried to find a way to get Dith and his family out of Cambodia. Unfortunately, Dith was captured in the process and was forced to live in a labor camp. He had to hide the fact that he was educated because he knew that the communists would kill anyone from the educated class. He traveled 40 miles and finally escaped. He later found out that many of his family members were dead. Dith became a US citizen in 1986. He divorced his first wife and married Kim DePaul who also later divorced him. Pran started a campaign for Cambodian Genocide victims and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project. He received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1998. Dith Pran was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died on March 30, 2008.