My Lai Massacre - March 16th 1968
The My Lai massacre is probably one of the most infamous events of the Vietnam War it took place on March 16th 1968. My Lai was a village of about 700 inhabitants some 100 miles to the southeast of the US base of Danang. Shortly after dawn on March 16th, three platoons of US troops from C Company, 11thBrigade, arrived in the Son My area having been dropped off by helicopters. 1 Platoon was commanded by Lieutenant William Calley and was ordered to My Lai village. They were part of Task Force Barker – the codename for a search and destroy mission.
When the troops from 1 Platoon moved through the village they started to fire at the villagers. These were women, children and the elderly as the young men had gone to the paddy fields to work. Sergeant Michael Bernhardt, who was at My Lai, was quoted in 1973 as stating that he saw no one who could have been considered to be of military age. He also stated that the US troops in My Lai met no resistance. An army photographer, Ronald Haeberie, witnessed a US soldier shoot two young boys who he believed were no morethan five years of age. Other photos taken at the scene of the massacre show bodies of what can only be very young children. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm)
My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The agitated troops, under the command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement with their elusive enemy.
When the troops from 1 Platoon moved through the village they started to fire at the villagers. These were women, children and the elderly as the young men had gone to the paddy fields to work. Sergeant Michael Bernhardt, who was at My Lai, was quoted in 1973 as stating that he saw no one who could have been considered to be of military age. He also stated that the US troops in My Lai met no resistance. An army photographer, Ronald Haeberie, witnessed a US soldier shoot two young boys who he believed were no morethan five years of age. Other photos taken at the scene of the massacre show bodies of what can only be very young children. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm)
My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The agitated troops, under the command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement with their elusive enemy.
Some people think that the Japanese committed atrocities, that the Germans committed atrocities, that the Russians committed atrocities, but that the Americans don’t commit atrocities. Well, this just isn’t so. American troops are as capable as any other of committing atrocities.
—Robert Rheault, 1970, former commander of U.S. Special Forces, Vietnam A memorial erected in My Lai lists the total number of victims at 504, including “182 women, of whom 17 were pregnant, and 173 children, of whom 56 were of infant age. Sixty of the men were over 60 years old.” Three Viet Cong were killed by helicopter gunners as they fled the village early in the operation. The Americans were never fired on. One G.I. shot himself in the foot so he would be evacuated because he could not stand the killing. Four officers and nine enlisted men were charged with the massacre. Many others escaped charges because they had left the army and were no longer subject to military justice. Twelve other officers were charged with covering up the massacre. Most cases were dismissed. Of the twenty-five charged, only five were tried. Four were acquitted. (Cookman) |
Lt. William Calley
Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of murder for his role in the March 1968
My Lai massacre, which left hundreds of Vietnamese civilians dead. Calley ordered the men of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, Americal Division to shoot everyone in the village. At his trial, Calley testified that he was ordered by Captain Ernest Medina to kill everyone in the village of My Lai. Still, there was only enough photographic and recorded evidence to convict Calley, alone, of murder. He himself rounded up a group of villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and then mowed them down with machine gun fire. Sentenced to life in prison, Calley was seen as a scapegoat for the Army's failure to instill morale and discipline in its troops. Upon appeal, his sentence was reduced. He was eventually released from prison in 1974.
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/whos/whos-calley.html)
My Lai massacre, which left hundreds of Vietnamese civilians dead. Calley ordered the men of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, Americal Division to shoot everyone in the village. At his trial, Calley testified that he was ordered by Captain Ernest Medina to kill everyone in the village of My Lai. Still, there was only enough photographic and recorded evidence to convict Calley, alone, of murder. He himself rounded up a group of villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and then mowed them down with machine gun fire. Sentenced to life in prison, Calley was seen as a scapegoat for the Army's failure to instill morale and discipline in its troops. Upon appeal, his sentence was reduced. He was eventually released from prison in 1974.
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/whos/whos-calley.html)