The My Lai Massacre
On
March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade,
Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. "This is what you've
been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their
superior officers. A short time later the killing began. When news of the
atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S. political
establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American
public.
Poised for Conflict
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.
Massacre
As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated into the
massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and
the elderly. Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there
had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered
after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were
shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed.
For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers,
ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire.
What follows is a soldiers account
of the mission:
"As I came up, [the lieutenant] said round up the people.... So I did, rounded
up the people. There were five or six, mostly women and children. They were
unarmed and huddled together.... I brought them back to [the lieutenant] on the
trail. There were others there. Thirty or forty. All women and children I
remember one old man. They were in their sixties to infants.... [the lieutenant]
told me and [another soldier] to take the people off and push them in a rice
paddy. We took them out there, pushed them off the trail and made them squat
down and bunch up so they couldn't get up and run. We stayed there and guarded
the. At this time, I see a young child running from a hootch toward us. He seen
us and he took off. I dropped my gear and checked out a hootch with a woman and
a child in it. There was an old woman in a under. I took her out and put her on
the ground. Then I saw a man running away. I took the other woman and child to
the group. The old woman wouldn't go, so I left her there.... Lieutenant ...
came out and said take care of these people. So we said, okay, so we stood there
and watched them. He went away, then he came back and said, "I thought I told
you to take care of these people. We said, "We are. He said, "I mean, kill them.
I was a little stunned and I didn't know what to do. He said, "Come around this
side. We'll get on line and we'll fire into them. I said, "No, I've got a
grenade launcher. I'll watch the tree line. I stood behind them and they stood
side by side. So they -- [the lieutenant] and [another soldier] -- got on line
and fired directly into the people. There were bursts and single shots for two
minutes. It was automatic. The people screamed and yelled and fell. I guess they
tried to get up, too. They couldn't. That was it. They people were pretty well
messed up. Lots of heads was shot off, pieces of heads and pieces of flesh flew
off the sides and arms. They were all messed up. [Another soldier] fired a
little bit and broke down. He was crying. He said he couldn't do any more. He
couldn't kill anymore people. He couldn't fire into the people any more. He gave
me his weapon into my hands. I said I wouldn't. "If they're going to be killed,
I'm not going to do it. Let Lieutenant ... do it, I told him. So I gave [him]
back his weapon. At that time there was only a few kids still alive Lieutenant
... killed them one-by-one. The I saw a group of five women and six kids --
eleven in all -- going to a tree line. "Get ‘em! Get ‘em! Kill ‘em! [the
lieutenant] told me. I waited until they got to the line and fired off four or
five grenades. I don't know what happened....*
* http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/MYL_calt.HTM
Call for Investigation
Word of the atrocities did not reach the American public until November
1969, when journalist Seymour Hersh published a story detailing his
conversations with a Vietnam veteran, Ron Ridenhour. Ridenhour learned of the
events at My Lai from members of Charlie Company who had been there. Before
speaking with Hersh, he had appealed to Congress, the White House, and the
Pentagon to investigate the matter. The military investigation resulted in
Calley's being charged with murder in September 1969 -- a full two months before
the Hersh story hit the streets.
Questions About Soldiers' Conduct
As the gruesome details of My Lai reached the American public, serious questions
arose concerning the conduct of American soldiers in Vietnam. A military
commission investigating the massacre found widespread failures of leadership,
discipline, and morale among the Army's fighting units. As the war progressed,
many "career" soldiers had either been rotated out or retired. Many more had
died. In their place were scores of draftees whose fitness for leadership in the
field of battle was questionable at best. Military officials blamed inequities
in the draft policy for the often slim talent pool from which they were forced
to choose leaders. Many maintained that if the educated middle class ("the
Harvards," as they were called) had joined in the fight, a man of Lt. William
Calley's emotional and intellectual stature would never have been issuing
orders.
Orders from Above?
Calley, an unemployed college dropout, had managed to graduate from Officer's
Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1967. 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 was sentenced to life in
prison, but was released in 1974, following many appeals. After being issued a
dishonorable discharge, Calley entered the insurance business.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/my_lai.html