My Lai Massacre

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Photographs of the My Lai massacre provoked world outrage and made it an international scandal.
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Photographs of the My Lai massacre provoked world outrage and made it an international scandal.

The My Lai Massacre (pronounced mee-lye) (Vietnamese: thảm sát Mỹ Lai) was a massacre committed by U.S. soldiers on hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children, on March 16, 1968, in the hamlet of My Lai, during the Vietnam War. It prompted widespread outrage around the world and reduced American support at home for the war in Vietnam. The massacre is also known as the Son My massacre (Vietnamese: thảm sát Sơn Mỹ) or sometimes as the Song My massacre. [1]

Contents

[edit] The massacre

Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, Americal Division arrived in Vietnam in December 1967. Their first month in Vietnam passed without any direct enemy contact.

During the Tet Offensive of January 1968, attacks were carried out in Quang Ngai by the 48th Battalion of the NLF (National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam). US military intelligence formed the view that the 48th Battalion, having retreated, was taking refuge in the village of Song My. A number of specific hamlets within that village—labelled My Lai 1, 2, 3 and 4—were suspected of harboring the 48th. US forces planned a major offensive on those hamlets.

On the eve of the attack, U.S. military command advised Charlie Company that any genuine civilians at My Lai would have left their homes to go to market by 7 a.m. the following day. They were told they could assume that all who remained behind were either Viet Cong or active Viet Cong sympathizers. They were instructed to destroy the village.[citation needed] At the briefing, Captain Ernest Medina was asked whether the order included the killing of women and children; those present at the briefing later gave different accounts of Medina's response.[citation needed]

The soldiers found no insurgents in the village on the morning of 16 March 1968. Enraged because fellow platoon soldiers were killed on previous occasions, they gave little thought to the consequences of their actions that day. It is rumoured by Vietnamese that the soldiers asked the villagers where the Viet Cong were and that the villagers either didn't know or refused to reveal their location. Many suspected there were VC in the village, hiding underground in the homes of their elderly parents or young wives. Nevertheless, the American soldiers, one platoon which was led by Lt William Calley, killed hundreds of civilians — primarily old men, women, children and babies. Dozens were herded into a ditch and executed with automatic firearms. At one stage, Calley expressed his intent to throw hand grenades into a trench filled with villagers.[2]

The precise number killed varies from source to source, with 347 and 504 being the most commonly cited figures. A memorial at the site of the massacre lists 504 names, with ages ranging from one to eighty-two years. According to the report of a South Vietnamese army lieutenant to his superiors, it was an "atrocious" incident of bloodletting by an armed force seeking to vent its fury.

The soldiers said they were convinced any and all villagers could be a threat.

The massacre was halted when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr., a 24-year-old helicopter pilot, landed his OH-23 and confronted Lt. Stephen Brooks about attacks on wounded Vietnamese civilians hiding in a bunker. Thompson threatened to have his two door gunners open fire on American servicemen with his ship's heavy machine guns if the attacks continued.[3] Thompson also called in two additional helicopters to provide medevac for twelve wounded Vietnamese civilians.[4]

In the spring of 1972, the camp (at My Lai 2), where the survivors of the My Lai massacre had been relocated, was largely destroyed by ARVN (South Vietnamese) air and artillery bombardment. The destruction was attributed to "Viet Cong terrorists." However, the truth was revealed by Quaker service workers in the area, in testimony by Martin Teitel at the hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees in May 1972. In June that year, Teitel's account of the event appeared in the New York Times.

[edit] Cover-up

Initial investigations of the My Lai incident were undertaken by the 11th Light Infantry Brigade's Commanding Officer, Colonel Oran Henderson, under orders from America's Assistant Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Young. Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved in the incident, then issued a written report in late April claiming that approximately 22 civilians were inadvertently killed during the military operation in My Lai. The army at this time was still describing the event as a military victory resulting in the deaths of 128 enemies.

Six months later, a 21 year old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry named Tom Glen wrote a letter accusing the American Division (and other entire units of the US military, not just individuals) of routine brutality against Vietnamese civilians; the letter was detailed, its allegations horrifying, and its contents echoed complaints received from other soldiers. Colin Powell, then a young US Army Major, charged with investigating the letter, which did not specifically reference My Lai (Glen had no knowledge of the events there). Powell wrote: "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Later, Powell's refutation would be called an act of "white-washing" the news of My Lai, and questions would continue to remain undisclosed to the public. On 4 May 2004, Powell, then United States Secretary of State, said to Larry King, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."[5]

The carnage at My Lai might have gone unknown to history if not for another soldier, Ron Ridenhour, who, independent of Glen, sent a letter to President Nixon, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and numerous members of Congress. The copies of this letter were sent in March 1969, a full year after the event. Most recipients of Ridenhour's letter ignored it, with the notable exception of Rep Morris Udall. Ridenhour learned about the events at My Lai secondhand, by talking to members of Charlie Company while he was still enlisted.

Eventually, Lt Calley was charged with several counts of premeditated murder in September 1969, and 25 other officers and enlisted men were later charged with related crimes. It was another two months before the American public learned about the massacre and trials.

Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, after extensive conversations with Lt Calley, broke the My Lai story on 12 November 1969; on 20 November, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines all covered the story, and CBS televised an interview with Paul Meadlo. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published explicit photographs of dead villagers killed at My Lai. As is evident from comments made in a 1969 telephone conversation between United States National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, revealed recently by the National Security Archive, the photos of the war crime were too shocking for senior officials to stage an effective cover-up. Secretary of Defense Laird is heard to say, "There are so many kids just lying there; these pictures are authentic."

[edit] Courts martial

On 17 March 1970, the United States Army charged 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident. Most of these charges were dropped.

US Army Lt William Calley was convicted in 1971 of premeditated murder in ordering the shootings and initially sentenced to life in prison; two days later, however, President Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison, pending appeal of his sentence. Calley served 3½ years of house arrest in his quarters at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was then ordered freed by Federal Judge J Robert Elliot. Calley claimed he was following orders from his captain, Ernest Medina; Medina denied giving the orders and was acquitted at a separate trial. Most of the soldiers involved in the My Lai incident were no longer enlisted. Of the 26 men initially charged, Lt Calley's was the only conviction. The entire episode inspired what is known today as a Medina standard.

Some argue that My Lai was a reversal of the rules of war that were set in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. The Tribunals set a precedent in history that no one may be excused from reprimand for war crimes because they were ordered to do so. Secretary of the Army Howard H Callaway was quoted in the New York Times for stating that Calley's sentence was reduced because Calley honestly believed that what he did was a part of his orders. This is in direct contradiction to the standards set in Nuremberg and Tokyo where German and Japanese soldiers were executed for similar actions. (“Learning From My Lai: A Proposal on War Crimes” New York Times By Burke Marshall and Joseph Goldstein Published 2 April 1976 Pg. 26)

[edit] Aftermath

The explosive news of the massacre fueled the outrage of the American peace movement, which demanded the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. It also led more potential draftees to file for conscientious objector status. Those who had always argued against the war felt vindicated; those on the fringes of the movement became more vocal.

The more pivotal shift, however, was in the attitude of the general public toward the war. People who previously had not been interested in the peace/war debates began to analyze the issue more closely. The horrific stories of other soldiers began to be taken more seriously, and other abuses came to light.

Some military observers concluded that My Lai showed the need for more and better volunteers to provide stronger leadership among the troops. As the Vietnam combat dragged on, the number of well-educated and experienced career soldiers on the front lines dropped sharply as casualties and combat rotation took their toll. These observers claimed the absence of the many bright young men who did not participate in the draft due to college attendance or homeland service caused the talent pool for new officers to become very shallow.[6] Many new officers were barely into their 20s, often raw and without experience.[citation needed] They pointed to Calley, a young, unemployed college dropout, as an example of the raw and inexperienced being rushed through officer training.

[edit] Those involved

[edit] 1st Platoon

  • William Calley - Lieutenant who led C-Company, the only person convicted
  • David Mitchell - Sergeant
  • Ronald L. Haeberle - Company Photographer
  • Charles Sledge - Radio Operator - testified he saw Calley deliberately kill a young child
  • Paul Meadlo - Private First Class - testified he was afraid of being shot if he didn't participate
  • Dennis Conti - Private First Class - stated he was originally lost and had to find his company
  • James Dursi - Private First Class
  • Allen Boyce - Private First Class
  • Ronald Grzesik - Private First Class
  • Robert Maples - Private First Class, stated to have refused to participate
  • Varnado Simpson - Private First Class, committed suicide citing guilt over My Lai
  • Harry Stanley - claimed to have refused to participate
  • Gary David Roschevitz - unknown
  • Elmer Haywood - unknown
  • William Lloyd - unknown
  • Lenny Lagunuy - unknown
  • Sidney Kye - unknown
  • Robert Bergthold - unknown
  • Robert Mauro - unknown
  • Robert Lee - unknown
  • Isaiah Cowan - unknown
  • Bruce Cox - unknown
  • Harry Stanley - unknown
  • Charles Hall - unknown
  • Roy Wood - unknown
  • Herbert Carter - unknown
  • Gregory Olsen - unknown
  • Daniel Simone - unknown

NB "Charlie Company" — the squads deployed in My Lai 4 on the day of the massacre — was overseen by Captain Ernest Medina. According to the sworn eyewitness testimony of many Charlie Company soldiers, Cpt Medina did not merely exhort his subordinate troops to commit wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter of the civilian inhabitants of My Lai 4 but was directly responsible for an unspecified number of civilian deaths himself. It also should be noted the platoon led by Calley was one of at least four that swept My Lai 4 on 16 March 1968. Other platoons are therefore implicated in the massacre at My Lai even if Calley's bears the greatest burden of criminality. The above list then supplies only a partial catalogue of the principal alleged perpetrators. (See Seymour Hersh's journalistic account titled "My Lai 4")

[edit] Intervention

[edit] See also

[edit] Quotes

"He fired at it with a .45. He missed. We all laughed. He got up three or four feet closer and missed again. We laughed. Then he got up right on top and plugged him." - account gathered by the Peers Inquiry from one of the participants who described using a baby for target practice during the massacre. [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ My Lai was one of four hamlets associated with the village of "Song My". Americal Division Veterans Association.
  2. ^ Laurence Rogerson & Sue Powell (1999). Exploring Vietnam - My Lai. Retrieved on 2006-03-16.
  3. ^ An American Hero. CBS News (May 9, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-16.
  4. ^ BBC. (2006). "My Lai massacre hero dies at 62" BBC.com Retrieved November 25, 2006.
  5. ^ Interview on CNN's Larry King Live with Secretary Colin L. Powell (May 4, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-16.
  6. ^ PBS/The American Experience. The My Lai Massacre

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