 |
| An image of the aftermath of the My Lai Massacre |
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Vietnam Research Exercise: My Lai Massacre Phillip Niewald
On March 16th 1968, the men of Charlie company, of the 11th Infantry battalion, were ordered to go on a search and destroy mission in the Quang Ngai province. Led by 2nd Lieutenant William Calley, the men began to round up local villagers in groups while inspecting their huts for weapons. Despite finding little to no evidence of Viet Cong activity, Calley ordered the men of C company to open fire on the
civilians. What ensued was later referred to as the My Lai Massacre. The killing
was not directed specifically at military aged males, more just targeting the masses. “'I saw them shoot an M79 (grenade launcher) into a group of people who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting women and
children just like anybody else,' said Sgt. Michael Bernhardt" according to the
history channel.
After several hours of rounding up villagers and executing them, a cease fire was ordered. The man responsible for the cease fire was Hugh Thompson, who was flying close air support over the Quag Ngai Province that morning. Hugh Thompson
allegedly landed his helicopter between some of the men of C company and local
villagers telling the soldiers that he would open fire on them if they did not stop. A young soldier named Ron Ridenhour, who was apart of the 11th Infantry Battalion
but did not take part in the shootings, wrote several letters to President Nixon, the
pentagon, and other politicians, requesting an investigation. What happened instead was a government cover up. It wasn’t until November of 1969 that the story caught press when freelance reporter, Seymour Hersh, wrote a story about it in
The New Yorker. The My Lai Massacre had a lasting effect on the war because it
openly displayed the atrocities of the war, causing a rise in anti-war protests and a
loss of support of the war and trust in the government. Some could say that this was a decisive event that’s effects led to the United States pulling out its troops from
Vietnam.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre-1https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/01/22/i-coverup
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm thankful Hugh Thompson took it upon himself to order the cease fire. It's always mind-boggling to me in situations like these that aren't more people with a conscience that stand up and put a stop to the unimaginable. It's refreshing to hear that in this atrocity there was at least one.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how a man could give the order to fire on civilians, it would have been more understanding if it was men around the age where they would be in the war, but not a young child or old man. It's great what Hugh Thompson did that day. He saved so many people for that one act.
ReplyDeleteThe government would constantly hide things from the world during the Vietnam War. Even though this was a terrible event, I'm glad it brought awareness to how terrible the war was.
ReplyDeleteIt’s sad to think the government would cover something like that up. Did Hugh Thompson get recognized for his valiant actions?
ReplyDeleteI did not know about this story before reading your report. I think this is very wrong and I am glad someone stood up for what was right. Very interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to hear about this event because it is rarely talked about and I had not known much about the subject before. Seeing things like this makes me wonder what other events the government has kept hidden in the past.
ReplyDeleteIt is so difficult to imagine something like this taking place. It is so dark, violent, and interesting in a horrific sort of way. Was Ron Ridenhour the only soldier to not participate?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this kinda shows the dark side that the soldiers had to them. The fact that it took someone to land a helicopter between them to get them to stop firing is pretty messed up also.
ReplyDelete