My Lai Massacre
On March 16, 1968 a mass murder by a unit of the U.S Army of 347 to 504 citizens in South Vietnam. A majority of the victims were children, women and elderly people. In the hamlets of My Lai the victims were found, many of them sexually abused, and tortured. There was only one man convicted of the criminal actions. His name was William Calley. He was charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the deaths of 104 Vietnamese people. After the massacre the whole world sprung into an outrage and the U.S army lost a lot of support back home.
On March 16, 1968 a mass murder by a unit of the U.S Army of 347 to 504 citizens in South Vietnam. A majority of the victims were children, women and elderly people. In the hamlets of My Lai the victims were found, many of them sexually abused, and tortured. There was only one man convicted of the criminal actions. His name was William Calley. He was charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the deaths of 104 Vietnamese people. After the massacre the whole world sprung into an outrage and the U.S army lost a lot of support back home.
Lt. Calley is still alive and owns a jewelry store with his in-laws in Columbus, GA. As you can imagine, he refuses to give any interviews about the subject. However, he has written a book titled, Lieutenant Calley: His Own Story, where he shares some of his experiences
ReplyDeleteDid any of your research mention why this massacre may have taken place? Was it sparked by a specific incident or supposedly a random act?
ReplyDeleteI am glad you posted a picture that realy tells us what may have had happen there.
ReplyDeleteThey have been several theories as to why the massace took place. One reason for the massacre was that it took place in a village where they had been reported enemy fire at Charley Company (under the command of Lt. Calley). It was also believed that the enemy fire was from the Viet Cong, a civilian militia force, as opposed to a military unit. Therefore, they were not situated in one general position and would often times do sort of a “hit and run,” meaning they would shoot at the Americans, then flea into nearby villages.
ReplyDeleteBecause they went into villages with no known enemy presence (to the commanders), they did not give Charlie Company permission to return fire. So here they are being shot at and are told they can not return fire and the see the enemy troops falling back into nearby villages, where they know that they are safe.
This goes on for some time, until Lt. Calley decides to enter the village and exterminate the whole village where the enemy fire had been reported. He hopes that by doing this, it will eliminate the enemy threat, so they begin killing off the people of the village.
I looked up William Calley a little further. Pretty interesting stuff
ReplyDelete