by Lian Slayford-Wei

Created on: November 02, 2009

The History of the My Lai Massacre

The Vietnam War in recent decades has had a deep impact on the world, especially for the Vietnamese and the Americans. The Vietnam War was perhaps the most unpopular war in which the Americans fought in and even today, the after-shocks can still be felt. This is due, in part, to the horrendous My Lai massacre.

The horrifying story of the My Lai massacre broke out in November 1969, a year and half after it happened on 16th March 1968. The reports, from a reliable news source, stated that a United States Army unit had completely destroyed a defenceless village in Songmy province and coldly exterminated hundreds of women, children, and old men. All the victims were defenceless, yet the United States army unit originally reported that it had engaged in "bloody day-long battle with Communists". Indeed, the American commander based in Vietnam "officially con- gratulated the American soldiers for outstanding action".

The facts of the My Lai massacre would have never been known if not for one ex-GI, named Ronald Ridenhour, called the matter to the attention of some vocal members of Congress.

The first mention of this came to light on 5th September 1969, when two days prior to his discharge, Lt. William Calley was indicted for the massacre of 109 civilians of My Lai. The public outcry of this became more apparent in late November when the story was aired that a repentant participant related the shocking details in a nationwide CBS-TV interview.

As resentment heightened, high administration officials hurried to describe the incident as one "wholly unrepresentative of the manner in which our forces conduct military operations in Vietnam."The Peers Panel was created to begin an enquiry into the way the military handled the incident.

The panel concluded that "Army officers had 'suppressed information' concerning the My Lai massacre". In 1970, the Army charged 13 officers, including former commander of United States forces in Vietnam, with the violation of one or more provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, by their failure to investigate and report the My Lai incident accurately.

The facts of the matter came to light. The men of Charlie Company, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, American Division, US Army, entered the village of Son My, on the coast of Central Vietnam, led by Captain Ernest Medina. Lt. William Calley was in charge of the company's 1st Platoon.

The men encountered no armed forces and no opposing fire at all. The

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