 |
One of many photos taken by United States
Army
photographer Ronald L. Haeberle on March 16, 1968
in the aftermath of the
My Lai massacre
showing mostly women and children dead on a road.
|
years ago, on Saturday morning, March 16, 1968, 18-year-old Truong Moi,
a fisherman from the hamlet of My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam,
went out to check the fishnets he had set in a nearby river. Troung was a
member of a community of about 700 people, including the hamlet of My
Khe. They lived in thatch-roofed huts and redbrick homes in the village of
Son My, located on Vietnam’s South Central Coast. My Lai and My Khe were
quiet and peaceful hamlets, for the most part untouched by the war.
In Vietnam, those actions were routine in search and
destroy missions. As such, My Lai and My Khe were designated as free-fire
zones. Civilian populations always get caught up in war’s mayhem. But, what transpired was
not routine. It was not
an isolated event, either.
When Charlie Company landed, Truong was terrified
and took cover. When he returned home, he found the charred remains of his
mother and the remaining members of his family. His brother, his sister, and
her two children were dead. In all, twenty-four members of his family had
been slaughtered. He found bodies along paths and in ditches, including
children, with their throats slit and others naked and disemboweled.
Working in the rice fields, Truong’s father escaped. His
brother survived the slaughter because he had hidden under bodies that shielded
him from the bullets.
At about 9 A.M., at the height of the massacre, Warrant
Officer Hugh Thompson, along with his crew, Specialist Glenn
Andreotta and Specialist Lawrence Colburn were flying an observation
helicopter over My Lai. On an earlier flyover, Thompson had marked the
location of several wounded Vietnamese with green smoke, signaling they needed
help, but noticed they were now dead. He and his crew saw Captain Medina
walk up to a wounded Vietnamese woman whose location Thompson also marked
earlier that morning. Medina nudged her with his foot and then killed
her. His flyover included a view of an irrigation ditch with dozens of
bodies. There was movement in the ditch indicating some were alive.
Thompson landed, and requested help for the people in the ditch from Squad
Leader Sergeant David Mitchell. Second Lieutenant William Calley
interceded, telling Thompson to mind his own business and to get back in his
helicopter. Thompson returned and took off. His crew chief, Specialist
Andreotta, reported that Squad Leader Mitchell was executing people in the
ditch.
Thompson and his crew spotted a group of unarmed Vietnamese,
including children, running from infantrymen of 2nd Platoon. Thompson
landed knowing the soldiers intended to execute them. Thompson commanded
his crew to give him cover and to shoot the Americans if they began shooting at
the fleeing villagers. He then put himself between the Vietnamese and Americans.
He confronted 2nd Platoon Leader Lieutenant
Stephen Brooks, telling him he was going to evacuate the Vietnamese and
requested his help. Thompson persuaded the pilots of his two Huey gunship
escorts to evacuate eleven survivors. Later, on his return from refueling,
crewmember Specialist Andreotta found a boy alive, who Thompson flew to a
hospital in Quang Ngai.
When it was all over, Charlie Company massacred 347
Vietnamese in My Lai and 157 in the hamlet of My Khe.
Warrant Officer Thompson, because of his actions at
My Lai, encountered sharp criticism. Congressmen Mendel Rivers said
that Thompson should be the only soldier punished, and even attempted to have
him court-martialed. It took thirty years for America to recognize the
heroic actions of Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn when they were awarded the
Soldier’s Medal for bravery. Thompson was awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross, and he, Andreotta and Colburn were awarded Bronze Stars.
Thompson retired from the Army with the rank of Major in 1983
and died in 2006. Specialist Andreotta was killed in action three weeks
after My Lai.
Those events are troubling, but what makes them equally
troubling is there acceptance. Accepted because it is perceived, no matter how
horrific, that unrestrained violence is the norm in war. Many believe that an American soldier would not
deliberately commit such acts, and if they did there were mitigating
circumstances for their actions. Despite the fact that, at the time, he
essentially whitewashed My Lai’s atrocities, Secretary
of State Colin Powell said, “… in war, these sorts of horrible things
happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored.”
Other than Calley, participants in the massacre were
acquitted, or never tried for their crimes. Calley was sentenced to life in
prison but pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1974.
World War II German and Japanese soldiers were put on trial
for war crimes and executed for committing similar acts.
To kill an enemy is a soldier’s purpose. But there are laws
of war, and soldiers, whether they are Americans or not, must be held
accountable for their conduct. We must not excuse America’s war crimes by doing
no more than fluff them off and say they are “to be deplored.” And, we should
not whitewash
the history of any war, particularly the horror of Vietnam.
Copyright © 2016 Horatio Green
Sources:
Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim, The
Villagers of My Lai, excerpted interviews from their book “Four Hours in My
Lai,” My Lai
Courts-Martial
Associated Press, Vietnam
atrocities revealed in report, Boston Globe
