Charlie Company arrived in Vietnam, and, even though they had no direct enemy contact, had lost more than 40 men from mines within 3 months leading up to the massacre. Task Force Barker, which included Charlie Company in the 11th Brigade, was a search and destroy operation against the Viet Cong battalion in the area. This area included Son My village. Captain Ernest Medina of Charlie Company reported that any residents who did not leave for the market and still in the Son My village by 7 AM were Viet Cong sympathizers. Accounts recall Medina's orders to kill all combatants and suspects including women, children, and animals. He was quoted to say, "destroy everything walking, crawling, or growling."
When the operation began on the March 16th morning at 7:30 AM, villagers who had not left for the market were herded without alarm. Suddenly, the killings started. Women and children were executed while they were praying and crying. Large groups of villagers were lined up in an irrigation ditch and then were fired upon by M16s. Women shielded their children from the bullets but none were spared due to the suspicion of grenades hidden in their clothing. The village huts were set ablaze, catching the attention of helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson. He witnessed the massacres of unarmed civilians and managed to evacuate the few who were still alive in the ditches, mostly children. He reported to his company commander the horrors he saw, which would eventually lead to those involved to be charged with war crimes.
The My Lai massacre demonstrated the extent of the US army war crimes in the Vietnam War.
Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSKA_Ce4lBg
http://mylaimassacree.weebly.com/the-charlie-company.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre
Interesting post going more in depth on the impact of the Vietnam war on the civilians in Vietnam. Was Medina in charge of the Charlie Company? If not, how did he have the authority to tell the force to kill many innocent civilians? With the amount of losses that the company had suffered, I am sure that they were plenty resentful of the war and the civilians in the area. Of course it was very hard to tell if who was part of the Vietcong and who was not, but eliminating an entire village was too much. What did the helicopter pilot who evacuated some civilians have to say about the issue?
ReplyDeleteGreat post on a horrifying event. Many people like to think that American soldiers have a clean history of being the heroes in every war, but this post reveals the sad truth that this is simply not reality. War sometimes brings about atrocities that words cannot describe and I think that this was an important subject for you to cover especially with us learning about Vietnam. Good job being concise and still using good details.
ReplyDelete