On March 16, 1968 soldiers from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 20th Infantry, massacred more than 300 civilians in the hamlet of My Lai near the northern coast of South Vietnam. In an act of revenge for the killing of a popular sergeant by a Vietcong booby trap, they gunned down men, women and children indiscriminately. It’s believed that none of those shot were Vietcong as the American soldiers had been spotted approaching My Lai, giving any Vietcong plenty of time to clear out. The army suppressed news of the massacre for 18 months but when it was revealed, out of 25 men indicted, only Lt. William Calley received a prison sentence. President Nixon later commuted Calley’s sentence to 3 years’ house arrest. During Calley’s trial the Vietnam Veterans Against the War held the Winter Soldier hearings in which dozens of them testified that they had seen similar war crimes in Vietnam, thus demoralizing even supporters of the war. On the night of the massacre after the soldiers had pulled out, the Vietcong were back in My Lai helping to bury the dead. It took 5 days. One Vietnamese man from a nearby hamlet said, “I was not a Communist before, but after the shootings, all the villagers became communists.”
also a winter solder session is being held by ivaw (iraq veterans against the war) now. check out the links on democracy now. none of the major media covered it. forty years ago we had country joe and the fish singing the talking viet nam pot luck blues. http://www.democracynow.org/ for those who don't have local access to it, or might not have known. =^^= .../\...
this is what war is always like, whether a photographer gets pics out to the media or not...and this is why war is always wrong.
