My Lai massacre
| My Lai Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War | |
Photo taken by U.S. Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle in the aftermath of the massacre, showing mostly women and children dead on a road— famously used in the "and babies" poster | |
| Location | 15°10′42″N 108°52′10″E / 15.17833°N 108.86944°E Sơn Mỹ village, Sơn Tịnh district, Quảng Ngãi province, South Vietnam |
| Date | 16 March 1968 |
| Target | Mỹ Lai 4 and Mỹ Khe 4 hamlets |
Attack type | Massacre, mass murder, war rape, torture, arson, war crime |
| Deaths |
|
| Perpetrators | United States Army
|
| Defenders | Hugh Thompson Jr., Lawrence Colburn, Glenn Andreotta |
| Motive | Anti-Vietnamese racism, cultural violence in the US military, a lack of discipline |
| Convictions | Premeditated murder (22 counts), assault with intent to murder |
| Sentence | Life imprisonment; commuted to three years' house arrest by President Richard Nixon |
| Convicted | William Calley |
The My Lai Massacre (/miː laɪ/ MEE LY; Vietnamese: Thảm sát Mỹ Lai [t̺ʰâm ʂǎt mǐˀ lāj] ⓘ) was a United States war crime committed on 16 March 1968, involving the mass murder of unarmed civilians in Sơn Mỹ village, Quảng Ngãi province, South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. Army soldiers. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12. The incident is the largest confirmed massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century.
On the morning of the massacre, C Company, commanded by Captain Ernest Medina, entered the hamlet of My Lai 4 expecting to confront the Viet Cong's Local Force 48th Battalion, which was not there. The killings began as troops searched for guerillas and continued even after it became clear none were present. Soldiers rounded up villagers, held them in the open, and massacred them using automatic weapons, bayonets, and grenades; one large group was executed in an irrigation ditch. They also burned homes, poisoned wells, and slaughtered livestock. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. and his helicopter crew attempted to intervene and halt the attack. In the nearby hamlet of My Khe 4, B Company killed an additional 60 to 155 villagers.
The massacre was originally reported as a victory against Viet Cong troops, and was covered up in initial investigations by the U.S. Army. The efforts of veteran Ronald Ridenhour and journalist Seymour Hersh broke the news of the massacre to the American public in November 1969, prompting global outrage and contributing to domestic opposition to involvement in the war.
Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., the leader of 1st Platoon in C Company, was convicted. He was found guilty of murdering 22 villagers and originally given a life sentence, but served three-and-a-half years under house arrest after his sentence was commuted. The perpetrating American units were from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker).
Research has highlighted that the My Lai Massacre was not an isolated war crime. Nick Turse places it within a larger pattern of American atrocities enabled by deliberate policies from commanders, such as "free-fire zones" and "body counts", as well as widespread racism amongst American military personnel. Many other atrocities were also covered up by commanders. Following the massacre, a Pentagon task force called the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group (VWCWG) was set up which verified numerous other incidents.