My Lai Massacre

                The story of the My Lai Massacre begins on March 14 1968 with a trap set on the American battalion, Charlie Company. The ambush sparked anger and rage after “killing a popular sergeant, blinding one GI and wounding several others.” Charlie Company wanted revenge. After the service held for the sergeant Captain Medina gave the soldiers a “pep talk” in which he is speculated to have told his men that they were to kill everybody in the town of My Lai in the next mission. My Lai was a suspected Vietcong stronghold. The mission was to involve 75 soldiers and multiple gunships to eliminate possible Vietcong within the town. By the time Charlie Company arrived the Vietcong had already left leaving innocent civilians, men, women and children. At 7:22 a.m. on March 16, the choppers lifted off for the mission. Soldiers were ordered to destroy houses, poison wells and search out suspected Vietcong. The mission soon turned into a massacre in which 500 civilians were murdered.

                Based on the evidence given the death of the popular sergeant and the revenge that Charlie Company wanted most likely caused the incident as well as the hate for the Vietnamese felt by platoon leader William Calley.

                The event was covered up immediately after it ended. The official report stated that 128 had been killed with only one American casualty. Medina also said that only “twenty to twenty-eight” civilians were killed. A second report was issued after an investigation confirming that there were only twenty civilians harmed. Had it not been for “a twenty-two-year-old ex-GI from Phoenix, Ronald Ridenhour” the massacre would have never been revealed to the public.

                A court martial ensued after intense investigation by the military. Most of the men evolved were no longer a part of the military thus saving them from the court martial. A total of twenty-five men were prosecuted. Only a few were actually tried and the only one found guilty, William Calley.

 In my opinion justice was served as much as possible. Due to the varying reports and vagueness of some and varying accounts of what was actually said by who and where it would be hard to get fail safe convictions on anyone involved. It is terrible that these people were found not guilty but without sufficient evidence you cannot put someone in jail. Justice was not served in respects to the civilians that were murdered and probably not of been served even if every man involved was found guilty.