War is in the news, again. Amid all the discussions over wars and conflicts that have shaped geopolitical scenarios in the last few decades, the Vietnam war is one of the most significant. In the March of 1968, amidst the continuing US-Vietnam War between 195s and the 70s. The massacre perpetrated by US troops on the villagers of My Lai and My Khe of southern Vietnam goes down as the darkest episode in the history of the War.
The Vietnam War
My Lai, a village in Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam was a stronghold of the National Liberation Front (VC) a communist group that advocated for the reunification of North and South Vietnam. In the twenty-year-long Vietnam War, the US supported the independent government of South Vietnam, which had been loyal to the Western bloc in the Cold War. Its Quang Ngai province which saw many communist rebellions was always a frequent target of the US. In March 1968, a part of the American Division's Infantry brigade called 'Charlie Company' took the village of 'Son My' under its control.
Owing to Charlie Company's quick success, he was sent on a search-and-destroy mission in the Son My area. Upon the onset of the Tet Offensive the very last month, The Charlie company had faced big blows from the communists while losing 28 of their commanders in the defense. With now over a close battalion of 100 men, US army commanders shared a wrong correspondence of active Vietnamese Liberation Front (VC) sympathizers present in the nearby villages of Son My with the Company.
The My Lai Massacre
The Charlie Company battalion led by Captain Ernest Medina entered the nearby village of My Lai on the morning of March 16, 1968, and found a quaint village with women, children and old people sitting outside their homes, some cooking breakfast in their outdoor yards. To the surprise of the soldiers, they could find no VC sympathizers in the village but only common people after individual homesteads were inspected by the US army in the hamlet. However, according to some reports, Medina was quoted saying, “They are all VCs, now go and get them.”
Alarmed by the sudden firing by US troops, the villagers started running to and fro finding shelter in the fields from the interior. The killings had already started without warning. Lt. Commander William Calley started shooting men, then women and children were also not spared. Innocent children running barefoot were kidnapped and were tied to trees alongside their mothers. The entire village was set on fire including the homes. The ones who tried to escape were gunned down.