My Lai Massacre Research Paper

It caused the American people to question if the government was really looking out for the best interest of Americans. Taking place on March 16, 1968, the My Lai Massacre was an event when “U.S. Army troops murdered more than 300 unarmed Vietnamese citizens, mainly women, children and the elderly. Several young girls were raped and killed. Estimates of the number of villagers massacred at My Lai ranged from 300 to 500; the final army estimates were 347. Of the 100 soldiers who entered My Lai about 30 participated in the killing. Most of the other soldiers did not participate, but they did not try to stop the

On March 16, 1968, a unit of the United States military was ordered to advance into a village called Son My in northern Vietnam. It was there that a mass execution of unarmed civilians took place. One may wonder how the United States could do something so seemingly inhumane after considering what the Nazis did only twenty years prior to the Vietnam War. However, in the context of a tense situation, there are particular factors that will affect one’s decision-making skills. Factors such as uncertainty, routinization, gradual escalation, and dehumanization of the victim are all possible components in affecting one’s obedience.

The My Lai Massacre is an event that will be forever imprinted on our hearts. The stories of those who survived, and those who are gone. Many things have been written about My Lai, but not all of them are true. So many things were transposed that the facts are hard to find. I feel that I have done a careful job of weeding the true from the false. When one hears about My Lai, they must remember what happened, and the heinous

Helicopter gunner Ron Ridenhour wrote a series of letters to congressional and military officials documenting the events that took place in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. Through Ridenhour’s letters the cover up became exposed. Once the My Lai massacre was unveiled to the American public sentiment toward the Vietnam War, and the U.S. military in general, began to shift. The My Lai massacre is said to have contributed to the early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam and the end to war in Southeast

Imagine, waking up to your neighbors and family being brutally murdered. You manage to escape, and later find out that those responsible for the massacre of your community have gotten off, scot free. When people commit a horrible crime, we expect there to be consequences. Son My is a village that had been heavily mined by the Viet Cong, a communist organization that fought against the South Vietnamese government, many American soldiers had been killed or injured by those mines. Seeking “revenge”, on March 16, 1968, American soldiers from the C Company division went into a smaller part of Son My called My Lai and murder over 400 innocent people. The My Lai massacre was a horrible crime committed by U.S soldiers from C Company division, they

Monstrous acts are not always committed by monstrous people, but from those who have witnessed incomprehensible pain and suffering. It was reported by Jeffrey Kimball that the members of Company C had arrived in Vietnam beginning of December and were struggling to keep alive by March. During their three months in Nam, the Charlie Company had lost four soldiers along with the thirty-eight wounded. To continue, a popular Sargent had been blown to pieces two days before the My Lai Massacre, which could have acted as a triggering device for what was looming in the not so distant future. These soldiers were also fighting against guerrilla warfare, meaning they weren’t able to relaiate their frustrations and angers against the “enemy” because it wasn’t open combat. According to my uncle who had fought in the war, the men in your unit are your brothers, your family. Since soldiers have minimal contact with the outside world, with the exception through letter mail and the very occasional television news broadcasts, the fellow soldiers besides you are what keeps you sane … at least as sane as one can stay in a perpetual state of war. I argue that the men who took part in the My Lai Massacre were not born intrinsically evil, but rather it’s the condition that they

The Vietnam War was one of the least supported wars in American History. It faced an immense and inexorable sum of social outcry that, while initially ignored, could not go completely unnoticed and unacknowledged by the government. While the majority of American citizens supported the war, they remained silent, most likely to protect themselves from the scrutiny of the minority that opposed the war. This minority of Americans were opposed to the war for moral reasons. They argued that the war was not any of the business of the united states and that it would be morally unjust to intervene because the North Vietnamese “were fighting a patriotic war to rid themselves of foreign aggressors.” that “Innocent Vietnamese peasants were being killed

The My Lai massacre took place in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968. To some, the occasion is considered the worst event in American military history. A group of American soldiers attacked and killed between 300 and 500 Vietnamese men, women, and children. About a year later people learned of the violent attacks made on these innocent people by newspapers and newscasts. When people heard of the attacks, it increased the animosity against war and gave the public another reason to resent the Vietnam veterans. Hugh Thompson is a soldier that felt the story of My Lai should be known. He stopped multiple violent attacks against the Vietnamese by intervening and risking his own life, by putting himself between the Vietnamese and American soldiers with

William Calley testified that the sight of men killed in a land mine during an operation brought out feelings of hate and fear towards the Vietnamese (Olson, Calley, p.52). While the American soldiers were being wounded or killed the enemy was rarely to be seen or shot at. The soldiers were frustrated that their friends were being killed by the enemy, but they could not find the enemy to kill them. This lead American soldiers into My Lai with the attitude to seek revenge for previous casualties and that nothing would stop them (Olson, Roberts, Peers Report, p.54).

Although many of the men were inexperienced in the battlefield and were traumatised that doesn’t excuse what they done. The senior members of military also have to accept some blame as they gave the orders and more importantly allowed the massacre to happen. However I leave the majority of the blame on the shoulders of the men in Charlie Company, nothing can excuse the deaths of innocent children and elderly nor the amount of rape reported. The villagers of My Lai deserve justice and peace, they were treated like animals in a slaughter house, after the initial raid a platoon was deployed to conduct a mop-up operation, which meant killing any of the victims who were still moving amongst the piles of dead. The villages were then burned to the ground. The men of Charlie Company carried out the action, although the orders had come from high above, and refused to hold responsibility. In November of 1970, the US Army began court-martial proceedings against 14 officers charged with participating in or covering up the My Lai Massacre. In the end, only Lt. William Calley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for premeditated murder. Calley would serve only four and a half months in military

American soldiers in the Village of My Lai were actually killing innocent civilian and at disbelief of the actions taking place by his fellow soldiers.

While we may never know the exact details of the My Lai Massacre, what is evident is that episodes like My Lai were reoccurring events throughout the war. This paper aims to contextualize the My Lai Massacre and the court-martial of Lieutenant Calley within the greater framework of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. What drove the U.S. to intervene in Vietnam and how did its reckless policies during the war create the conditions for soldiers to commit

There were a lot of reasons for the misconduct and inhumane acts carried out by the American soldiers in the village. The biggest being is the lack of quality leadership which can best be analyzed on the fact that most of the soldiers after the whole incident stated that they were just following orders given to them by the officials above them. Kenneth Hodges, an American soldier, defended his inhumane

This scenario illustrates that Leadership is a constant in the human life. The same thing happens when a civilian

Racism, resentment, politics, political agendas, suffering, war, hate from people in the United States, hate from people in Vietnam, overall anger, and a lot of weapons. These are all factors that played into the United States being involved in one of the most horrific acts in our history. The My Lai Massacre was a massacre by United States Soldiers that created controversy and anger throughout the world. It leads us to the question, was this avoidable? Was one of the worst massacres in Untied States history doomed to happen? Looking at the contents of this war, reviewing accounts from soldiers that have fought in the war, that were there on that day, there is a strong testimony that this massacre was indeed doomed to happen.