The My Lai Massacre in the Vietnam War

guerrilla warfare is a bitch.

It’s what happens when you have people or low character of moral resolve in positions of leadership in a shitty situation.

There are some real stories of heroism to come out of that though. The helicopter pilot who witnessed the massacre and landed his bird in between the firing troops and the civilians comes to mind.

I just recently rewatched apocalypse now and it just seemed like there was alot of unorganized military operations going on during Vietnam. My dad was in the jungles of Vietnam in the army but never really talked about his time there. Hell my uncle was in the Navy in the early 70's and said people were smoking pot when he was in. Wasn't like that at all when I was in the Navy during the early 1990's.

I watched the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary a few years ago. I can't remember off hand what was or wasn't covered in detail. But I'm of the opinion that the My Lai/Pinkville massacre was a failure of leadership from NCOs to platoon leaders to company commanders and on up to the Brigade level.

Calley was completely culpable, but was seen by some as a scapegoat because Ernest Medina and other higher ranking officers were acquited or never charged.

There was a Command & Control helicopter overhead the whole time with an LTC or COL in it. They claimed to not have recognized what was happening on the ground. Thompson could see and hear all the shooting, but there were no friendly casualties being reported. He asked over the radio several times what all the shooting was about and got no answer. That's why he went down low and eventually landed. When he went back to base to refuel he told superior officers that they were killing civilians and they didn't want to hear it. It was a giant clusterfrick.

Hugh Thompson definitely lived in LA. I thought he was born here, but maybe not. He died relatively young of cancer, I think.

He was not a popular guy in the immediate aftermath of My Lai. The Army quashed the investigation as best they could and discounted Thompson's story. The wheels came off of the coverup about a year and a half later when some trooper gave photographs to a newspaper. Cleveland Plain Dealer, maybe?

Calley was the only one convicted. He was under house arrest at Ft Benning while on appeal. Nixon eventually commuted his sentence. Calley opened up a pawnshop/jewelery store in Columbus, GA.

Hugh Thompson was an honorable guy. I want to say he worked for the VA in his later years, but I might be confused.

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It’s what happens when you have people or low character of moral resolve in positions of leadership in a shitty situation

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^^^

Starting from the top with this piece of human shite...

Ken Burns' Vietnam series is the best thing ever.

I've seen so many of his projects, so many great ones, but this one stands above them all.

Pretty sure the Ken Burns documentary made a point to say the massacre itself was just a regrettable incident in a bloody war and he didn’t make too much out of it

However prior to the actual day of the killing there had been casualties from and fire from this village and the order not to engage. So the stage was set when it was determined to take the village out. Or engage the village, whatever the initial command. And then reality of yeah, we're gonna get these (add your choice of drog terms). The reality on the ground was explosive at times since the VC recruited from and likely was supported by this village and hundreds more like it. Does that justify what happened? Hell no in no uncertain terms. But understand these are kids in an environment where the enemy and their supporters (the village) had already been dehumanized. And when your life is threatened and taken almost daily it is understandable how it all transpired. Frankly the enemy did an even even better job dehumanizing the American kids in these villages as well. As the song lyrics say: "They smile at your face..all the time they wanna take your place"..Rats vs Rats in the field.

I know since I had some experience as a support troop (Intelligence although I detected damn little of it any place)). I also knew Mr Calley and did some business with him. He knew I served and he and I never mentioned any more since we both had a clear understanding of the aforementioned cluster. Many of the same innocents from the age of about 12 on had been and were engaged in bombing innocent citizens and killing them by the thousands. Bombing and killing American troops by the scores while they slept and where they ate, etc. I have a communist ID card from a South Vietnamese student and we were told they numbered in the thousands when the reality was they were in the millions. (Communist members)

Catholics vs the Buddhists. Middle class vs the poor. City vs rural. Employed vs day workers. Educated vs the ignorant. Individual freedom vs centralized government control. Farmers vs small business. And on and on. Basically people wanting something others had.

What year is it?