The My Lai Massacre was the mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. army on March 16, 1968 of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens, all of whom were women, children, and elderly. Initially, the massacre was considered a military victory, claiming that 128 Viet Cong and only twenty-two citizens were killed. General William C. Westmoreland, MACV commander, congratulated the unit on an "outstanding job." Investigations began with 11th Light Infantry Brigade's commanding officer, Colonel Henderson, under orders of Americal Division's executive officer, Brigadier General George H. Young. Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved in the My Lai operation, then issuing a report late April claiming that twenty some odd citizens were killed. Six months after Henderson's report, Tom Glen a twenty-one year old soldier wrote General Creighton Abrams, the new commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam a letter. It, detailed and echoed complaints received from other soldiers, accusing entire units of brutality against Vietnam civilians. Collin Powell, then a thirty-one year old Army Major, was charged with investigating the letter, which did not specifically reference the events that occurred in My Lai. In his report, Powell wrote: "in direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and Vietnamese people are excellent." Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized as "whitewashing" the atrocities that occurred in My Lai.
The Carnage that occurred in My Lai may have gone unknown to history if not for, Ron Ridenhour, a former member of Charlie Company and helicopter gunner, didn't independently from Tom Glen send out his our letters. Ridenhour had heard of the massacre that happened at My Lai fr...
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... suspected that there were NFL soldiers in the village, hiding in the home's of their parents and wives. Second Lieutenant, William Calley, went in shooting at a suspected "enemy position."
After the first citizens were killed the indiscriminate fire, soldiers started shooting at anything that moved, humans and animals alike, with firearms, grenades and bayonets. The Scale of the massacre only spiraled as it progressed, as BBC described it. Dozens of people were herded into irrigation ditches, only to be brutally murdered with automatic firearms. As the platoons ransacked their path through My Lai, Vietnamese were sexually abused, tortured, while some were even found mutilated with the letter C on their chest. During the next two days they continued to burn buildings, kill Vietnamese civilians, and most importantly not complain to their superiors.
Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder of unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16, 1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period.
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
the guards began mistreating the prisoners, not physically, but emotionally and psychologically, taking advantage of the power and authority appointed to them by the experimenter (Zimbardo 109). Crimes of obedience and mistreatment to other human beings are not only found in Milgrim’s and Zimbardo’s experiments. In 1968, U.S. troops massacred over 500 villagers in My Lai. The incident is described by social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman and sociologist V. Lee Hamilton in the article “The My Lai Massacre: a Crime of Obedience.” Lt. William Calley, charged with 102 killings, claims to have followed orders from his superiors, only accomplishing his duty, which is also a theme throughout the movie, A Few Good Men. After presented with a request from William Santiago, a marine on his base, to be transferred, Jessup refuses. The film depicts, through Colonel Jessup 's authority, the refusal to obey a reasonable request as well as the pride one possesses when fulfilling his duty
Hynes, Samuel Lynn. "What Happened in Nam." The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, 1997. 177-222. Print.
As a young teen, she huddled in a bomb shelter during intense artillery shelling of her hamlet, escaping out a rear exit just as US Marines shouted for the “mama-sans” and “baby-sans” (women and children) to come out the front. She got as far as the nearby river before she heard gunfire. Returning the next day, she encountered a scene that was seared into her brain. “I saw dead people piled up in the hamlet. I saw my mom’s body and my younger siblings,” told Ho Thi Van. She lost eight family members in that 1968 massacre. In all, according to the local survivors, thirty-seven people, including twenty-one children were killed by the Marines. She then joins the guerrillas and fought the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies until she was grievously wounded, losing an eye in battle in
On the 29th o April, 1977 Captain Cook, commander of a British fleet, landed on the eastern shore of Australia, in an attempt to claim the land under the name of Britain. The land was to be claimed by Britain as a land where the British government could send convicts; in an attempt to ease the struggle in the over flowing prisons. Upon Cooks arrival, he was ordered to follow three rules of claiming a foreign land. They were;
of the rape of a 14 year old girl by twenty GIs ... in front of the
On March 5, 1770 a fight broke out in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts between a patriot mob and British soldiers. Citizens attacked a squad of soldiers by throwing snowballs, stones and sticks. British Army soldiers in turn killed five civilians and injured six others. The presence of British troops had been stationed in Boston, the capital of Province of Massachusetts Bay since 17681. The British existence was increasingly unwelcome. The British troops were sent to Boston in order to protect and support the crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.
The Boston Massacre was and is still a debatable Massacre. The event occurred on March 5, 1776. It involved the rope workers of the colonial Boston and two British regiments, the twenty-ninth and the fourteenth regiments. Eleven people were shot in the incident; five people were killed and the other six were merely wounded. The soldiers and the captain, Thomas Preston, were all put on trial. All were acquitted of charges of murder, however the two soldiers who fired first, Private Mathew Killroy, and Private William Montgomery, the two soldiers were guilty of manslaughter. The causes were numerous for this event. There had been a nation wide long-term dislike towards the British, and a growing hatred towards them by the people of Boston. Even before the two regiments were sent in to monitor Boston there was a growing feud before the two sides.
Do you remember the conflict that America had in the Persian Gulf a few years back? An incident occurred there where a man drove a truck loaded with explosives into the building where more than 100 Marines were stationed. He blew up the building, along with the Marines. The incident was published by the AP Press soon after. Now do you remember the bombing just four years ago, in Oklahoma City? Suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols drove a Ryder Van loaded with 4,800 pounds of fertilizer and fuel oil to the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where it subsequently exploded, killing 169 people and injuring some 500 others. Of course you do. While both were massive acts of violence involving American citizens, the impact of such acts is always felt the most when it happens right here at home.
General Norman Schwarzkopf notes that, "We Were Soldiers... Once and Young is a must reading for all Americans." And indeed it is. Lieutenant General Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway did a remarkable job writing a historiography that critically examined a variety of authentic sources and wrote an unbiased work that will stand the tests of time. We Were Soldiers is not just a story about the battles of X-Ray and Albany. It tells the stories of Americans and Vietnamese soldiers who endured the atrocities in the Ia Drang Valley. It is an impartial piece of literature that does not demonize the Vietnamese soldier, yet still praises the American soldier. The book is a marvelous account of history, absent of political opinions, detailing the true story of the Ia Drang Valley. And just as General Schwarzkopf stated, it is a MUST read for all Americans.
Throughout history, events are sparked by something, which causes emotions to rise and tensions to come to a breaking point. The Boston Massacre was no exception; America was feeling the pressure of the British and was ready to break away from the rule. However, this separation between these two parties would not come without bloodshed on both sides. The British did not feel the American had the right to separate them from under British rule, but the Americans were tired of their taxes and rules being placed upon them and wanted to succeed from their political tyrants. The Boston Massacre would be the vocal point in what would be recognized, as the Revolutionary War in American history and the first place lives would be lost for the cost of liberty. Even though the lives were lost that day, eight British soldiers were mendaciously accused of murder when it was clearly self-defense. People who are placed in a situation where their lives are threatened have the right to defend themselves. History does not have the right to accuse any one event those history may have considered the enemy guilty when they are fighting for their lives.
“Photographs like the one that made the front page of the most newspapers in the world in 1972- a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed by american napalm, running down a highway toward the cameras, her arms open, screaming with pain-- probably did more to increase the public revulsion against the war than a hundred hours of televised barbarities”(476)
The Rape of Nanking, also known as the Nanking Massacre was a six week period when mass numbers of Chinese men and woman were killed by the Japanese. Embarrassed by the lack of effort in the war with China in Shanghai, the Japanese looked for revenge and finally were able to win the battle. The Japanese moved toward the city of Nanjing also known as Nanking and invaded it for approximately six months. Even though the people of Nanjing outnumbered the 50,000 Japanese, they were not as masterful in warfare as their opponents. Chinese soldiers were forced to surrender to the Japanese and the massacre began in which around 300,000 people died and 20,000 women were raped. The Japanese leaders had different methods of killing that were instructed to the soldiers. However, the prisoners of this “City of Blood” soon found their liberation and their justice was served.
The paranoia and fear of death never left them. The My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968, when the village of My Lai was completely destroyed, although it did not contain a single enemy troop. Over a hundred villagers were slaughtered. It became clearer to Americans how soldiers were losing control, and how there was no easy way to win this war.