The 42nd Anniversary of the Massacre at My Lai

Down a Trail Once Traveled
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Chuck Palazzo
Vietnam Affairs & Agent Orange Editor
VetSpeak.org
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Quang Ngai, Vietnam - There are not many events that occurred during the Vietnam War that are more horrible than what took place in the small hamlets of My Lai and My Khe (Son My) on March 16, 1968. 2nd Lt. William Calley, on orders from his Company Commander Captain Ernest Medina, led the troops of 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division, United States Army, into this peaceful village located approximately 140 kilometers south of Danang and 14 kilometers from Quang Ngai in what was then South Vietnam. 
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Quang Ngai had been attacked by the 48th Battalion of the National Front of the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) or what we commonly referred to as the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive of January 1968. There were U.S. military intelligence reports that these villages had been harboring members of the 48th after Tet. None were found, however. Found were innocent men, women, and children. Calley ordered his men to open fire on them from various positions. The end result? 504 innocent men, women, and children killed. Murdered, raped, burned, decapitated – the gruesome list goes on, adjectives cannot begin to describe the horror or the injustice. 

Generations have been affected by the insanity of an event that was covered up by the United States Government for eighteen months before it was finally made public. Lt. Calley was the only person brought to Court Martial and convicted. He was tried and convicted of premeditated murder, sentenced to life in prison, only to be released two days later on orders from President Nixon pending an appeal of his sentence. Calley’s sentence was later adjusted so that he actually served four and one-half months in a military prison. Medina was tried, but was acquitted of all charges and later admitted that he lied to his superior officers about murdering civilians. In total, 26 men were charged, but Calley was the only person convicted. 504 deaths. 504 murders. 4 ½ months in a US military prison. Calley is now selling jewelry in Georgia and after 40 years, mumbled an apology at a Kiwanis Club meeting last August.
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One officer who helped stop the carnage, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an American Helicopter Pilot put his own chopper between the dying and escaping innocent Vietnamese to protect them. He ordered the American soldiers to cease fire, and if they did not he would open fire on them. Thompson challenged Calley directly and rescued several innocent Vietnamese civilians while doing so. He issued the same orders to his crew – shoot the Americans should they continue to shoot the Vietnamese civilians. 504 innocent Vietnamese civilians had already perished.
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I spent the last two days in My Lai, My Khe and Quang Ngai. 42 years later, life continues, and the rebuilding of families and lives tries to move ahead. I left Danang yesterday morning with some very close friends who have become my own family here. They knew more then I the emotional experience I was about to endure. As we drove down Highway 1, we drove past Chu Lai – I knew from my days here many years ago that we were approaching Quang Ngai. About 3 hours south of Danang, we arrived at Quang Ngai. We decided to check into our hotel and drive directly to the Museum at Son My.When one walks into the main museum entrance, up the stairs, there is a large plaque. It is a plaque containing each of the deceased’s names and ages. I was reminded by the museum guide that even though many of the ages indicated 1, there was no way to indicate 5 months or “fetus”. The horror started to be realized. All is not fair in love and war.
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My hosts were Do, a Vietnamese Quaker, and two American Combat Veterans. The work the American and Vietnamese Veterans, as well as the Quakers have done in My Lai has been incredible – building houses for the poor, schools for the children. Do invited me to lunch at a home in My Lai and of course I accepted. It was indeed a lunch I will never forget. I was welcomed by the two other American Veterans, but also by Vietnamese Veterans – men and women. Veterans of different ranks. Veterans with different beliefs. But Veterans, all of us, who shared one common belief now – to help rebuild each other’s lives and to do so in peace.
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I met, laughed and cried with Vietnamese veterans and family members who lost relatives – close relatives – that morning 42 years ago in My Lai. One person lost 15 relatives that day. They all told me that was then, that was the war. This is now, and we must all put it behind us and build a peaceful future for us, our children and for all generations to come. As I shared in this meal, I felt the sorrow of this land and of these people. It was on this very path that I had walked - these very steps that I had taken - that lives of the innocents were snuffed out in such a callous and monstrous way, 42 years ago. As much as we all want to put this behind us, I could not shake the feeling of death all around me. 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians slaughtered on this very spot. Incredibly, it was the Vietnamese Veterans from these hamlets who were comforting me.
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Today is the 42nd anniversary of the massacre. It was a solemn event. As I looked around, I saw my friends, my fellow veterans, schoolchildren, local dignitaries. I noticed several elderly ladies standing together in the heat of the early morning, trying to shade their faces from the sun with their cone hats their only protection. I walked towards them as I often do here to just say good morning. I was quickly told by one of my hosts that these ladies were some of the only survivors of that day – these were the survivors of My Lai! Together, we found some shade on the steps of the museum that lead to the wall containing the names of those who were murdered. They, the surviving victims, were now speaking to me, smiling, looking into my eyes, holding my hands, telling me everything is OK now. I felt the agony as I held their hands, but I also saw and felt the hope that has endured them for 42 years now.

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I am heading back to Danang soon. My friends are visiting a temple at a nearby mountaintop and I will join them. As I look north, I still feel the death, the suffering. I still hear the cries. I have experienced too much in my years, but these past couple of days has proved to me that there is always something worse. My hope is that society has learned something from this atrocity. No people, no country should have to endure what the people of My Lai endured. Murder is not right no matter what it is called or where it occurs. Governments that keep silent knowing acts of violence like this occurred are as guilty, if not worse, than the murderers themselves.
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Photos: Chuck Palazzo
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