ON THIS DAY - MARCH 16, 1968

1968 - Vietnam: My Lai Massacre

Carrying on the tradition of 'teaching' American values to the godless & the communist, Captain Medina leads a 'victorious' attack on the village of Xom Lang, near My Lai in South Vietnam.

While the upper brass circles overhead in helicopters,
Charlie Company enters the hamlet of My Lai 4 &
methodically & ruthlessly murders an estimated 347
civilians over an 8-hour period.

Most are women, children & old men. Some are slain by
bullets fired into their houses, others herded into small
groups & mowed down, & still more die when they are
hurled into a ditch & sprayed with automatic rifle fire.

The Army will first try to cover it up & the US media will
refuse to report it. Later they will portray it as an aberration,
one bad guy (Calley), one good guy (who stops it). Calley
is later convicted, sent to his room for being a bad boy,
then released.


Photograph of Kim Phuc (reprinted above) running from a napalm attack on My Lai with her clothes burnt off, one of the most enduring images of the Vietnam War. She recalls: "Nick Ut [the photographer,] took us to the hospital nearby and then he dropped us there and ran into the darkroom to develop the film that he took."