49 Years Ago Today, the US Slaughtered 500 Unarmed Men, Women, & Children

Thursday, March 16, 2017
By Paul Martin

Claire Bernish
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
March 16, 2017

Forty-nine years ago today, in one of the most heinous and grisly acts against civilians during wartime, as many as 500 unarmed men, women, children, and the elderly — nearly the entire population of the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai — were slaughtered, raped, and brutally tortured by United States troops.

As the U.S. military continues to deploy boots on the ground in additional nations — and as specters of totalitarianism and even greater militarism materialize as if pulled from a century ago — the lessons of My Lai should not be relegated to history’s ignominious dust bin.

History, after all, doesn’t repeat itself — ill-fated actions are carried out like déjà vu, by those who refuse to examine past mistakes as if they are sleepwalking through life.

“The My Lai hamlet, part of the village of Son My, was located in Quang Ngai province, which was believed to be a stronghold of the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Viet Cong (VC) and was a frequent target of U.S. and South Vietnamese bombing attacks,” History.com explains. “In March 1968, Charlie Company [or, C Company] of the Americal Division’s 11th Infantry Brigade received word that VC guerrillas had taken control of Son My. Led by Lieutenant William L. Calley, the unit was sent to the village on a search-and-destroy mission on March 16.”

Officials told C Company villagers had been informed they must evacuate by 7:00 a.m. on March 16, meaning soldiers would assume anyone they encountered should be considered enemy Viet Cong or sympathizers.

After an air assault was completed, Charlie Company — fully expecting to clash with VC fighters — burst into the village, spraying gunfire indiscriminately. But it quickly became apparent no militants were present, and women and children the soldiers found insisted no enemy forces remained in My Lai.

But that didn’t stop the dejected troops of C Company — who had only recently been reduced in number to around 100 men — from carrying out one of the most abominable wartime massacres of civilians in modern times.

At Calley’s command, the troops rounded up the unarmed residents and proceeded to burn the village. Soldiers dragged the innocent into ditches and shot whole groups with machine guns, while others raped, pillaged, and brutalized the community.

The Rest…HERE

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