These photos are of the chilling events that took place in Vietnam, named the My Lai Massacre. In high school, I took a course on the Vietnam War and the photo above is the one memory I have of that class, as well as the one photo that generated the biggest reaction from the students. The My Lai Massacre was one event during the Vietnam War (others: Agent Orange, Tet Offensive, Cuban Missile Crisis, Kent State shootings) that created a distrust of US soldiers by those back home. On March 16, 1968 in the Son My (My Lai) village, US soldiers took many unarmed Vietnamese people, mostly women and children, put them into a ditch and executed them under the orders of Lt. William Calley. After numerous investigations and cover ups, the My Lai Massacre was not made public until November 12, 1969. Of the 26 men charged, only one, Lt. Calley was convicted or pre-meditated murder.
Woman and Gun
When I learned about this, I couldn’t believe it. To think that our troops would kill innocent people for revenge is sickening and the fact that they weren’t punished for their actions is worse. If you look closely, you can see the bodies of at least 3 children, two being babies. I realize that these photos are gruesome and shocking but I think it is important for them to be seen. We constantly criticize other countries for brutality and look what representatives of our country have done as well as what our country has done to rectify the situation. The picture below is the ditch as it is today and the women in the photo are survivors. These women survived by burrowing under the bodies of their family members and hiding from the soldiers. I think that the pain of the memories is evident on their faces.
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