My Lai Massacre Essay
On March 16, 1968, members of Company C, also known as Charlie Company, of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division working under the command of Captain Medina and Lieutenant Calley entered the South Vietnamese village of My Lai and systematically murdered between 347 and 504 innocent non-combatant civilians. A series of investigations in the year following the incident led to the arrest of one officer who was released after only serving three and one half years under house arrest. How did it happen that a massacre of such a great scale ended with little to no repercussions for those involved? Who was really to blame for the massacre: the men on the ground or the higher ups? I believe
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of Company B. After seeing what was happening from above and witnessing Captain Medina kick and murder a civilian woman, Thompson flew between members of Charlie Company and My Lai villagers to fly the villagers to safety. Why would Thompson go as far as to order his men to fire on the American troops if they advanced simply to protect the My Lai villagers, but members of Charlie Company wouldn’t disobey the order to kill them (American Experience)? The placement of responsibility is even more muddied now. Why did one soldier disobey and illegal command, but others did not? It is possible that the specific commanders of Charlie Company were even more forceful with the acceptance of command than other units. This may be the case of Lt. Calley whom many of the troops described as constantly going “above and beyond” whatever Captain Medina ordered him to do (American Experience). Further, Captain Medina was described a through and through military man. Adding on to this harsh command was the fact that “the month of February was the most devastating month” for Charlie Company (American Experience). The troops were tired, frustrated, and had lost nearly 50 men to land mines and snipers at the time of the My Lai Massacre. Before this month, they had spent most of their time simply going to villages and setting up perimeters - a rather lax activity. Does this remove culpability? Certainly not, but it does provide more reasoning behind why the men were so reluctant to disobey the commands at My
of Company B. After seeing what was happening from above and witnessing Captain Medina kick and murder a civilian woman, Thompson flew between members of Charlie Company and My Lai villagers to fly the villagers to safety. Why would Thompson go as far as to order his men to fire on the American troops if they advanced simply to protect the My Lai villagers, but members of Charlie Company wouldn’t disobey the order to kill them (American Experience)? The placement of responsibility is even more muddied now. Why did one soldier disobey and illegal command, but others did not? It is possible that the specific commanders of Charlie Company were even more forceful with the acceptance of command than other units. This may be the case of Lt. Calley whom many of the troops described as constantly going “above and beyond” whatever Captain Medina ordered him to do (American Experience). Further, Captain Medina was described a through and through military man. Adding on to this harsh command was the fact that “the month of February was the most devastating month” for Charlie Company (American Experience). The troops were tired, frustrated, and had lost nearly 50 men to land mines and snipers at the time of the My Lai Massacre. Before this month, they had spent most of their time simply going to villages and setting up perimeters - a rather lax activity. Does this remove culpability? Certainly not, but it does provide more reasoning behind why the men were so reluctant to disobey the commands at My