My Lai Massacre Research Paper

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The Atrocities of the My Lai Massacre The My Lai Massacre was a horrible, unnecessary mass killing of innocent Vietnamese villagers on March 16th, 1968 in the Quang Ngai Province. “U. S. military officials suspected Quang Ngai Province as being an enemy stronghold. The U. S. targeted the province for the first major U.S. combat operation of the war. Military officials declared the province a "free-fire zone" and subjected it to frequent bombing missions and artillery attacks. By the end of 1967, many dwellings in the province had been destroyed and nearly 140,000 civilians left homeless.” (Linder) Company C of the United States was responsible for the killings. Victims of these killings included everyone such as men, women, children, and the elder. Many people consider this the “most shocking episode of Vietnam.” Between 347 and 504 unarmed citizens were murdered. That statement says so much considering how horrendous the Vietnam War was. The My Lai massacre will be forever remember in history. Company C showed no mercy for the innocent…show more content…
“Official army reports of the operation proclaimed a great victory: 128 enemy dead, only one American casualty (one soldier intentionally shot himself in the foot).” (Linder) It took well over a year for the news of the killings to reach the United States. Medina out of C company claimed that only 20 civilians were killed on crossfire however, rumors of the actual events that occurred bfegan to spread. After the truth had been fully exposed the killings were brought to court. After 4 months a court martial charged 26 men but only Lieutenant Calley was convicted of these crimes. Calley kept claiming that he was only following orders that he received from his commanding officer CPT Medina. Calley was sentenced life in prison but was later reduced to 20 years by President Nixon. After only serving 3 years Lieutenant Calley was set free by President

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