The National Veterans' Inquiry was a national-level inquiry into American war crimes in Vietnam . They were held December 1–3, 1970 in Washington, DC.
58-1058: In November 1969, after the My Lai massacre was revealed in the U.S. press, the Bertrand Russell Foundation, with antiwar activists Jeremy Rifkin and lawyer Tod Ensign , organized the Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI) in the United States to document American war crimes in Vietnam. The CCI, held their first inquiry in February 1970 in Annapolis, Maryland. Further inquiries were held in Springfield , Massachusetts ; Richmond, Virginia ; New York City ; Buffalo ; Boston ; Minneapolis ; Los Angeles ; and, Portland, Oregon . In some cities,
116-547: A Purple Heart for other services in Vietnam. In March 1998, the helicopter crew's medals were replaced by the Soldier's Medal , the highest the U.S. Army can award for bravery not involving direct conflict with the enemy. The medal citations state they were "for heroism above and beyond the call of duty while saving the lives of at least 10 Vietnamese civilians during the unlawful massacre of non-combatants by American forces at My Lai". Thompson initially refused to accept
174-458: A Letter of Commendation to Medina on 27 March 1968. The following day, 28 March, the commander of Task Force Barker submitted a combat action report for the 16 March operation, in which he stated that the operation in Mỹ Lai was a success, with 128 VC combatants killed. The Americal Division commander, General Koster, sent a congratulatory message to Charlie Company. General William C. Westmoreland ,
232-546: A My Lai each month for over a year. Veterans of the operation spoke about the killing of civilians at the National Veterans' Inquiry in Washington, D.C. This United States military article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . My Lai massacre The My Lai massacre ( / m iː l aɪ / mee ly ; Vietnamese : Thảm sát Mỹ Lai [tʰâːm ʂǎːt mǐˀ lāːj] )
290-458: A bloody day-long battle." On 16 March 1968, in the official press briefing known as the "Five O'Clock Follies" , a mimeographed release included this passage: "In an action today, Americal Division forces killed 128 enemy near Quang Ngai City. Helicopter gunships and artillery missions supported the ground elements throughout the day." Initial investigations of the Mỹ Lai operation were undertaken by Colonel Henderson, under orders from
348-470: A cold-blooded break for lunch". Owing to the chaotic circumstances of the war and the U.S. Army's decision not to undertake a definitive body count of noncombatants in Vietnam, the number of civilians killed at Mỹ Lai cannot be stated with certainty. Estimates vary from source to source, with 347 and 504 being the most commonly cited figures. The memorial at the site of the massacre lists 504 names, with ages ranging from one to 82. A later investigation by
406-444: A group of people who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else. We met no resistance and I only saw three captured weapons. We had no casualties. It was just like any other Vietnamese village – old papa-sans, women and kids. As a matter of fact, I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive. One group of 20–50 villagers
464-431: A hand grenade. Thompson then saw a group of civilians at a bunker being approached by ground personnel. Thompson landed, and told his crew that if the soldiers shot at the villagers while he was trying to get them out of the bunker, then they were to open fire on the soldiers. Thompson later testified that he spoke with a lieutenant (identified as Stephen Brooks of 2nd Platoon) and told him there were women and children in
522-693: A range of government scandals and other issues. Years later, Ridenhour published an account of learning about the My Lai massacre in his article, "Jesus Was a Gook," published in Nobody Gets Off the Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book (1994). He died at age 52 of a heart attack in 1998 in Metairie, Louisiana . He had been playing handball. According to Jonathan Glover 's book, Humanity: A Moral History of
580-781: A range of topics. The Ridenhour Prizes were established in his honor. Ridenhour was born in Oakland, California , and was raised in Phoenix, Arizona . He entered the US Army during the Vietnam War , serving as a helicopter gunner. While serving in Vietnam , Ridenhour heard of the Mỹ Lai massacre from friends in the service. While still on active duty, he gathered eyewitness and participant accounts from other soldiers. After his return to
638-599: A rifleman in Charlie Company, said, "We were told to leave nothing standing. We did what we were told, regardless of whether they were civilians." On the morning of 16 March at 07:30, around 100 soldiers from Charlie Company led by Medina, following a short artillery and helicopter gunship barrage, landed in helicopters at Sơn Mỹ, a patchwork of individual homesteads, grouped settlements, rice paddies, irrigation ditches, dikes, and dirt roads, connecting an assortment of hamlets and sub-hamlets. The largest among them were
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#1732787281065696-528: The 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker ). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12. The incident was the largest massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century. On the morning of the massacre, C Company, commanded by Captain Ernest Medina , was sent into one of the village's hamlets (marked on maps as My Lai 4) expecting to engage
754-584: The United States in 1969, he wrote a letter detailing the evidence he had uncovered, which he sent to President Richard Nixon , five senior officials at the State Department and the Pentagon , and 24 members of Congress . The Department of Defense conducted a lengthy investigation. A total of 26 soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, although Second Lieutenant William Calley
812-607: The Viet Cong 's Local Force 48th Battalion, which was not present. The killing began while the troops were searching the village for guerillas, and continued after they realized that no guerillas seemed to be present. Villagers were gathered together, held in the open, then murdered with automatic weapons, bayonets, and hand grenades; one large group of villagers was shot in an irrigation ditch. Soldiers also burned down homes and killed livestock. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. and his helicopter crew are credited with attempting to stop
870-655: The 48th. Sơn Mỹ was located southwest of the Batangan Peninsula , a VC stronghold throughout the war. In February and March 1968, the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was aggressively trying to regain the strategic initiative in South Vietnam after the Tet Offensive, and the search-and-destroy operation against the 48th Battalion thought to be located in Sơn Mỹ became a small part of
928-495: The Americal Division's executive officer, Brigadier General George H. Young. Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved in the incident, then issued a written report in late-April claiming that some 20 civilians were inadvertently killed during the operation. According to Henderson's report, the civilian casualties that occurred were accidental and mainly attributed to long-range artillery fire. The Army at this time
986-505: The Mỹ Lai massacre. Since there had been little research over the case other than that of the Peers Commission, which solely accounts the cases with explicit rape signs like torn cloth and nudity, the actual number of rapes is not easy to estimate. According to the reports, the rape victims ranged between the ages of 10 and 45, with nine being under 18. The sexual assaults included gang rapes and sexual torture. No U.S. serviceman
1044-470: The U.S. military's overall strategy. Task Force Barker (TF Barker), a battalion-sized ad hoc unit of 11th Brigade, was to be deployed for the operation. It was formed in January 1968, composed of three rifle companies of the 11th Brigade, including Charlie Company, led by Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Frank A. Barker. Sơn Mỹ village was included in the area of operations of TF Barker. The area of operations (AO)
1102-450: The U.S. Army arrived at a lower figure of 347 deaths, the official U.S. estimate. The official estimate by the local government remains 504. Initial reports claimed "128 Viet Cong and 22 civilians" had been killed in the village during a "fierce fire fight". Westmoreland congratulated the unit on the "outstanding job". As relayed at the time by Stars and Stripes magazine, "U.S. infantrymen had killed 128 Communists in
1160-796: The Vietnam War . Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr. , the leader of 1st Platoon in C Company, was convicted. He was found guilty of murdering 22 villagers and originally given a life sentence , but served three-and-a-half years under house arrest after U.S. president Richard Nixon commuted his sentence. Charlie Company , 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade , 23rd Infantry Division , arrived in South Vietnam in December ;1967. Though their first three months in Vietnam passed without any direct contact with People's Army of Vietnam or Viet Cong (VC) forces, by mid-March
1218-563: The bunker, and asked if the lieutenant would help get them out. According to Thompson, "he [the lieutenant] said the only way to get them out was with a hand grenade". Thompson testified that he then told Brooks to "just hold your men right where they are, and I'll get the kids out." He found 12–16 people in the bunker, coaxed them out and led them to the helicopter, standing with them while they were flown out in two groups. Returning to Mỹ Lai, Thompson and other air crew members noticed several large groups of bodies. Spotting some survivors in
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#17327872810651276-424: The children were alive at first. Then, the children who were old enough to walk got up and Calley began to shoot the children". Other 1st Platoon members testified that many of the deaths of individual Vietnamese men, women and children occurred inside Mỹ Lai during the security sweep. To ensure the hamlets could no longer offer support to the enemy, the livestock was shot as well. When PFC Michael Bernhardt entered
1334-618: The commissions were co-sponsored by antiwar coalitions, in others they were organized independently. Men who had taken part in the CIA 's Phoenix Program described it as a program based on terror, torture, and assassination. Participants in the Operation Speedy Express filed confidential reports "of helicopter gunships mowing down noncombatants, of airstrikes on villages, of farmers gunned down in their fields while commanders pressed relentlessly for high body counts" amounting to
1392-646: The company had suffered 28 casualties involving mines or booby-traps . During the Tet Offensive in January 1968, attacks were carried out in Quảng Ngãi by the VC 48th Local Force Battalion. U.S. military intelligence assumed that the 48th Battalion, having retreated and dispersed, was taking refuge in the village of Sơn Mỹ, in Quảng Ngãi province . A number of specific hamlets within that village – designated Mỹ Lai (1) through Mỹ Lai (6) – were suspected of harboring
1450-422: The ditch and shot dead by soldiers after repeated orders issued by Calley, who was also shooting. PFC Paul Meadlo testified that he expended several M16 rifle magazines. He recollected that women were saying "No VC" and were trying to shield their children. He remembered that he was shooting old men and women, ranging in ages from grandmothers to teenagers, many with babies or small children in their arms, since he
1508-418: The ditch and the pilot asked Calley if they could provide any medical assistance to the wounded civilians in Mỹ Lai; Calley admitted replying that "a hand grenade was the only available means he had for their evacuation". At 11:00 Medina radioed an order to cease fire, and 1st Platoon took a break, during which they ate lunch. Members of 2nd Platoon killed at least 60–70 Vietnamese, as they swept through
1566-992: The ditch, Thompson landed again. A crew member, Specialist 4 Glenn Andreotta , entered the ditch and returned with a bloodied but apparently unharmed four-year-old girl, who was then flown to safety. Upon returning to the LZ Dottie base in his OH-23, Thompson reported to his section leader, Captain Barry Lloyd, that the American infantry were no different from Nazis in their slaughter of innocent civilians: It's mass murder out there. They're rounding them up and herding them in ditches and then just shooting them. Thompson then reported what he had seen to his company commander, Major Frederic W. Watke, using terms such as "murder" and "needless and unnecessary killings". Thompson's statements were confirmed by other helicopter pilots and air crew members. For his actions at Mỹ Lai, Thompson
1624-406: The ditch; the sergeant replied that he would "help them out of their misery". Thompson, shocked and confused, then spoke with 2LT Calley, who claimed to be "just following orders" . As the helicopter took off, Thompson saw Mitchell firing into the ditch. Thompson and his crew witnessed an unarmed woman being kicked and shot at point-blank range by Medina, who later claimed that he thought she had
1682-495: The enemy and wipe them out for good". In turn, LTC Barker reportedly ordered the 1st Battalion commanders to burn the houses, kill the livestock, destroy food supplies, and destroy and/or poison the wells. On the eve of the attack, at the Charlie Company briefing, Captain Ernest Medina told his men that nearly all the civilian residents of the hamlets in Sơn Mỹ village would have left for the market by 07:00, and that any who remained would most likely be VC or VC sympathizers. He
1740-560: The ground. Medina then gave the cease-fire order to Charlie Company to "cut [the killing] out – knock it off". Since Thompson made an official report of the civilian killings, he was interviewed by Colonel Oran Henderson, the commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade. Concerned, senior American officers canceled similar planned operations by Task Force Barker against other villages (My Lai 5, My Lai 1, etc.) in Quảng Ngãi Province . Despite Thompson's revealing information, Henderson issued
1798-618: The hamlets Mỹ Lai, Cổ Lũy, Mỹ Khê, and Tu Cung. The GIs expected to engage the Vietcong Local Force 48th Battalion, which was one of the Vietcong's most successful units. Although the GIs were not fired upon after landing, they still suspected there were VC guerrillas hiding underground or in the huts. Confirming their suspicions, the gunships engaged several armed enemies in the vicinity of Mỹ Lai, killing four; later, one weapon
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1856-403: The head of MACV, also congratulated Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry for "outstanding action", saying that they had "dealt [the] enemy [a] heavy blow". Later, he changed his stance, writing in his memoir that it was "the conscious massacre of defenseless babies, children, mothers, and old men in a kind of diabolical slow-motion nightmare that went on for the better part of a day, with
1914-459: The killings occurred in the southern part of Tu Cung, a sub-hamlet of Xom Lang, which was a home to 700 residents. Xom Lang was erroneously marked on the U.S. military operational maps of Quảng Ngãi Province as Mỹ Lai. A large group of approximately 70–80 villagers was rounded up by 1st Platoon in Xom Lang and led to an irrigation ditch east of the settlement. They were then pushed into
1972-411: The killings started without warning. He first observed a member of 1st Platoon strike a Vietnamese man with a bayonet . Then the same trooper pushed another villager into a well and threw a grenade in the well. Next, he saw fifteen or twenty people, mainly women and children, kneeling around a temple with burning incense . They were praying and crying. They were all killed by shots to the head. Most of
2030-545: The massacre. On the same day, B Company massacred an additional 60 to 155 people in the nearby hamlet of My Khe 4. The massacre was originally reported as a battle against Viet Cong troops, and was covered up in initial investigations by the U.S. Army. The efforts of veteran Ronald Ridenhour and journalist Seymour Hersh broke the news of the massacre to the American public in November 1969, prompting global outrage and contributing to domestic opposition to U.S. involvement in
2088-413: The medal when the U.S. Army wanted to award it quietly. He demanded it be done publicly and that his crew be honored in the same way. After returning to base at about 11:00, Thompson reported the massacre to his superiors. His allegations of civilian killings quickly reached LTC Barker, the operation's overall commander. Barker radioed his executive officer to find out from Medina what was happening on
2146-529: The northern half of Mỹ Lai and through Binh Tay, a small sub-hamlet about 400 metres (1,300 ft) north of Mỹ Lai. After the initial sweeps by 1st and 2nd Platoons, 3rd Platoon was dispatched to deal with any "remaining resistance". 3rd Platoon, which stayed in reserve, reportedly rounded up and killed a group of seven to twelve women and children. Since Charlie Company had not met any enemy opposition at Mỹ Lai and did not request back-up, Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of TF Barker
2204-404: The people with M79 grenade launchers ... I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Calley testified that he heard the shooting and arrived on the scene. He observed his men firing into a ditch with Vietnamese people inside, then began to take part in the shooting himself, using an M16 from a distance of no more than 5 feet (1.5 m). During the massacre, a helicopter landed on the other side of
2262-505: The reddish-pink color used on military maps to denote a more densely populated area, and the carnage was initially referred to as the Pinkville Massacre . On 16–18 March, TF Barker planned to engage and destroy the remnants of the 48th Battalion, allegedly hiding in the Sơn Mỹ village area. Before the engagement, Colonel Oran K. Henderson , the 11th Brigade commander, urged his officers to "go in there aggressively, close with
2320-505: The rice fields and in the brush. Instead of the expected enemy, the GIs found women, children and old men, many of whom were cooking breakfast over outdoor fires. The villagers were getting ready for a market day and at first did not panic or run away as they were herded into the hamlet's common spaces and homestead yards. Harry Stanley, a machine gunner from Charlie Company, said during the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division inquiry that
2378-508: The subhamlet of Xom Lang, the massacre was underway: I walked up and saw these guys doing strange things ... Setting fire to the hootches and huts and waiting for people to come out and then shooting them ... going into the hootches and shooting them up ... gathering people in groups and shooting them ... As I walked in you could see piles of people all through the village ... all over. They were gathered up into large groups. I saw them shoot an M79 grenade launcher into
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2436-525: The time the killings stopped, Charlie Company had suffered one casualty – a soldier who had intentionally shot himself in the foot to avoid participating in the massacre – and just three enemy weapons were confiscated. According to the Peers Commission Investigation, the U.S. government allocated commission for inquiry into the incident, concluded at least 20 Vietnamese women and girls were raped during
2494-533: Was a war crime committed by the United States Army on 16 March 1968, involving the mass murder of unarmed civilians in Sơn Mỹ village, Quảng Ngãi province , South Vietnam , during the Vietnam War . At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment , 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment , 11th Brigade of
2552-656: Was an American known for having played a central role in spurring the federal investigation of the 1968 Mỹ Lai massacre in Vietnam. When he first learned of events there, he was serving in the United States 11th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam. He gathered evidence and interviewed people before the end of his tour. After returning to the US in 1969, he wrote to President Nixon, members of his cabinet and two dozen Congressmen recounting what he had learned. A full-scale Department of Defense investigation eventually took place. Ridenhour became an award-winning investigative journalist, working on
2610-458: Was asked whether the order included the killing of women and children. Those present later gave differing accounts of Medina's response. Some, including platoon leaders, testified that the orders, as they understood them, were to kill all VC and North Vietnamese combatants and "suspects" (including women and children, as well as all animals), to burn the village, and pollute the wells. He was quoted as saying, "They're all VC, now go and get them", and
2668-592: Was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross , while his crew members Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn were awarded the Bronze Star . Glenn Andreotta was awarded his medal posthumously, as he was killed in Vietnam on April 8, 1968. As the DFC citation included a fabricated account of rescuing a young girl from Mỹ Lai from "intense crossfire", Thompson threw his medal away. He later received
2726-429: Was charged with rape. According to an eyewitness, as reported by Seymour Hersh in his book on the massacre, a woman was raped after her children were killed by the U.S. soldiers. Another Vietnamese villager also noticed soldiers rape a 13-year-old girl. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. , a helicopter pilot from Company B (Aero-Scouts), 123rd Aviation Battalion, Americal Division, saw dead and wounded civilians as he
2784-420: Was codenamed Muscatine AO , after Muscatine County, Iowa , the home county of the 23rd Division's commander, Major General Samuel W. Koster . In February 1968, TF Barker had already tried to secure Sơn Mỹ, with limited success. After that, the village area began to be referred to as Pinkville by TF Barker troops. The U.S. Army slang name for the hamlets and sub-hamlets in that area was Pinkville , due to
2842-420: Was convinced at that time that they were all booby-trapped with grenades and poised to attack. On another occasion during the security sweep of My Lai, Meadlo again fired into civilians side by side with Lieutenant Calley. PFC Dennis Konti, a witness for the prosecution, told of one especially gruesome episode during the shooting, "A lot of women had thrown themselves on top of the children to protect them, and
2900-403: Was flying over the village of Sơn Mỹ, providing close-air support for ground forces. The crew made several attempts to radio for help for the wounded. They landed their helicopter by a ditch, which they noted was full of bodies and in which they could discern movement by survivors. Thompson asked a sergeant he encountered there (David Mitchell of 1st Platoon) if he could help get the people out of
2958-430: Was heard to reply to the question "Who is my enemy?", by saying, "Anybody that was running from us, hiding from us, or appeared to be the enemy. If a man was running, shoot him, sometimes even if a woman with a rifle was running, shoot her." At Calley's trial, one defense witness testified that he remembered Medina instructing to destroy everything in the village that was "walking, crawling or growling". Charlie Company
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#17327872810653016-463: Was herded south of Xom Lang and killed on a dirt road. According to U.S. Army photographer Sgt. Ronald Haeberle 's eyewitness account of the massacre, in one instance, There were some South Vietnamese people, maybe fifteen of them, women and children included, walking on a dirt road maybe 100 yards [90 m] away. All of a sudden the GIs just opened up with M16s. Beside the M16 fire, they were shooting at
3074-592: Was noted in the Courts Martial proceedings that some soldiers of Charlie Company did not participate in any killings, it was noted they neither openly protested against them nor filed complaints later to their superiors. William Thomas Allison, a professor of Military History at Georgia Southern University, wrote, "By midmorning, members of Charlie Company had killed hundreds of civilians and raped or assaulted countless women and young girls. They encountered no enemy fire and found no weapons in My Lai itself". By
3132-452: Was retrieved from the site. According to the operational plan, 1st Platoon, led by Second Lieutenant (2LT) William Calley , and 2nd Platoon, led by 2LT Stephen Brooks, entered the hamlet of Tu Cung in line formation at 08:00, while the 3rd Platoon, commanded by 2LT Jeffrey U. Lacross, and Captain Medina's command post remained outside. On approach, both platoons fired at people they saw in
3190-522: Was still describing the event as a military victory that had resulted in the deaths of 128 enemy combatants. Six months later, Tom Glen, a 21-year-old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, wrote a letter to General Creighton Abrams , the new MACV commander. He described an ongoing and routine brutality against Vietnamese civilians on the part of American forces in Vietnam that he had personally witnessed, and then concluded, Ronald Ridenhour Ronald Lee Ridenhour (April 6, 1946 – May 10, 1998)
3248-514: Was the only one convicted, for killing 22 villagers. Despite being sentenced to life imprisonment , Calley spent less than three days in prison before being placed under house arrest by order of President Nixon, and after having his sentence reduced by the Army he was released after serving just three years. Ridenhour went to college after his service and graduated in 1972 from Claremont Men's College . He became an investigative journalist, reporting on
3306-427: Was to enter the village of Sơn Mỹ spearheaded by 1st Platoon , engage the enemy, and flush them out. The other two companies from TF Barker were ordered to secure the area and provide support if needed. The area was designated a free fire zone , where American forces were allowed to deploy artillery and air strikes in populated areas, without consideration of risk to civilian or non-combatant lives. Varnado Simpson ,
3364-448: Was transported by air between 08:15 and 08:30 3 km (2 mi) away. It attacked the subhamlet My Hoi of the hamlet known as Cổ Lũy, which was mapped by the Army as Mỹ Khê. During this operation, between 60 and 155 people, including women and children, were killed. Over the remaining day, both companies were involved in the further burning and destruction of dwellings, as well as continued mistreatment of Vietnamese detainees. While it
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