The Vietnam Anti-war Movement

"Massacre at My Lai Village"

by Evan Brown

 

This massacre overseas in My Lai Village was not the result of an accident. It was the result of an over-controlling government forcing our troops overseas to fight a war that we don’t need to fight. However sad this catastrophe may be, it provides us anti-war advocates a glimpse of hope in order to fight against this horrendous war. It is believed that over 500 innocent villagers, including women and children, were executed in a terrifying manner by United States soldiers. These executions were clearly caused by emotional trauma and the thirst for revenge felt by American soldiers after the Tet Offensive.

The soldiers were on a mission to collect weapons and to destroy a supposed Viet Cong stronghold, then they were ordered to destroy the village. When they arrived, the soldiers found no Viet Cong, but rounded up and murdered hundreds of civilians–mostly women, children and old men–in an extremely brutal fashion, including rape and torture. Of course the United States government wanted to make the war appear to be useful, so they decided to hold off releasing the story to the American people over concerns about what the American people would think.

There was one American injury during the entire raid on My Lai Village, and it was when an American soldier accidentally shot himself in the foot. The injuries that the innocent Vietnamese people suffered include the words "C Company" carved into the chest, and one soldier would testify later, "I cut their throats, cut off their hands, cut out their tongues, scalped them.This war is horrible on American and Vietnamese people alike.