Lay, the most symbolic massacre
The worst thing in the war met on the morning of March 16, 1968 in Aldia from my countryWrong intelligence reports, officers are not ready to lead combat units, thirst for blood and running all moral standards. The result: The massacre of more than 500 Vietnamese, Most of them are women, children and the elderly.
Charlie had the task of destroying a Communist fighters stronghold. Before the helicopters landed, the entire area suffered from severe bombings. But they only found civilians who were gathering and killed in a four -hour operation.
The houses were burned, Dead animals and destroyed crops. Women and girls were raped before the killing. The largest part of the battalion Vietnamese fighter relatives It was more than sixty kilometers as American soldiers landed.
Although some American soldiers tried to stop the murder and threatened their teammates to open the fire, The United States Army made the factsHe did not take into account the complaints of these soldiers who witnessed crimes from the air and reduced the number of deaths to a very small part with the intention of hiding the violence in which the forces acted.
A helicopter artillery was called Ron Ridenhor, who broke the era of silence that affected the leadership chain And in which different officers participated. He wrote letters to President Richard Nixon, many senior members of Congress.
By not getting an answer, call him Simmour Hirsch research journalistHe wrote an article in a small agency called Dispatch News Service and a week later he expanded it in Cleveland Plain Dealer accompanied by Ronald L. Haberi, a photographer of the US Army, was with the military unit responsible for the massacre. The scandal has become global more than a year and a half when Life Magazine magazine has published a wide report In its number December 5, 1969.
Footage of the American media has been sold
Sergeant Ron L. He was responsible for documenting this task and used black and white rollers to record the interrogation of detainees, according to the orders received. But he also did Colorful pictures with his personal camera, which he never handed over to his control tools It ended with the sale of thousands of dollars to the American media.
Pictures are part of a historical document that caused an earthquake in American society. Some of them see a A group of women and children terrified before killingTo the dead child together for their mothers, and the soldiers who burn homes and dozens of bodies have accumulated and abandoned the roads.
Not some of the most difficult pictures, which can be seen in the My Lai Museum, were published in the press: there The bodies are seen with shattered faces To get shots made to the Bocagaru.
“Wherever we look, we saw bodies”
NcoAccording to the task of confession, his helicopter managed to land when his colleagues continued to shoot the villagers who fled.
Maroub, his citizens threatened to open the fire if they continued to shoot randomly. “We continue to fly from one side to another … and he did not spend much time until we started noting the large number of bodies everywhere. Wherever we look, we saw bodies. They were children, children of two, three, four, five years, women or the elderly. Thompson did not tell him at a conference on Lai at the University of Toleen after several years, in 1994.
Thompson informed his superiors of the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. The investigation was opened that the operation has achieved a resounding success. A month and a week later, Colonel Uran Henderson, the commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade to which the company belongs, was. He emphasized that only twenty civilians died by mistake During the first artillery shelling and concluded that Thomson’s report was wrong. This uneasy officer and his crew transferred some of the injured to the campaign hospital to be treated. In 1998 they were decorated with a soldier’s medal.
Lieutenant Cali was sentenced to life imprisonment
The leader was the lieutenant William Cali, who was tried for six intentional murder positions in 1969 The head of the massacre and sentenced him to life imprisonment in March 1971 on charges of killing 22 people, although he spent most of the time arresting him. President Richard Nixon eased the ruling after three years and was free.
The judicial operation put the American army suspected of covering up and hiding evidence. His president, Captain Ernst Medina, President of Charlie and 29 other officers. Some Kali subordinates confirmed during the investigation that this officer is N.Or you are ready to direct the fighting unit.
Today’s visit is Brock with the remains of that tragedy. From the village, which was in a beautiful valley and fertility, only The basis for some houses on the ground floor. A memorial for a mother with her dead son appears in her arms surrounded by other victims.
In the museum, there is an assault, ammunition and a shell like those used on that day next to the photos taken by Sergeant Ron L. The individual list of 504 victims shows their ages. Many of the palace was inverted, some of only one year.
the Pictures of soldiers responsible for the tragedyAmong those who tried to avoid this and a picture of Simore Hersh, who won the Politzer Award to achieve, and recorded in his notebook evidence of his visit to this horror museum.
