Ha Thi Qui

The massacre of Vietnamese civilians in My Lai by American troops is a notorious example of the frustration American troops felt fighting a mostly invisible enemy. In the early morning of March 16, 1968, an army platoon led by Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr. entered the hamlet of My Lai (also known as Son My) looking for Viet Cong. The villagers had no reason to fear the soldiers, as American troops had been in the village before. The only people the Americans found in the village were women, children, and old men, but Calley and his troops were taught to suspect everybody of being VC. Accounts of how the massacre began vary, but by the time it ended, between 400 and 600 Vietnamese civilians were dead. The soldiers shot the Vietnamese in their huts and as they stood about in groups in the...