My Lai massacre By. Makayla Watkins, Stanly Haynes, and Kyle Ankney

Background My Lai lay in the south Vietnamese district of Son My. This was a heavily mined area where the Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of the Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area in the preceding weeks. The agitated troops,under the command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement on March 16, 1968.

The Massacre As the mission unfolded it soon turned into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians ( includes women, children, and the elderly). Calley ordered the men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire. Eyewitnesses say that old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head Calley said to round up a group of villagers,ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down with machine gun fire documentingreality.com

Investigations and questions Word of the massacre did not reach the American public until November, 1969 The gruesome details of My Lai reached the American public, serious questions arose concerning the conduct. Investigating the massacre found widespread failures of leadership, discipline, and morale among the army’s fighting units.

Language of the war AIRBURST- explosion of ammunition in the air AIR CAV- air cavalry, referring o helicopter-borne infantry. ARCOMS- Army commendation medals ARTY- artillery BAC SI- Vietnamese term for medical corpsman; doctor BIRD- any aircraft, usually helicopters

Language of the war cont. BLUELEG- infantryman, a.k.a. “grunt” CAV- nickname for air cavalry C&C – command and control CHERRY- a new troop replacement CHURCH KEY- bottle opener CRACKER BOX- field ambulance

Artillery They used various forms of artillery, both stationed and carried into the field. Infantrymen carried lighter guns on patrol, using them to provide close up, mobile support. The larger guns, positioned at firebase throughout the south. historyimages.blogspot.com

Photos of the massacre digitalhistory.uh.edu kattydl.freeiz.com

Sources hes/my_lai.html hes/my_lai.html