Introduction
The Vietnam War (1955-1975) was a costly and long military conflict between North and South Vietnam, which killed more than 3 million people. More than half of the casualties were Vietnamese civilians, a horrific figure that shows the high hatred between the two sides. It may be explained that the local conflict was an element of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
Therefore, historians identified many war crimes against civilians that happened on both sides of the conflict. In this essay, the 1968 My Lai massacre will be analyzed in detail to understand the genesis of such atrocities. The book “My Lai: An American Atrocity in the Vietnam War,” written by William Allison, will be used for evidence about these events.
Description of Events
These tragic events occurred in 1968 when the American presence in Vietnam had taken a dramatic turn. American soldiers from Charlie Company entered the village called My Lai with the aim of finding members of a Communist guerrilla force called the Viet Cong. The American soldiers fought the war of attrition, a type of search-and-destroy mission, because it was perceived that such a strategy would eventually lead to the opponent’s inability to replace its losses.
American soldiers faced no resistance in the village, although officers anticipated the presence of the Viet Cong. Allison described their reasoning: “They knew that any Vietnamese could be Viet Cong and should either be rounded up and brought rearward for interrogation or shot on sight if running away” (38). Such a predisposition created increased suspicion towards all Vietnamese residents.
As a result, many innocent people were victims of soldiers’ aggression. For example, Allison described how several soldiers killed a woman and her child. Although the woman cried and asked for mercy, Lieutenant Brooks ordered a private to shoot her. Explaining his decision, the private commented: “Acting on his orders, I shot the woman and her baby” (Allison 39).
In fact, it is just one case of the great volume of violence against civilians. American soldiers killed children who asked for chocolate and other gifts from M-16 assault rifles, threw grenades at homes, and tested new weapons on people. There were also many cases of rape of frightened women. In Allison’s description of the conversation between soldiers, there is a phrase: “Roschevitz said he had forced them all to undress so that he could have sex with them, threatening to shoot all” (39). Criminal authorities should prosecute American soldiers involved in this massacre.
Search for Roots of Violence
There are several explanations for why American soldiers were extremely violent during their stay in My Lai. The first one is that they were trained to execute orders, no matter the content of these orders. As Lieutenant Brooks’s radio operator noted, “They were doing a good job, and they were doing it, more or less, because they were told” (Allison 38). American soldiers’ immense patriotism and faith in implementing divine order in Vietnam may explain their behavior.
Another explanation is that the protracted war in Vietnam made American soldiers extremely tired of constant waiting, so they dehumanized their opponents during periods of swift action. For example, another Lieutenant who ordered the killing of people was Calley. He, with the help of his subordinates, pushed women and children into the ditch and then ordered several privates to kill them all.
At some moment, a two-year-old boy tried to crawl out of other people’s bodies in the ditch. Allison notes that “Sledge and Stanley witnessed Calley throw the boy back into the ditch and shoot him” (Alisson 41). It is impossible to imagine that American soldiers could behave like this inside the United States with the children of their fellow citizens. At the same time, the life of the Vietnamese speaking a completely different language seemed insignificant.
The Trials of Calley and Medina
The My Lai massacre was followed by the prosecution of important figures in military personnel, William Calley Jr. and Ernest Medina. Medina was the captain of infantry in the US Army, so his military position was higher than Calley’s. The jurists who defended Calley claimed that soldiers of Charlie Company searched for revenge after they had been bloodied several weeks before the events in My Lai. As the jurists claimed, Medina issued the order to kill “every living thing in the helmet” after these accidents with Charlie Company (Allison 99). Hence, Calley had to obey and be ready for any attacks from the Viet Cong.
The judicial process happened against the background of high public attention. At the end of the trial, Medina was acquitted, while Calley was initially sentenced “to be confined at hard labor for the length of natural life; to be dismissed from the service” (Allison 111). However, such a court decision was faced with huge public criticism that supported the former lieutenant.
The Gallup poll showed that only 11% agreed with life imprisonment for Calley (Allison 111). Calley was perceived as an American hero who was the victim of the American establishment’s desire to find a scapegoat. Such pressure greatly undermined due process principles, forcing the court to set William Calley free on bail three years later.
In general, the fact that neither military leader did not receive due punishment for their crimes is a sad event for American justice. Pressure from the patriotic part of the US population and misinformation about the true events in My Lai influenced the decisions of the court. Calley’s defense insisted that he was following the orders of the top leadership, so he was forced to kill civilians.
At the same time, Calley had a chance to disobey criminal orders and stop the mass bloodshed. Even if we accept the logic of the execution of the order as the reason for cruelty, the court did not properly punish the top leadership. For example, Medina was acquitted even though he was also responsible for the deaths of the Vietnamese. Thus, the court’s decision in the case of these defendants is unlawful and unjustified.
Conclusion
This essay revealed details about the war crimes committed in My Lai. More than 500 people were killed by the American soldiers, who were intent on clearing the village of possible accomplices of the communist fighting groups. One can formulate many reasons for such brutality: a culture of following the orders of the highest leadership, a sense of the just cause, fatigue from a protracted war, and a sharp acceleration of a previously sluggish conflict. However, the American Court fell victim to the public consensus that lieutenants should be released regardless of the crimes committed. At the current time of war in Ukraine, the world community should not repeat the same mistakes.
Work Cited
Allison, William Thomas. My Lai: An American Atrocity in the Vietnam War. JHU Press, 2012.