Vietnamese women and children in Mỹ Lai photographed by U.S. Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle moments before they were killed during the My Lai Massacre, March 16, 1968 [1284X1914].

On March 16, 1968, American soldiers entered the village of Sơn Mỹ in Quảng Ngãi Province, searching for Viet Cong during the ongoing Tet Offensive. Intelligence had suggested several coastal hamlets were sheltering guerrillas.

Soldiers had been briefed by Colonel Oran Henderson to “go in there aggressively, close with the enemy, and wipe them out for good.”

Captain Ernest Medina of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division reportedly told his men of the villagers: “They’re all VC. Now go and get them.”

Some soldiers later recalled being ordered to destroy anything “walking, crawling, or growling,” while another remembered: “We were told to leave nothing standing.”

At roughly 8:00 AM, the 1st Platoon led by First Lieutenant William Calley and the 2nd Platoon led by Stephen Brooksentered the hamlet of Tu Cung. Instead of encountering Viet Cong, they found villagers preparing breakfast and getting ready for market. What followed was the My Lai Massacre.

Hundreds of unarmed civilians, elderly people, women, children, and infants, were killed. The U.S. Army later estimated 347 deaths, while the Vietnamese government lists 504 victims.

Soldiers fired into groups of civilians and into homes. Dennis Konti later testified:

“A lot of women had thrown themselves on top of the children to protect them… The children who were old enough to walk got up and Calley began to shoot the children.”

Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle documented the massacre with his camera. He captured the scene in the photograph above. Haeberle later recalled, “They started stripping her, taking her top off, and the mother, if that was her mother, was trying to protect her. The GIs were punching her around, and one of them kicked her,” before they were all shot.

Above the village, a helicopter crew, pilot Hugh Thompson Jr., Glenn Andreotta, and Lawrence Colburn, began noticing bodies everywhere.

Thompson later recalled:

“Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men. No draft-age people whatsoever.”

At first the crew believed the casualties were caused by artillery. After landing and seeing the killings firsthand, Thompson confronted Calley:

Thompson: “What’s going on here, Lieutenant?”

Calley: “This is my business.”

Thompson: “But these are human beings, unarmed civilians.”

Calley: “Look, Thompson, this is my show. It ain’t your concern.”

Thompson: “You ain’t heard the last of this.”

Thompson and his crew then intervened, evacuating civilians and at one point positioning their helicopter between soldiers and fleeing villagers. Thompson reportedly ordered his crew to fire on American troops if they continued attacking civilians.

Around 11:00 AM, the killings finally stopped. Soldiers paused for lunch.

That evening, the official press briefing reported:

“In an action today, Americal Division forces killed 128 enemy near Quang Ngai City.”

What followed was a massive cover-up. When the truth eventually emerged, only Calley was convicted, and he was later pardoned.

If interested, I wrote a full breakdown of the massacre, its aftermath, and the broader context of the war here: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-76-the-my?r=4mmzre&utm\_medium=ios