Mai Lai and its Legacy
The Vietnam War Massacre, its Effects, its Heroes and Villains
The impact of the Mai Lai massacre on the Vietnam War, the American military and the American public. The heroes of Mai Lai, like the villains, were American soldiers.
Speaking on the Vietnam War in his presidential address of Nov 3rd 1969, President Nixon said “North Viet Nam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.” Little did he realize that an incident over a year earlier at an obscure Vietnamese village called Mai Lai, and a resultant court-martial a few months after his address, would prove his words amazingly prophetic.
Mai Lai
Mai Lai is a hamlet in the Son My district of Quang Ngai Province of the then South Vietnam Republic. During the Vietnam War, Quang Ngai Province was a hotbed of Viet Cong insurgents and a constant thorn in the side of the American military. On March 16, 1968, Captain Ernest Medina ordered ‘Charlie Company’ into the Mai Lai area. The exact wording of those orders was to become a major bone of contention in subsequent investigations and court hearings.
Mai Lai Massacre
Like a lot of the American forces in Vietnam in 1968, Charlie Company was in a demoralized state. It had suffered casualties by sniper fire, machine-gun fire, mines and other forms of attack. Earlier that year the “Tet Offensive” had shown just how tenuous the whole concept of the war had become.
When Charlie Company entered Mai Lai they encountered no resistance from Viet Cong Soldiers, yet three hours later there were over 500 civilian Vietnamese, men, women and children, dead. Lieutenant William Calley, for whatever reason, ordered his men to kill, burn and destroy everything in the village. By late evening the American Army Headquarters was claiming a victory, with 128 Viet Cong and some civilians killed. It was to take over a year and numerous investigations before the full horror of Mai Lai was to emerge into the public domain.
Mai Lai Heroes
Later of course the American public and the world was to learn that just as the villains of Mai Lai were American soldiers, so too the heroes of Mai Lai were also American Soldiers. Hugh Thompson, Army helicopter pilot, with his door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon U.S. ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians in and around the village of My Lai. According to Chief My Lai prosecutor William Eckhardt, “When Thompson realized what was happening he put his helicopter down, put his guns on Americans, and said he would shoot them if they shot another Vietnamese.”. Both the American public and Vietnam veterans owe a debt of gratitude to these heroes of Mai Lai.
Results of Mai Lai Massacre
The massacre, its attempted cover up and the court cases resulting from it was to have a profound effect on all aspects of American society. The "drip, drip" nature of the unfolding of the incident was to drain away any remaining support among ordinary Americans for a war that seemed endless and increasingly pointless. It also dented the very strong loyalty the American Public had to their Armed Forces. Never before had Americans considered that their army was capable of atrocities normally associated with Nazi and World War 2 Japanese soldiers.
The Mai Lai massacre also impacted on the American Military and its procedures for issuing operational orders during military engagements. The “Medina Standard” holds that a commanding officer, being aware of a human rights violation or a war crime, will be held criminally liable when he does not take action. Although Medina was eventually found not guilty, all American Army commanders are now fully aware of what might befall them should they fail in their duty to civilians.
