Attack on Mai Lai Village

Grenades are launched into groups of countryside huddled up together. And people trying to flee the countryside are gunned down by machine guns. Women weeping over their babies bodies and screams of pain from villagers dying slow painful deaths. Their huts are then set on fire and burned to the ground. Once the killing is done nothing is felt but fire and carnage. The only end to this brutal massacre was one helicopter pilot who landed his aircraft between the US soldiers and the village. The pilot threatens to open fire on the US soldiers and that's when the massacre ends. By the end 504 My Lai villagers were brutally murdered in this mix 182 women were murdered 17 of whom were pregnant, 153 children 56 of them were infants. The rest were elders and men. This intense murder was then covered up by the US goverment with no sorrow or consideration for the lives lost.

The My Lai massacre happened during the Vietnam war. It was a very brutal attack on the village of My Lai. During the Vietnam War there were many american lives lost. Many lost with agent orange and the Tut offense. I believe that this attack on the My Lai village was an act of revenge against the Vientamise. The Charlie Company was sent into the village to look for weapons after only finding 3 weapons some soldiers took actions into their owns hands and wanted to make the Vietameese people pay. They not only murdered over 500 innocent vietameese men, women, and children but they also raped and unknown number of women. After this incident The US covered up the massacre and played down the events that took place. No one was held accountabal for these murders and rape until Ron Ridenhour who heard about the cover up of the My Lai massacure started an investigation. He recommended that 28 men should be held accountable. After an uproar from American citizens the US government finally took action but only placed 14 soldiers in custody. All of the men were found innocent except for William Calley who had been in charge of the Charlie Company. Calley was sentenced to life in prision for the murder of over 500 innocent lives.

Racism could have been a leading factor in the My Lai massacre, the US soldiers thought all Vietammese people were dangerous because that's what they were exposed to during the Vietnam war. They went into that village looking for weapons and left with the bloodshed of over 500 people. That isn't a normal way of thinking. The soldiers after only being exposed to seeing the bad side of the Vietameese people didn't know what to do when they actually found innocent ones. Seeing this they had to assume that they too must have been bad and decided to start shooting. Even the women and children were not spared, because the soldiers saw the infants and women were also a danger as well.

Another reason that the soldiers would have killed all of the innoced My Lai countrysides was because of all of the war and bloodshed that they have previously seen. From fighting in other wars and training the soldiers were numb to death all that they had seen and had been trained to do was kill. Being pre exposed to this stress could have also caused a break in some of the soldiers and caused them to turn violent. All of the soldiers were trained to kill, this could have been a motive that sent some of them over the edge and they only did what they knew how to do and that was too kill.Stressed and tired from fighting in the war the soldiers did as their captin told them which was to start shooting the stress could have led to the overkill and the killing and rape of women and children. While this is not an excuse for what happened it very well could be a reason for the massacre.

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