16 mar 1968 ano - My Lai Massacre

Descrição:

In March 1968, a unit of young US soldiers called Charlie Company started a search and destroy mission in My Lai after being told that it was where the Viet Cong headquarters was located and that 200 Viet Cong soldiers were there. They had been ordered to destroy all houses and livestock, and most of them were under the impression that they were there to kill everyone they found in the village. On the 16th of March 1968, Charlie's company marched into My Lai, and in a couple of hours had killed between 300 and 400 civilians (mostly women, children, and old men). In the end, no Viet Cong were found, and only 3 weapons were recovered. At the time, the army treated it as a success, the report stated that 20 civilians were killed by accident but the rest were all Viet Cong. However, 12 months later, a letter arrived at the office of 30 leading politicians that had been written by an American soldier who had been serving in Vietnam and knew many soldiers who took part in the massacre. Within the letter, the truth of the actual actions within the massacre was told. Soon, Life magazine published photos of what happened in My Lai, and an investigation took place which ended in a trial for the murder of an officer of the Charlie company. The officer was charged for the murder of 109 people.

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