My Lai Massacre Research Paper

Then, the American military's assurance for the war was low, as numerous troopers were put off by the abominations that they were made to partake in, for example, the My Lai slaughter. Zinn additionally tries to dissipate the prevalent view that restriction to the war was principally among school understudies and white collar class savvy people, utilizing measurements from the time to

During the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, there were American soldiers who murdered over 300 civilians in the My Lai village. But also there were some who refused to participate in those types of murderous activities. Once the My Lai massacre was brought to the attention of American citizens, they were questioning why did some soldiers commit atrocities and some of the other soldiers did not?

In the town of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was not a day you would be wanting to visit. U.S troops were ordered to conduct a massacre killing 500 plus innocent old men, women, and children.

Unfortunately, the American public was very against the Vietnam war and the My Lai Massacre was the turning point of The United States militaristic role in Vietnam. In March 1968, Charlie Company, a platoon of US soldiers were informed

This creates dangerous situations for both the civilians and the Marines. It is human nature to preserve one's own life even if it means killing another to accomplish this. There is no time to react in an ambush scenario, no time to decide who is Vietcong. This very situation is illustrated when Caputo and his platoon burn down a village suspected of housing a Vietcong ambush.

They were more than likely using their bottled-up feelings to release on to all the poor women, old men, and children, by violently killing them. Also, testosterone plays a huge role in building aggression in men. Aggression is what all the soldiers had when they followed orders by partaking in such malice acts. Those men knew what they were going to do when they arrived at My Lai. I think whether you act aggressively is by choice and we have the option to choose how to respond to a social situation and different stimuli.

American Soldiers who brutalized Filipino insurgents were simply following orders. According to the testimony of the U.S. senate in 1902 he informs us that American Soldiers were following the orders of there Sergeant. For example “... how the order started and who gave it I don’t know, but the town was fired on. I saw and old fellow come to the door, and he looked out; he got shot in the abdomen and fell to his knees and turned around and died.” This shows that U.S. soldiers were being ordered to shoot civilians and being soldiers they had to obey. The Americans believed “The orders were given to fire. Go ahead and tell the whole story….At the other end of the town we heard screams, and there was a woman there; she was burned up, and in

The Olson and Roberts book, My Lai is based upon the March 18, 1968, assault on My Lai. By examining the material, an explanation of why this massacre occurred is drawn. The main factors that lead to the My Lai assault were difficulty engaging with the enemy and the problem of distinguishing between the enemy soldiers and civilians, which both led to rage and frustration among soldiers and a misinterpretation of the mission.

When uncertainty is present in a given situation, obedience tends to be greater. Being in an unfamiliar position may prompt one to have a lower self-confidence. Consequently, this self-perceived inferiority may cause the subject to look to authority for assistance (Nelson, class lecture, 2017). This was clearly evident at My Lai, as many of the soldiers were young and inexperienced, merely trained to follow orders given to them by authority. According to Kelman & Hamilton (1989) in their article “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” Charlie Company “contained no significant deviation from the average company.” That is, most of the men had volunteered for the draft and had not yet even finished college. Most were eighteen to twenty-two years old, still

On March 16, 1968, over 300 unarmed civilians were killed in South Vietnam during an indiscriminate, mass murder event known as the My Lai Massacre. Conducted by a unit of the United States Army, the My Lai Massacre ranked one of most appalling atrocities carried out by US forces in an already savage and violent war. All victims involved were unarmed civilians, many of which were women, children, and the elderly. Victims were raped, tortured and beaten, even mutilated before being killed. The massacre was forever seared into the hearts and minds of the American people as the day “the American spirit died.”

On the morning of March 16th the company moved in. They were instructed by Lieutenant William Calley to shoot every living thing in sight, from animals to babies, for the animals would feed the Vietcong and the babies would one day grow up to be them. From many soldiers’ accounts, non-of the people shot that day seemed to pose any threat to the American soldiers. In fact, women, children and old men made up a huge majority of the victims. Barely any weapons were found and according to most of the soldiers the Vietnamese people were trying to cooperate but there was the barrier of language. When the soldiers yelled things in Vietnamese they weren’t even sure if they were saying the right thing because Vietnamese is a language based on inflection in the voice. LT Calley ordered his soldiers to kill all of the Vietnamese in massive slaughters. They were herded into big groups, and some groups were forced into ditches and then fired upon. “The few that survived did so because the were covered by the bodies of those less fortunate.” (Linder) After the massacre was over there was an extensive cover-up, the commanders even reported My Lai as a success with 123 enemy deaths and some weapon recoveries. It wasn’t until a man named Ronald Ridenhour,

To succeed politically within South Vietnam itself the United States had to ‘win the hearts and minds of public’. However the atrocities which had struck Vietnam, caused disarray with the public of Vietnam, one case where this is true was the Massacre at My Lai in March 1968; this was the killing of 300 villagers mainly women and children who were raped, murdered, and mutilated; this was carried out by American soldiers who thought the villagers were supposedly harbouring Vietcong. Lieutenant William Calley was charged with the crime but only served

Soldiers are trained to always follow orders, and to never question orders. But that belief is somewhat illogical. Soldier's are to obey any lawful order given. But the training involved, the often chaotic nature of battle, and the need to follow authority to maintain survival can lead to a very blurred vision of what is right or wrong. One's animalistic instincts may take over. Sometimes there are such situations when you've stepped over the line. Such as the horrendous act that took place on March 16, 1968 in the village of Son My.

The soldiers need to come out in a specific position when they fall down to their deaths, this probably takes many tries. It certainly can be said that many men died to be apart of this sickening scheme. These men were easily persuaded to be compliant by, the General, who honoured their bravery by giving the soldiers the same pin that was attached simply with a cheap safety pin. The General himself did not seem to care too much about murdering the soldiers. He had an egotistical look when he was speaking to the next soldier. It can be assumed that, he enjoys the power he holds when he persuades or talks the soldiers into falling to their deaths. During World War II, many very young boys were drafted into the war. They almost instantly lost their sanities being surrounded by the horrifying corpses of dead soldiers and the persecuted jewish people. These boys were too young to be thrown into a world they had never imagined nor did they ever think could manifest on earth. Sociologically these boys could have become attached to their generals or sergeants or whomever was caring for them at the time of the

They would do nothing else other than this and this caused some of them to lose their lives.