overview

On March 16, 1968, American soldiers entered the Vietnamese hamlet known as My Lai (4) expecting to enter into a fire fight with members of the Viet Cong's 48th Local Force Battalion. However, they found no Viet Cong and instead killed and sometimes raped somewhere between 300 and 500 Vietnamese civilians. The story would remain largely unknown until one soldier began to speak out a year later in 1969.

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What Did it Look Like?

On the day of the massacre images were captured on a personal camera by combat photographer Ron Haeberle, who was riding with Charlie Company at the time. The photos depict scenes of the dead at My Lai, but not of American soldiers doing the shooting--this is because Haeberle destroyed all such photos.

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How  Could  This  Happen?

The massacre at My Lai shocked the public when word got out. To this day, people are shocked that it happened and often view it as an anomaly in American military history. Even though no excuses can be made for such senseless murder, there are a few factors that can help understand just what happened in that small hamlet on the morning of March 16, 1968.
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Military  Problems

Due to the demands of the Vietnam War, both officers and the military as a whole were somewhat unprepared for the war.

Vengeance

Suffering casualties at the hands of the VC prior to March 16 gave some soldiers a desire for revenge.

precedent

Events like this are, in fact, not unprecedented in similar military engagements from U.S. history.

About  the  site

This site was created by Maria Villotti, a member of the Dickinson College Class of 2018, as a final project for the class U.S. Military History. It is intended to illustrate aspects of the "American Way Of War" through the examination of a particular military engagement.

Header photo by Ron Haeberle, 1968 // The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images