I was recently shocked to learn of the massacre that took place in the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War, as it’s one of many events that define the essence of the war.
Despite the fact that the people of My Lai were unarmed and not a single shot was returned, American soldiers murdered over 500 Vietnamese, including women and children. Some of the villagers were raped, scalped, had their tongues cut out, their limps chopped off or their throats slit. Many of them were herded to a ditch at the edge of the town and were mass executed. One of the soldiers, Michael Terry, commented in a 1969 article, that it reminded him of a “Nazi-type thing.”
After questioning several of my classmates, it became clear that most of our generation had very little, if any, knowledge of the massacre of My Lai.
Only Lt. William Calley, the company’s commanding officer for the attack, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. But after only serving three years of house arrest, he received a pardon from President Richard Nixon. After this, all other charges against soldiers involved in the massacre were dismissed. This effectively undermined the significance of the event itself; there was nobody to blame and thus, nothing to learn.
It was this series of events that has led to the sentiment of the Vietnam War we experience today. The lack of general knowledge and proper education of these events has clearly undermined the importance and significance of them. Vietnam has become a vague, trivialized concept in our generation.
Moving forward 40 years, not much has changed. For the past seven years of the Iraq war, some startling things have come through the woodwork, and more stories of American-made atrocities continue to unfold all of the time.
About two months ago, Ralph Lopez, writer for AlterNet, wrote a story about Ethan McCord’s account of fighting in Iraq, saying, “This claim suggests a war crime which far surpasses errant bombs or overzealous individual soldiers in the heat of battle. This is the mass execution of civilians.” The article recounts McCord’s battalion commander ordering a “360 rotational fire" in order to “kill every [explicit] on the street.”
A month later, WikiLeaks released the “Afghan War Diary,” which comprises 91,000 leaked U.S. military records of the war. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said, “there does appear to be evidence of war crimes.”
But just a few days ago, President Barack Obama announced the end to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although he rightly stated that it was not a “victory lap” for America, his general tone was that of moving forward and praising the troops. Understandably so: the men and women of our military have earned much respect and admiration in our society, and perhaps remembering the negative aspects of war undermine our gratitude or appreciation of them. Maybe we tend to paint the military with too broad a brush — certainly, most soldiers are just as appalled at these atrocities as we are. But what I’m left wondering is this: if I just discovered My Lai, will my kids have any idea what Abu Ghraib was? Guantanamo Bay?
Nearly all countries have skeletons in their closets, but the true test of a nation’s character is if it learns from its mistakes — failing to do so is the worst atrocity of all. Education should accurately reflect historical events, including, and especially with, events that reflect negatively on national identity.
Send forgotten history to djoconn1@asu.edu
