I was a soon-to-graduate high school senior when this occurred. Needless to say, my belief in our country’s values were shaken.
I followed what news I could find and vowed I would never be a part of such inhumane behavior. This was one of the things that led me a few years later to join the Peace Corps to try to help people overseas and to try to learn about other cultures.
Thank you for remembering this and attempting to be the conscience of our country (not just this day, but every day that you write about what we were, and what we could be).
Thank you Steve, that was a sobering way to start my day, not that I needed sobering up. I fought in VN in 1970 and can state unequivocally that I never took part in anything that could be construed as a war crime, not because I was a saint because I wasn’t, probably the morality of my education acted as a guide, not that I knew it at the time. The passions of warfare can cloud moral vision, but something’s are fundamentally wrong and clouded vision doesn’t obscure that reality. Just as there is no excuse for what the Russians have been doing to the Ukrainians, so too there was no excuse for what took place in My Lai, none. I was in special forces training when this happened and I never heard it mentioned, my instructors were warriors, some of the finest our country has ever produced, among them were men that had earned the Medal of Honor, they were men who valued honor and like me would walk into hell, and did so to protect a brother in arms. What happened in My Lai is a stain on the Army and anyone that abetted it, it was a crucible that sadly proved that our institutions were lacking in moral clarity. Lack of clarity is what has produced the political class we are burdened with today, which is truly frightening.
I cried reading this. I remember My Lai well. I didn’t remember that most of the American public and government supported the murderers. At the time, I was horrified and deeply ashamed. What happened at My Lai was a lesson I taught my son: you are the one who makes decisions to do what is moral. Don’t blindly follow anyone else’s orders. He would ask: even the President? I would answer yes.
I remember that the same as you. Being horrified, deeply ashamed and so furious that he was not rightly punished to fit his crime against humanity. I don’t recall anyone I knew wanting to forgive Calley for that slaughter.
I was stationed at Ft Benning in the summer of 1971 and on the Permanent Overseas Replacement station to process jump school graduates for assignemnt. At the time, Calley was under house arrest on post. You're right when you say he had much sympathy at the time. A few years latter I had a conversation with one of the JAG prosecuters of Calley on TDY (temporary duty) attached to my National Guard unit. He told me that Calley had such sever mental health issues and was diagnosed as a psychopath, he should never have been inducted in the Army let alone be an officer. At that time, they had an Officer Training Program called "shake and bake" where they took pretty much anyone into the program and was commissioned with as little as 6 weeks of training. The need for any "warm bodies) for that meat grinder as at its peak. While Nixon was bragging about having the lowest troop movement from here to Vietnam since 1965, in preparation for re-election, we were sending troops on 30 day TDY to Germany and then they were backed doored to Vietnam. We were under direct orders not to interpret their orders and tell them their ultimate destination. One of the PORS members did tell one of the guys the truth and he was leveed and on his way to Vietnam as punishment within 3 days. We were lied to a lot back then about the war which lead to the "bad guys" honored and the "good guys" vilified. Thanks for this recounting of that dark day!
Major Hugh Thompson Jr: “You have to do the right thing in life, but don’t look for any rewards.”
Deep Gratitude to Hugh Thompson for doing the right thing in Life. He gives me hope for humanity.
Steve Schmidt, the tender photos of you with these survivors and the Grace you're experiencing is a profoundly meaningful lesson in Life. Thank You, too, for doing the right thing. Let us pray.
One of the most shameful things Trump did while President (out of a very long list) was to pardon convicted war criminal Eddie Gallagher, whose behavior towards Iraqi civilians was so egregious that his own troops reported him. Trump invited him to Mar-A-Lago and posed for pictures with him.
I am convinced that Donald Trump has no idea what honorable soldiering is.
Traitor/Rapist/Fraudster/34X Felon Trump is above all else a COWARD! He had his KKK Daddy pay a doctor to falsely claim that Coward Don the Con had bone spurs on his feet to avoid being drafted to serve in Vietnam. I was several years too young for the Vietnam War but had decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force if I was going to be drafted for Vietnam. Later, I worked for the U.S. Department of Defense for 20 years and conducted six War on Terrorism projects including the first lab to study the toxicity of the World Trade Center dust.
I can't stop the tears after reading your story and listening to Hugh Thompson's interview. What a good, good man. There are not enough of them. And his words, solicited after the horrors in Iraq, bring to mind the horrors that are going on in Ukraine on the part of the Russian army and mercenaries. Maybe, as he said, the soldiers who commit these acts are not true soldiers, but hoodlums and terrorists - but it is the training to kill, and war, that brings out the worst.
This is such a well-written, poignant and extremely clear depiction of what happened that day in Vietnam. It was so well covered up that it wasn't known until years later what exactly happened that day.
This soon to be 65 year old man, who was in 4th grade elementary school at the time this occurred, appreciates the fact that you haven't forgotten that day and, hopefully, won't let us forget that day either.
What a moving post! Like many of the commentators before me, I was alive when this horror happened but I don’t recall the support for Calley. My parents were liberal and their opinions well-known to me, and the news reports of the massacre as well as other events of the Vietnam War are part of the background of my teen years. How could most Americans support the commander of this massacre? How could Jimmy Carter, of all people, have ordered flags flown at half mast for a brutal killer? How could a convicted murderer have been sentenced to a minimal punishment?We have buried this dreadful incident in our collective memories. Thank you for reminding us that Americans committed war crimes in Vietnam; it’s past time for us to acknowledge our role and formally apologize.
What Jimmy Carter did blows my mind. I have no memory of this. I expected that Steve's sentence would read that Carter "ordered flags flown at half mast in honor of the innocent Vietnamese people slaughtered by U.S. troops". Shocking.
Unfortunately, I believe that this is a history lesson that has NEVER been taught (except perhaps at a college level, in whatever courses cover S.E. Asian history).
I'm grateful to you for sharing your trip to Vietnam, and especially for this deeply moving and troubling remembrance today. I have listened to the interview with Hugh Thompson and found it equally moving and troubling. I was a college student when the facts about the massacre began to be known (at least as far as it went). I had never known about Hugh Thompson, however, until a friend who is a recently retired Navy Seal came to speak to middle school students in Brevard, NC as a part of my non-profit Democracy Project of Transylvania. The detail of the story, that even Hugh Thompson doesn't mention, is that he also went through the formal process (after he had seen what was happening as his helicopter flew over the village) of requesting permission from his commanding officer to land there rather than continue on the mission to which he had been assigned. His request was denied, so he informed his commanding officer that he would be disobeying that order (all of this is spelled out in military regulations about what to do if something occurs that is in violation of the military code of ethics, the Geneva Convention, or an individual's own moral code of conduct) So he knew, even as he landed that day, that he was assuming enormous risk to his own career, not to mention his life. You'll be glad to know that my Navy Seal friend taught ethics at the Naval Academy and has recently published a book on that subject. Susan Lefler. Concerned American.
This is gut-wrenching and horrific to read, but it is also vital for us to know the truth and understand our history. I was 9 years old when this massacre occurred and unaware of it at the time. I don't recall learning about it in the public school I attended in NJ. which could be my memory failing me or perhaps it was not discussed. I appreciate you bringing it to light and telling us about Hugh Thompson, who truly is a hero we should all know about.
History everyone should know about. It is far from the only such event in the history of the US foreign policy but it ranks high among the results of dehumanizing the enemy, treating all Vietnamese as “gooks” rather than human beings, and not just those fighting for their independence (first from France, then from Japan, then from France again, then from the US) but ALL of them. Kids were slaughtered because they were judged to be future freedom fighters. Racism has always been an integral part of imperialism – the conquest of new reserves of labor to be pitted against workers at home – which is exactly the story of the post-war integration of the Vietnamese population into global capitalism. Check the labels of the clothes you are wearing!
I was a soon-to-graduate high school senior when this occurred. Needless to say, my belief in our country’s values were shaken.
I followed what news I could find and vowed I would never be a part of such inhumane behavior. This was one of the things that led me a few years later to join the Peace Corps to try to help people overseas and to try to learn about other cultures.
Thank you for remembering this and attempting to be the conscience of our country (not just this day, but every day that you write about what we were, and what we could be).
Thank you Steve, that was a sobering way to start my day, not that I needed sobering up. I fought in VN in 1970 and can state unequivocally that I never took part in anything that could be construed as a war crime, not because I was a saint because I wasn’t, probably the morality of my education acted as a guide, not that I knew it at the time. The passions of warfare can cloud moral vision, but something’s are fundamentally wrong and clouded vision doesn’t obscure that reality. Just as there is no excuse for what the Russians have been doing to the Ukrainians, so too there was no excuse for what took place in My Lai, none. I was in special forces training when this happened and I never heard it mentioned, my instructors were warriors, some of the finest our country has ever produced, among them were men that had earned the Medal of Honor, they were men who valued honor and like me would walk into hell, and did so to protect a brother in arms. What happened in My Lai is a stain on the Army and anyone that abetted it, it was a crucible that sadly proved that our institutions were lacking in moral clarity. Lack of clarity is what has produced the political class we are burdened with today, which is truly frightening.
Thank you.
Thank you but could not find video.
Welcome home Dick. Thank you for your service to our country.
I cried reading this. I remember My Lai well. I didn’t remember that most of the American public and government supported the murderers. At the time, I was horrified and deeply ashamed. What happened at My Lai was a lesson I taught my son: you are the one who makes decisions to do what is moral. Don’t blindly follow anyone else’s orders. He would ask: even the President? I would answer yes.
I remember that the same as you. Being horrified, deeply ashamed and so furious that he was not rightly punished to fit his crime against humanity. I don’t recall anyone I knew wanting to forgive Calley for that slaughter.
I was stationed at Ft Benning in the summer of 1971 and on the Permanent Overseas Replacement station to process jump school graduates for assignemnt. At the time, Calley was under house arrest on post. You're right when you say he had much sympathy at the time. A few years latter I had a conversation with one of the JAG prosecuters of Calley on TDY (temporary duty) attached to my National Guard unit. He told me that Calley had such sever mental health issues and was diagnosed as a psychopath, he should never have been inducted in the Army let alone be an officer. At that time, they had an Officer Training Program called "shake and bake" where they took pretty much anyone into the program and was commissioned with as little as 6 weeks of training. The need for any "warm bodies) for that meat grinder as at its peak. While Nixon was bragging about having the lowest troop movement from here to Vietnam since 1965, in preparation for re-election, we were sending troops on 30 day TDY to Germany and then they were backed doored to Vietnam. We were under direct orders not to interpret their orders and tell them their ultimate destination. One of the PORS members did tell one of the guys the truth and he was leveed and on his way to Vietnam as punishment within 3 days. We were lied to a lot back then about the war which lead to the "bad guys" honored and the "good guys" vilified. Thanks for this recounting of that dark day!
Thank you, Dennis, for this inside story, and for your service.
Wow. What a story. Thank you Dennis. Really grateful for you and thrilled you are here on this platform
Major Hugh Thompson Jr: “You have to do the right thing in life, but don’t look for any rewards.”
Deep Gratitude to Hugh Thompson for doing the right thing in Life. He gives me hope for humanity.
Steve Schmidt, the tender photos of you with these survivors and the Grace you're experiencing is a profoundly meaningful lesson in Life. Thank You, too, for doing the right thing. Let us pray.
I was alive when the Mỹ Lai massacre was executed. I will never forget. Most children living in Florida will never know.
One of the most shameful things Trump did while President (out of a very long list) was to pardon convicted war criminal Eddie Gallagher, whose behavior towards Iraqi civilians was so egregious that his own troops reported him. Trump invited him to Mar-A-Lago and posed for pictures with him.
I am convinced that Donald Trump has no idea what honorable soldiering is.
Traitor/Rapist/Fraudster/34X Felon Trump is above all else a COWARD! He had his KKK Daddy pay a doctor to falsely claim that Coward Don the Con had bone spurs on his feet to avoid being drafted to serve in Vietnam. I was several years too young for the Vietnam War but had decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force if I was going to be drafted for Vietnam. Later, I worked for the U.S. Department of Defense for 20 years and conducted six War on Terrorism projects including the first lab to study the toxicity of the World Trade Center dust.
I can't stop the tears after reading your story and listening to Hugh Thompson's interview. What a good, good man. There are not enough of them. And his words, solicited after the horrors in Iraq, bring to mind the horrors that are going on in Ukraine on the part of the Russian army and mercenaries. Maybe, as he said, the soldiers who commit these acts are not true soldiers, but hoodlums and terrorists - but it is the training to kill, and war, that brings out the worst.
Sombering, gut-wrenchigj, devastating.
We need to hold this memory.
Thank you
Thanks again Steve!
This is such a well-written, poignant and extremely clear depiction of what happened that day in Vietnam. It was so well covered up that it wasn't known until years later what exactly happened that day.
This soon to be 65 year old man, who was in 4th grade elementary school at the time this occurred, appreciates the fact that you haven't forgotten that day and, hopefully, won't let us forget that day either.
I share in your prayer for the dead!!
What a moving post! Like many of the commentators before me, I was alive when this horror happened but I don’t recall the support for Calley. My parents were liberal and their opinions well-known to me, and the news reports of the massacre as well as other events of the Vietnam War are part of the background of my teen years. How could most Americans support the commander of this massacre? How could Jimmy Carter, of all people, have ordered flags flown at half mast for a brutal killer? How could a convicted murderer have been sentenced to a minimal punishment?We have buried this dreadful incident in our collective memories. Thank you for reminding us that Americans committed war crimes in Vietnam; it’s past time for us to acknowledge our role and formally apologize.
What Jimmy Carter did blows my mind. I have no memory of this. I expected that Steve's sentence would read that Carter "ordered flags flown at half mast in honor of the innocent Vietnamese people slaughtered by U.S. troops". Shocking.
You're right. Colin Powell turns out to have been lying, too.
I'm sure this is one of the history lessons that teachers will be forbidden to teach if DeSantis and others of his ilk get their way.
We must not forget what we are capable of, both in the depths of our cruelty and the soaring heights of our courage and grace.
Unfortunately, I believe that this is a history lesson that has NEVER been taught (except perhaps at a college level, in whatever courses cover S.E. Asian history).
Remember this all too well. Our country til this day has never done right by this atrocity.
Hi Steve,
I'm grateful to you for sharing your trip to Vietnam, and especially for this deeply moving and troubling remembrance today. I have listened to the interview with Hugh Thompson and found it equally moving and troubling. I was a college student when the facts about the massacre began to be known (at least as far as it went). I had never known about Hugh Thompson, however, until a friend who is a recently retired Navy Seal came to speak to middle school students in Brevard, NC as a part of my non-profit Democracy Project of Transylvania. The detail of the story, that even Hugh Thompson doesn't mention, is that he also went through the formal process (after he had seen what was happening as his helicopter flew over the village) of requesting permission from his commanding officer to land there rather than continue on the mission to which he had been assigned. His request was denied, so he informed his commanding officer that he would be disobeying that order (all of this is spelled out in military regulations about what to do if something occurs that is in violation of the military code of ethics, the Geneva Convention, or an individual's own moral code of conduct) So he knew, even as he landed that day, that he was assuming enormous risk to his own career, not to mention his life. You'll be glad to know that my Navy Seal friend taught ethics at the Naval Academy and has recently published a book on that subject. Susan Lefler. Concerned American.
Thank you for adding more information to the story of an American of great courage, of enormous conscience. He was so young, himself!
Susan, Thank you for explaining more about Hugh Thompson's bravery and heroism. Incredible.
This is gut-wrenching and horrific to read, but it is also vital for us to know the truth and understand our history. I was 9 years old when this massacre occurred and unaware of it at the time. I don't recall learning about it in the public school I attended in NJ. which could be my memory failing me or perhaps it was not discussed. I appreciate you bringing it to light and telling us about Hugh Thompson, who truly is a hero we should all know about.
History everyone should know about. It is far from the only such event in the history of the US foreign policy but it ranks high among the results of dehumanizing the enemy, treating all Vietnamese as “gooks” rather than human beings, and not just those fighting for their independence (first from France, then from Japan, then from France again, then from the US) but ALL of them. Kids were slaughtered because they were judged to be future freedom fighters. Racism has always been an integral part of imperialism – the conquest of new reserves of labor to be pitted against workers at home – which is exactly the story of the post-war integration of the Vietnamese population into global capitalism. Check the labels of the clothes you are wearing!