词条 | My Lai Massacre |
释义 | My Lai Massacre United States-Vietnamese history ![]() My Lai was located in the province of Quang Ngai, an area believed to be a stronghold of the Viet Cong and thus a focus of the U.S. military. After receiving word that Viet Cong were in the hamlet, a company of U.S. soldiers was sent there on a search-and-destroy mission. Although no armed Viet Cong were found, the soldiers nonetheless killed all the elderly men, women, and children they could find; few villagers survived. The incident was initially covered up by high-ranking army officers, but it was later made public by former soldiers. In the ensuing courts-martial, platoon leader Lieutenant William Calley was accused of directing the killings, and in 1971 he was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison; five other soldiers were tried and acquitted. Many, however, believed that Calley had been made a scapegoat, and in 1974 he was paroled. The massacre and other atrocities revealed during the trial divided the U.S. public and contributed to growing disillusionment with the war. |
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