Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 50 of 77

Thread: My Lai Massacre

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554

    My Lai Massacre

    On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers. A short time later the killing began. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S. political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public.
    Poised for Conflict
    My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The agitated troops, under the command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement with their elusive enemy.
    Massacre
    As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire.
    Call for Investigation
    Word of the atrocities did not reach the American public until November 1969, when journalist Seymour Hersh published a story detailing his conversations with a Vietnam veteran, Ron Ridenhour. Ridenhour learned of the events at My Lai from members of Charlie Company who had been there. Before speaking with Hersh, he had appealed to Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon to investigate the matter. The military investigation resulted in Calley's being charged with murder in September 1969 -- a full two months before the Hersh story hit the streets.
    Questions About Soldiers' Conduct
    As the gruesome details of My Lai reached the American public, serious questions arose concerning the conduct of American soldiers in Vietnam. A military commission investigating the massacre found widespread failures of leadership, discipline, and morale among the Army's fighting units. As the war progressed, many "career" soldiers had either been rotated out or retired. Many more had died. In their place were scores of draftees whose fitness for leadership in the field of battle was questionable at best. Military officials blamed inequities in the draft policy for the often slim talent pool from which they were forced to choose leaders. Many maintained that if the educated middle class ("the Harvards," as they were called) had joined in the fight, a man of Lt. William Calley's emotional and intellectual stature would never have been issuing orders.
    Orders from Above?
    Calley, an unemployed college dropout, had managed to graduate from Officer's Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1967. At his trial, Calley testified that he was ordered by Captain Ernest Medina to kill everyone in the village of My Lai. Still, there was only enough photographic and recorded evidence to convict Calley, alone, of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in 1974, following many appeals. After being issued a dishonorable discharge, Calley entered the insurance business.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    pics
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	my_lai.jpg 
Views:	79 
Size:	61.4 KB 
ID:	5421   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	my-lai-2.jpg 
Views:	78 
Size:	25.7 KB 
ID:	5422  

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    The memorial

  4. #4
    Lisamarie Guest
    Dont even get me started on the Vietnam war.....I helped me father clean up the mess after a good friend commited suicide..in his note he put he could not erase the memories of what he had seen and done in the vietnam war. I helped clean up what was left of his brain. Leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

  5. #5
    lisalouver Guest
    I often wondered what happened to Calley. It appears that he is sill alive.

    1968 was a time boy. I was born that year. My Unlce did 26 months in Vietnam as a recon Marine. He does not talk about the war these days, but it always makes me wonder what he thinks.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, You know home of ESPN
    Posts
    9,165
    My father drank himself to death after coming home from Vietnam. He never once discussed anything about it, but it haunted him to the point that he could not "exist" in society.

    I thank our US government and Army for making sure he was ok when he got home.....

    We send 18 year olds into a foreign country with weapons and loaded with fear. Unfortunately My Lai was the result of such a decision.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    "I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Nunya Bidness
    Posts
    10,179
    Ugh, My Lai makes me sick. No one I know who was in Vietnam talks about it. Ever.
    The most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own.

    - R.H. Sin

  8. #8
    warmbear Guest
    It was an ugly, dirty war, not wanted by the american people at all. It was the first war to come into our own living rooms every night on the television news, and the television was all too frequently filled with raw carnage. As the mess was esclated by LBJ (Hey! Hey! LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?!), the civilians supported it less and less, so the net result was that when what was left of our boys finally came home, there was no community support for them. It got so bad at one point that you did not want to turn on the news, because you did not want to see anymore horrors.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, You know home of ESPN
    Posts
    9,165
    Quote Originally Posted by warmbear View Post
    It was an ugly, dirty war, not wanted by the american people at all. It was the first war to come into our own living rooms every night on the television news, and the television was all too frequently filled with raw carnage. As the mess was esclated by LBJ (Hey! Hey! LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?!), the civilians supported it less and less, so the net result was that when what was left of our boys finally came home, there was no community support for them. It got so bad at one point that you did not want to turn on the news, because you did not want to see anymore horrors.
    Can I ask how this compared with the news coverage we see with Iraq today. Is it the same or different?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    "I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."

  10. #10
    **Jenna** Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Miho View Post
    Can I ask how this compared with the news coverage we see with Iraq today. Is it the same or different?
    That's what I was wondering.

  11. #11
    NOVSTORM Guest
    My first and 2nd husband both served in Viet Nam and they were changed when they came back. Our special forces friends several of them claim they say Air America planes dropping of drug laced MJ for our troops on the Cambian border.(Movie AIr America) I believethem they were all decorated soldiers and had been inthe military for many years,they resigned their commisons after Viet Nam. It was to make them more violent and forceful. Reminded me of the movie Jacobs Ladder.
    They take these kids at 18 and 19 teach them how to kill , yet their minds are not into it and it destroys so many of them. These kids take orders from the higher ups and then get sent to prison for doing as they were ordered. After my first husband came home from Viet Nam I had a bunch of "suits" come over to our house and go thru his trunk that he had taken to Nam. They took rolls of film that he had that were undeveloped. I have a few of the pictures that were already developed but we had not picked up at the time of the "raid" He had pictures of things that he was not supposed to have I guess. At any rate we never got them back. He was in an outfit that was river control boats with the air cushioned vehicles.That troop was only there from 1966 to 1968. (packV) There is an article about them on web. Then it was closed down. That war played havock on these boys heads. I am sure the same is going on now as they are now sending our kids to jail for mistreating prisoners. In the meantime these other people are beheading Americans and kidnapping them and torturing them but we are not allowed to do the same. BS.
    Calley should not have been sent to prison for 20 yrs in my opinion only. He did as he was told or be court marsheled or shot like Private Slovik. I am sure our people in Iraq/Iran will go thru the ame things the VN Vets went thru. Korea was the same only it was not made a big deal out of.In fact when vets came home they had ticker tape parades forthem and not so for the Vets from Nam. Now the press reports the BS these kids go thru and parents are begining to ask questions about how and why their kids died.
    I believethat Eisenhour started that "occupation" I may be wrong it could have been Truman, but we were there many years before LBJ although for some reason he took the brunt of the situation. As usual our being over in Korea ,Viet Nam and now Iraq/Iran is really going to solve nothing. These people are going to live their lives the way they want and all of our interferece is only causing them more deaths and mayhem IMO. Not many of the Vets want to talk about their experiences from any war it seems. My brothers wouldn't talk about Korea or Nam neither would my husbands,especailly my first husband, he drank so much that he finally managed to get himself killed in a car wreck at the age of 26, the 2nd one never could manage his anger ,I divorced him. They all come back with some sort of problems and I think it is guilt for taking lives. Some men and women come back and adjust or seem to.
    I think that VN was the reason I turned off the TV set. I didn;t want to see those pictures and wonder and wonder who I knew died today. After they came home we burried about 8 friends that had been there and couldn't adjust or forget and took their own lives. All wars are ugly.

  12. #12
    QueenB Guest
    And guess what kids its still happening, my brother is being sent to Iraq and leaves in a couple of weeks - cant helpfeeling bitter its because of a inept President and an even weaker Prime Minister.

  13. #13
    **Jenna** Guest
    You know I'm all for the soldiers fighting in Iraq and all,I just dislike the president for declarin war. He doesn't have anyfamily overthere fighting does he? I don't,but I really do feel for the ones that do,I can't imagine what it would be like.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    6,737
    I think it is the same for all normal and decent people to come back emotionally scarred.

    How can you not?

    Everything you have ever been taught about humanity and decencey goes out the window, you are supposed to see only ally or enemy...allies suffering need help, enemies got what they deserved, damn their suffering.

    Humans are pretty much the lowest form of life on this planet, though the "smartest", as it were...as we are the only ones motivated by jealousy and greed...rather than just the need to eat, and the drive to reproduce.

    This world was probably in perfect balance until we came along with our big, complicated brains, and personal motives.

    I guess God, or whoever you believe in, decided to see just how smart we are...can we have our diverse motivations, and still have balance?

    Looks like...NO!

    Most soldiers will not easily discuss the horrors they have witnessed, but they will share humorous stories of their time at war, when there was no killing to be done.

    My father was a Marine in WWII, and he only rarely, usually after a drink or two, would recount tales of battles brutal, with a look in his eyes as if he could see it even now...was living it again, and shudder.

    Sometimes, there may be no other way, as when words fail, force prevails, but you need to expend every word...before you start spending lives, on either side.

    There has to be a better way.

    For all of our big brains and intelligence, we sure are sorry, stupid, jealous creatures, and the Earth should not lament our eventual passing.

  15. #15
    Guest Guest
    My father was a HMO/CPO in the Navy and spent more than his fair share in Vietnam...3 tours to be exact

    1648 men
    2 women

    numbers he never forgot, even the day before he died he cried for those killed...those are the men and women that he prepared to come home in body bags

    that war was the first biggest mistake this country got involved with and IMO Iraq is a close second...I fear that if things continue they way they are over there then it may take first place?

  16. #16
    warmbear Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Miho View Post
    Can I ask how this compared with the news coverage we see with Iraq today. Is it the same or different?
    Quote Originally Posted by laynestaleyfan View Post
    That's what I was wondering.
    The Vietnam footage was much more graphic, imo.. The stuff you see today is heavily censored by military censors... They did not know as much when Vietnam was raging, as it was the first war to be seen "live" in US homes via the television. The lessons the military leaders learned from Vietnam are the reasons for the pretty heavy censorship the Iraqi war presently sees in the US media. That includes media coverage ban of the caskets of the US dead.

    I support our young people (troops), because I remember all too well how our troops were treated when they returned from Vietnam, and that treatment was just wrong, plain and simple.

    However, I do not support GW Shrub at all, and I feel he keeps making a bad situation worse..

    Just my 2 cents worth.

  17. #17
    djdeath-hag Guest
    I was born into an Army family.....I am a "brat" by nature. By the time I was 9, my father had spent 2 of my short years in Nam. He NEVER talked about it....there were no war stories. The only emotions I can recall were upon his return from his 2nd tour there....he was despondant that the child/children that he & my mother discussed adopting could not return with him. Twelve years later, Dad died at the age of 56, from a (thankfully & mercifully) very rapidly metasticizing malignant melanoma. It took more than a decade for the VA to acknowledge his death was "service related" due to his exposure to Agent Orange. Dad was fortunate to have lived his life-long dream of retirement....raising horses & cattle on his own little farm as well as to know & love his first grandchild.

    What I belive he would say about the stories of the massacres in Viet Nam as well as in future wars is that people who are trained not to think....just to act, will not always act rationable or reasonably. My mom always worries when the media reports TOO much from a warzone......knowing that there are countless families whose lives are in the balance.

    As a closing thought....Dad often expressed his desire to take my mom to Viet Nam, claiming it was a beautiful country with gracoius lovely people.

  18. #18
    NOVSTORM Guest
    You kow it is a pisser to sit back and see this footage. My husband ahd joined the Navy right out of high school because he didnt want to get drafted ito the army as he dad was an ex nanvy man. I would see this footage and look and wonder if I was going to get a telegram. They were showing kids blown up and into pieces on the news. Since this war is as unpolpular as VN I am sure that the number of kids being butchered over there are not true numbers being released. I will always support out troops but I will not support those that are sitting on their asses here and sending those kids over there to fight their damn wars. We do not belong in Iraq or in Iran. They did not bomb us on 9-11. We are in their faces just like VN. They didn't ask our help we just GAVE it to them. Maybe it is time for the American people to be ale to stop our prsidents from going to war without our permission. I for the life of me cannot see how one person can say ok we are going to war and tough shit if you don't like it. I mean we pay thses aholes don't we? I will bet we have the draft again very soon as this war is not going to stop. We don't have the man power to win it because it is people who have enlisted. These kids are joining for the benefits for college and now they are screwing them over so what can they do besides put the draft back in. So when our kids both girls and boys turn 18 they are going to get drafted in the next few years. It isn't going away, it is going to go on and on until we get nuked.

  19. #19
    NOVSTORM Guest
    BY the way this is the first time I have ever been in a discussion about Vn or any war especially this one that people have not said I should be tried for treason. It is good to talk to people who are not war mongers.

  20. #20
    lisalouver Guest
    I spent 10 years on active duty and reserve time, including my stint in the first Gulf War (1990-1991).

    I do not support the war and will not support it. I mostly stick my head in the sand these days and turn off the tv when shit about it comes on.

    My ex from the military (who was also in the first Gulf War) feels the same as I do.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, You know home of ESPN
    Posts
    9,165
    Quote Originally Posted by NOVSTORM View Post
    BY the way this is the first time I have ever been in a discussion about Vn or any war especially this one that people have not said I should be tried for treason. It is good to talk to people who are not war mongers.
    I love hearing everyone's opinion. I personally am disgusted with the state of affairs we are in now. We went to war under false pretenses that our lovely GW knew were a blatant lie just so that he can line his pockets. I support our troops 150%. My boyfriend was a sniper in the Army during the Gulf War. He NEVER talks about it at all, but I can tell he is totally effected by it every day. He is hyper vigilant about things and sometimes he has this haunted look in his eyes like he is some place else. I can only imagine what he saw and had to do and that was a "noble" cause IMHO.

    We should not hold our troops accountable for following orders wether right or wrong. I think it is disgusting that innocent civilians are being killed everyday, but our boys are screwed if they do and screwed if they don't. If they don't listen they get court martialed. If they do listen and the "target" was wrong they go to jail.

    Just not fair.....
    Sorry for the rant.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    "I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    Here is a play by play to what happend. Some of these guys should have been shot.


    Charlie Company landed following a short artillery and helicopter gunship preparation. The soldiers found no enemy fighters in the village on the morning of March 16. Many suspected there were NLF troops in the village, hiding underground in the homes of their elderly parents or their wives. The U.S. soldiers, one platoon of which was led by Second Lieutenant William Calley, went in shooting at "suspected enemy position". After the first civilians were killed and wounded by the indiscriminate fire, the soldiers soon began attacking anything that moved, humans and animals alike, with firearms, grenades and bayonets. The scale of the massacre only spiraled as it progressed, the brutality increasing with each killing. BBC News described the scene:

    "Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered. ... Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest. By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village."

    Dozens of people were herded into an irrigation ditch and other locations and killed with automatic weapons.[14] A large group of about 70 to 80 villagers, rounded up by the 1st Platoon in the center of the village, were killed personally by Calley and by soldiers he had ordered to fire. Calley also shot two other large groups of civilians with a weapon taken from a soldier who had refused to do any further killing. Members of the 2nd Platoon killed at least 60-70 Vietnamese men, women, and children, as they swept through the northern half of My Lai 4 and through Binh Tay, a small subhamlet about 400 meters north of My Lai 4.

    After the initial "sweeps" by the 1st and the 2nd Platoons, the 3rd Platoon was dispatched to deal with any "remaining resistance". They immediately began killing every still-living human and animal they could find, including shooting the Vietnamese who emerged from their hiding places, and finishing off the wounded found moaning in the heaps of bodies. The 3rd Platoon also rounded up and killed a group of seven to twelve women and children.
    Since Charlie Company had encountered no enemy opposition, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, was moved into its landing zone between and attacked the subhamlet of My Khe 4, killing as many as 90 people. U.S. forces lost one man killed and seven wounded from mines and booby traps. During the next two days, both battalions were involved in additional burning and destruction of dwellings, and in the mistreatment of Vietnamese detainees. Most of the soldiers had not participated in the crimes, but neither protested nor complained to their superiors.
    Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr., a 24-year-old helicopter pilot from an aero-scout team, witnessed a large number of dead and dying civilians as he began flying over the village - all of them infants, children, women and old men, with no signs of draft-age men or weapons anywhere. Thompson and his crew witnessed an unarmed passive woman kicked and shot at point-blank range by Captain Medina (Medina later claimed that he thought she had a grenade).[18] The crew made several attempts to radio for help for the wounded. They landed their helicopter by a ditch, which they noted was full of bodies and in which there was movement. Thompson asked a Sergeant he encountered there (David Mitchell of the 1st Platoon) if he could help get the people out of the ditch, and the Sergeant replied that he would "help them out of their misery". Thompson, shocked and confused, had then a conversation with Lieutenant Calley, commanding officer of the 1st Platoon, who claimed to be "just following orders". As the helicopter took off, they saw Mitchell firing into the ditch.
    Thompson then saw a group of civilians (again consisting of children, women and old men) at a bunker being approached by ground personnel. Thompson landed and told his crew that if the U.S. soldiers shot at the Vietnamese while he was trying to get them out of the bunker that they were to open fire at these soldiers. Thompson later testified that he spoke with a Lieutenant (identified as Stephen Brooks of the 2nd Platoon) and told him there were women and children in the bunker, and asked if the Lieutenant would help get them out. According to Thompson, "he [the Lieutenant] said the only way to get them out was with a hand grenade". Thompson testified that he then told Brooks to "just hold your men right where they are, and I'll get the kids out". He found 12 to 16 people in the bunker, coaxed them out and led them to the helicopter, standing with them while they were flown out in two groups.
    Returning to My Lai, Thompson and other air crew members noticed several large groups of bodies. Spotting some survivors in the ditch Thompson landed again and one of the crew members entered the ditch. The crew member returned with a bloodied but apparently unharmed child who was flown to safety. The child was thought to be a boy, but later investigation found that it was a 4-year-old girl. Thompson then reported what he had seen to his company commander, Major Watke, using terms such as "murder" and "needless and unnecessary killings". Thompson's reports were confirmed by other pilots and air crew

  23. #23
    lisalouver Guest
    I've seen some of the pictures. Not pretty.

    I also saw some of the pictures that my Uncle brought back home. I work with dead bodies and these were still bothersome to me.

  24. #24
    Noreen Guest
    What carnage! Horrible. The Iraq war is the same, and the government still won't take care of our troops. The VA hospitals are in shambles. Bush keeps cutting VA benefits. There are less US soldiers dead in Iraq, but so many more injured from explosives. So much brain trauma from flying schrapnel. Did anyone here know that the suicide rate among vets is sky rocketing? I will find a link and post it. Viet Nam had alot of coverage, they are hushing everything up about Iraq. But hey.. I read Bush gave up golf to show support for the troops. What a guy!

  25. #25
    Noreen Guest
    oh but now, unlike in Viet Nam, we have contractors like Blackwater to do the real dirty work and they are mercenary soldiers, unaccountable to anyone.

  26. #26
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    I have a friend who works for blackwater who has been to Iraq 3 times. A former Seal team member. They do 3 month contracts at $25,000 a month. I have heard some crazy stories. He has called me on a satellite phone from Iraq during fire fights, laughing his ass off. Its like the wild west over there. Its anarchy.

  27. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,058
    i believe the "war powers act" should be good for only 72 hours,which by then a quorum could be established to vote for or against a formal declaration of war,as this power was established in the constitution for the legislative,not the executive branch.

  28. #28
    NOVSTORM Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by JefeStone View Post
    I have a friend who works for blackwater who has been to Iraq 3 times. A former Seal team member. They do 3 month contracts at $25,000 a month. I have heard some crazy stories. He has called me on a satellite phone from Iraq during fire fights, laughing his ass off. Its like the wild west over there. Its anarchy.
    I have a budy over there too right now that was in the Marines for 12 years (we call him the Mercenary ) sp. I don't know what he is up to there but he and his partners offered to go get Bin Laden andwere turned down lol He has some crazy stories too but I love to hear him tell them.
    I guess I wouldn't doubt for a moment that the Seals and the Marines now retired and they joined forces they could find him too!

  29. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    1,425
    Famous George Lois "Esquire" cover:

    http://www.georgelois.com/Esq.calley.html


  30. #30
    NOVSTORM Guest
    I wonder if those kids were scared frightened and angry about being there. They didn;t jsut teach them how to shoot and kill theytaught them hate as well. My husband oly told me one story about seeing a bunch of small kids runing towards them and some of the men were getting ready to fire on them. They were told to hold fire until one of those kids went into the air ,they had bombs on their little backs. He was so upset when telling me this and today I think that is why he drank like he did after VN. This is what our men and women saw over there and I think our kids in Iraq are seeing the same thing now. How do you survive this? You ca'nt just burry it away. I have heard many more stories like this from people that were there. SO I wonder how much fear went into this slaughter besides being given orders. How much anger?

  31. #31
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    6,486
    Who knows if the soldiers were just following orders, or too afraid that if they didn't participate they would be in trouble and thrown into the brig, or shot themselves? Maybe a lot of those soldiers were killing out of fear?

  32. #32
    lisalouver Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by VeuveClicquotNJ View Post
    Famous George Lois "Esquire" cover:

    http://www.georgelois.com/Esq.calley.html

    Wow.

    That cover is something else.

  33. #33
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    That cover makes me sick to my stomach.

  34. #34
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    San Antonio
    Posts
    30,241
    Wonder what he was thinking during the photo shoot? That is a shit eating grin if I've ever seen one and I've seen Pink Flamingos a thousand times!
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  35. #35
    Jack-O-Lantern Guest

    Angry

    Quote Originally Posted by VeuveClicquotNJ View Post
    Famous George Lois "Esquire" cover:

    http://www.georgelois.com/Esq.calley.html

    ESQUIRE has a history of tasteless covers, however not having seen this one previously, I'd have to say it takes the cake. I actually can't believe they got away with publishing this with no repercussions ??

  36. #36
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    1,425
    Lots of repercussions - the first link goes to comments by George Lois himself; Volkswagen threatened to NEVER advertise again in Esquire - there was a lot of damage control done. Personally, I admire Esquire for not backing down. What I can't believe is that Calley was that stupid to agree to pose like that - today, he'd have a phalanx of lawyers refusing to allow it.

    VCNJ~

    Quote Originally Posted by Jack-O-Lantern View Post
    ESQUIRE has a history of tasteless covers, however not having seen this one previously, I'd have to say it takes the cake. I actually can't believe they got away with publishing this with no repercussions ??

  37. #37
    Noreen Guest
    Wow Jefe, you know someone in Blackwater and they call you from Iraq? I'll bet those calls are mind blowing! Yes, I heard how much Blackwater contractor's make. Just think how are soldiers feel making next to nothing, risking life and limb, and getting benefits cut when they get home. Blackwater is a shadow war going on there. It's unbelievable! And what about Haliburton giving our soldiers rotten food and
    dirty water?? What a travesty!

  38. #38
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    6,737
    Thanks for this thread, Jefe.

    It is disturbing, and I have only read about it.

    Think about the guys who lived it.

    I can't judge any of the men involved as I was not there, but it smells rotten.

    I wonder how many times the VC did the same things and we never heard about it.

    We have a very large Viet population here on the Gulf Coast that, obviously, came here after the war. Most all of the older folks are some of the most honest and hard working people you could ever meet.

    Many of the youngsters seem to have been "Americanized"...drugs, gangs, etc.

    One of our biggest crime problems is with Viet youths...gang and drug stuff...and home invasions, Viet on Viet, because many of the older people don't trust banks and keep their valuables in their homes.

  39. #39
    poppie Guest
    VietNam - bad times! Tore this country apart; we were lucky to have survived. As far as Calley, those of us who were around then, and some of us in the military, knew this kid was gonna pay!!!! His Capt denied giving him the order. There was also a very seasoned NCO who escaped Scot free. Anyone knows that NCO knew more than Calley ever would. I have always called the My Lai tragedy the classic SHIT TRICKLES DOWN story. Calley never stood a chance - The Capt and the NCO were both crapping on Calley's head. Someone had to pay and Calley was forced to write the check.

  40. #40
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,058
    it has been suggested Colin Powell will not stand for election in part because of his role in the my lai investigation.

  41. #41
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Gloucestershire
    Posts
    536
    Hugh Thompson is one hell of a hero

  42. #42
    sunshine74137 Guest
    My Husbend,22yrs my senior, served in Vietnam,I don't know a lot about that war and he won't talk about much else but the food. But his nightmares are horriable. I actually have to roll away fast or risk injury. I don't dare wake him up, tried that the first time and almost had my arm broken. After a particularly bad evening, he did say that he had participated in some autrocities. Just that once and only for a minute. unarmed villagers, wemon and kids. I just can't believe it this is the guy who also dresses up like a giant bunny and takes silver dollars to the kids in the hospital on Easter. I have never seen a hint of bigotry or prejudice by him he has all races on his staffs. This makes me think that your mentality changes when you get in a different situation, you have been programed to follow any orders of a superior. Not making excuses for it but I just can't reconcile the thought of those pictures and the guy I know.

  43. #43
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    This is the picture that gets me the most. The little boy on the right was about my son's age, 3. After this pic was taken by Haeberle, the whole group got mowed down by Calley and Roschevitz.


  44. #44
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    18,062
    For My Lai they should all have fried.......... slowly.
    I am a sick puppy....woof woof!!!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Carping the living shit out of the Diem. - Me!!
    http://www.pinterest.com/neilmpenny

  45. #45
    undertakeress Guest
    I think the only thing we have learned since this is that the general public supports the troops in their homecoming. Otherwise, we are repeating the same mistakes. I'm surprised we haven't had another My Lai in Iraq (although the Haditha story is bad).

  46. #46
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wolfsschanze
    Posts
    7,554
    Quote Originally Posted by undertakeress View Post
    I think the only thing we have learned since this is that the general public supports the troops in their homecoming. Otherwise, we are repeating the same mistakes. I'm surprised we haven't had another My Lai in Iraq (although the Haditha story is bad).
    If there was we probably wouldnt hear about it.

  47. #47
    Vamp Guest
    War is always bloody and filthy. I bet most wars have incidents similar to My Lai. (My parents survived a communist civil war and many civilians, including children were murdered.) It doesn't make it easier to see what our troops did though. Especially when innocent children were involved. There have been accusations of rape and murder of innocent civilians by our troops in Iraq. I have no doubt it happened and will continue to happen.

  48. #48
    southerngothic Guest
    Last I know, Calley was alive and well working at a jewelry store in Columbus, GA. I grew up a few mins from there.
    I'll have to look it up, but I remember reports (this was before I was born) of Calley being treated like a hero before/during/after his trial. He was given a free car (a mercedes maybe?) and provided with an endless supply of women.

  49. #49
    Morto Guest
    Orders or no orders as an ex special ops guy fuck the Captain

  50. #50
    Seagorath Guest
    Was the film "Casualties of War" with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn about his incident?...or perhaps inspired...that movie disturbed me as a boy.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •