On March 16, 1968, a company of American soldiers wiped out the Vietnamese village of Milai (the Vietnamese called it Songmi). That massacre became the most brutal and senseless war crime in the history of the American army, committed against civilians. For a whole year, the military managed to hide the crime. And even the investigation was eventually hushed up, and the perpetrators were not punished.
The Song My Massacre is considered one of the most shocking and disgusting episodes of the Vietnam War, eroding American public support for the war.
"Kroshilovo" for children, old people and women in American style
In early 1968, the 48th battalion of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, after a series of clashes with American troops, took refuge in several villages in Quang Ngai province. Milai Village enjoyed a Viet Cong reputation among Americans. That is, a significant part of its inhabitants sympathized with the North Vietnamese soldiers, supported them or sheltered them.
According to American intelligence (which later turned out to be incorrect), a significant part of the battalion took refuge in the village of Milai. In fact, there were indeed several partisans in the village, but they managed to hide and survived. Charlie's Company, 20th Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd US Infantry Division, was dispatched to the village to assault and clean up. The order was given by the brigade commander, Colonel Henderson. Captain Medina, who commanded the company, gave the subordinates an order in a peculiar way - to destroy everything that walks, crawls and grows. That is, to kill all people, animals, destroy crops and ruin wells.
The soldiers were instructed that there would be no civilians in the village who allegedly left for the market at seven in the morning. To the clarifying question of one of the platoon commanders, what to do with women and children, Medina once again reminded that there are no civilians in the village - only Viet Cong.
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At 7:30 in the morning, about a hundred soldiers landed near the village. Two platoons, commanded by Lieutenants Kelly and Barker, headed for the village. The third platoon remained outside of it. Medina also stayed outside the village, transferring command to the platoon leaders.
Since the soldiers were intimidated in advance by the Viet Cong, armed to the teeth, they were all on edge and were afraid of every rustle. On their way to the village, soldiers shot and killed several people in the rice fields, including a child, believing they were guerrillas in hiding.
The soldiers began to gather the unsuspecting peasants into groups. However, one of the soldiers was so impatient to deal with the Viet Cong that he stabbed one of the men with a bayonet, and threw the other into a well and then threw grenades. After that, panic began. A group of women and children tried to hide near the sanctuary, but they were shot right during prayer. In another part of the village, the soldiers took several dozen residents to a large irrigation ditch and shot them. Some of the women were undressed, as can be seen from the surviving photographs of them buttoning up their blouses before being shot.
Some residents tried to hide in houses, but they were pelted with grenades or set on fire. According to one of the participants in the massacre, one of the soldiers fired a grenade launcher into a crowd of women and children, after which they were all finished off from a machine gun.
The most bloody was the 1st platoon under the command of Lieutenant Kelly. On his account, about 80% of all victims. The second platoon, operating on the other side of the village, suffered losses during the bloody operation. One soldier was killed and several others were injured when blown up on a trip wire. Another soldier shot himself in the foot while reloading a pistol (at the trial he claimed that he did this on purpose in order not to participate in the killings).
At 11 am, both platoons took a break for lunch, after which they continued to wipe the village off the face of the earth, not leaving even the dogs and pets alive.
Salvation from heaven
A helicopter for aerial observation was supposed to take part in the operation. The crew was commanded by Warrant Officer (an approximate analogue of the Soviet ensign) Thompson. However, when they flew over the village, the pilots saw only traces of the monstrous carnage and no signs of resistance. At first it was decided that an artillery strike had been struck on the village. From the air, they noticed the wounded girl and requested medical evacuation, marking her location with signal smoke. However, together with the doctors, Captain Medina approached and shot her right in front of the pilots.
From the air, Thompson noticed movement in one of the ditches and ordered the helicopter to land. On the ground, Thompson tried to reason with Kelly, but he sent him away, and a sergeant from his group at the same moment shot everyone in the ditch.
Hugh Clauers Thompson Jr.
After that, Thompson took off again and circled over the village in search of survivors. He managed to find an untouched bunker, towards which a group of soldiers was already moving. Landing between them, Thompson no longer entered into conversations. He ordered his men to uncover their weapons and threatened the soldiers to shoot them if they approached the hideout. Only after this did he manage to call for help two fellow pilots who evacuated a small group of survivors.
Then Thompson contacted the headquarters and told about everything he saw. Colonel Barker immediately ordered an end to the operation.
As a result of the actions of Charlie's company, from 347 (the minimum estimate according to the American version) to 504 people (the official version of Vietnam) were killed. None of those killed offered resistance. The overwhelming majority of those killed are women, children and the elderly. According to the recollections of one of the participants, they practically did not meet men of "combat-ready" age. Only three rifles were found in the entire village.
The scandal is trying to hush up
Thompson filed an official report of the civilian massacres, which went down to the division commander. Nevertheless, it was decided to hush up the case. General Koster and Colonel Henderson expressed their gratitude to the company for the successful operation. The media reported a successful attack in which 128 Viet Cong were killed and 22 civilians killed. Thompson "for silence" was awarded the Cross of Flight Merit with the wording "for saving a Vietnamese girl under the crossfire."
Six months later, one of the brigade soldiers (who did not participate in the massacre) filed a report in which he said that he had heard from colleagues about examples of incredibly inhuman treatment of local residents. Major Colin Powell (the future Secretary of Defense under Bush Jr. - Ed.) Was assigned to investigate the information, who concluded that the relationship between the soldiers and the Vietnamese was excellent.
Hugh Clauers Thompson Jr.
However, a former soldier of the 11th Brigade, Ronald Reidenauer, soon became active. A few days after the massacre, he flew over the village and saw many bodies. He heard from his colleagues about the brutal massacre and found someone willing to testify. The soldier sent letters to twenty congressmen asking them to investigate the story. The incident interested only three, and one of them, Democrat Morris Yudall, achieved an investigation (moreover, contrary to the party line, the Democrats then supported the war).
Ronald Reidenauer.
Some members of the commission were opposed to those who testified. For example, the chairman of the military committee of the House of Representatives Mendel Rivers (a staunch supporter of the war, proudly calling himself "the grandfather of the hawks") was very hostile to the testifying Thompson, several times called him a traitor, assured that American soldiers could not credited and sought to court Thompson for threatening American soldiers with weapons during a combat mission.
Only in November 1969, a year and a half after the tragedy, information was leaked to the media. Journalist Seymour Hirsch published interviews with several participants in the massacre and said that Kelly would be charged with mass murder. In addition, shocking pictures taken by war photographer Ronald Eberly got into the media. He had two cameras with him: in black and white, he took photos for the military department, and in color, for himself. As a result, the massacre was captured by Eberle on a color camera. He destroyed the most shocking pictures, where soldiers killed people, and hid photos of corpses and destruction for the future.
Eberle's pictures shocked the whole world. By the time America was seething, Nixon had recently won an election promising to end the war, and over a million people in Washington were marching against the war. In such conditions it was already impossible to hush up the scandal. In addition, the carnage caused outrage among the European allies. In general, the USSR has always subjected the United States to merciless criticism and did not miss the opportunity to once again recall the crimes of American imperialism. In Soviet statements, the death toll reached 567, although the Vietnamese counted 504. One of the surviving girls in Songmi was brought to the Kremlin Christmas tree.
Condescending judgment
26 people were brought before a military court. Most of them were not even accused of murder, but of hiding information. During the process, the charges were dropped from all the defendants in the case, with the exception of Lieutenant Kelly. Initially, he claimed that the victims were victims of an airstrike, but after several soldiers testified against him, the lieutenant began to blame his superior, Captain Medina (he assured that he had ordered to kill only the Viet Cong, and not everyone in a row, and Kelly misinterpreted him order). As a result, Kelly was found the only guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The verdict did not satisfy anyone. Opponents of the war were outraged that only one officer was punished, although about 30 people were involved in the killings. The proponents of the war were outraged that an American patriot who risked his life was being tried for the murder of "Vietnamese communists." The army was also dissatisfied with the interference in its affairs. Politicians did not miss the chance to earn points, several governors publicly spoke out in support of the "heroic patriot."
The lieutenant spent only one day in prison. He was then placed under house arrest at Fort Benning. After three and a half years, Kelly was released.
Murderers and victims
After his release, Lieutenant Kelly worked in a relatives' jewelry store. He is still alive and occasionally gives interviews. Several years ago, he apologized for participating in the massacre, still citing the fact that he was only following orders. Captain Medina was fired from the army, worked as a realtor and passed away in 2018. Major General Koster was demoted to brigadier general and deprived of one of the awards.
Helicopter pilot Thompson, who testified, was harassed by Kelly's supporters, who sent him threats. He continued to work as a helicopter pilot, first in the army, then in the oil industry. It was only in the 1990s that Thompson was no longer considered a traitor and began to be glorified as a hero. He even visited a memorial in Songmi where he met with several survivors. Thompson died in 2006.
Captain Ernest Medina.
One of the acquitted - Private Simpson - later committed suicide. After the death of two of his children, he considered it a punishment from above for the murders in Songmi. Suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Simpson was treated in mental hospitals, complaining to reporters that the dead come to him every night to take revenge. Finally, in 1997, he committed suicide.
Less is known about the survivors. One of them is currently the director of a museum dedicated to the bloody events. Several survivors continue to live in the village, which was later rebuilt. Another donkey surviving in Germany.
Despite numerous investigations, there is still a lot of obscurity in this story. What exactly caused such a bloody and senseless massacre: was it the madness of a single Lieutenant Kelly, or he simply misinterpreted the order of higher-ranking officers, or made a "scapegoat" out of him, and he followed the order from above exactly. The tribunal did not give a clear answer to these questions.
Author: Vgeniy Antonyuk