“We kept flying back and forth … and it didn’t take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. The My Lai massacre reportedly ended only after Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot on a reconnaissance mission, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened to open fire if they continued their attacks. The small village of My Lai is located in Quang Ngai province, which was believed to be a stronghold of the communist National Liberation Front (NLF) or Viet Cong (VC) during the Vietnam War. The brutality of the My Lai killings and the official cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment and further divided the United States over the Vietnam War. Army officers covered up the carnage for a year before it was reported in the American press, sparking a firestorm of international outrage. More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people-women, children and old men-in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. Who Was Responsible For the My Lai Massacre?.
