The brutality of the My Lai massacre and the official cover up fuelled anti- Vietnam War sentiment in the USA to a great extent. The My Lai massacre could be considered one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unprotected civilians all through the Vietnam War. A syndicate of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, as well as young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. U.S. Army officers concealed up the massacre for over a year before it was reported in the American press, igniting a storm of international outrage. The brutality of the My Lai killings
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The group arrived in one of the village’s four villages, My Lai 4, on a search-and-destroy mission on the morning of March 16. Instead of guerrilla fighters, they found unarmed villagers, most of them women, children and old men.
The soldiers had been instructed before the attack by army command that everyone who were found in My Lai could be either considered VC or active VC sympathizers, and were given instruction to destroy the village. They acted with extraordinary brutality, raping and torturing villagers before killing them and dragging dozens of people, including young children and babies, into a ditch and executing them with automatic weapons. (Source B)
Unlike many other Wars before the Vietnam War, Many people could see what was happening in the world around them through the News and various media platforms. Americans along with everyone else could own their own opinions based off what the media was depicting and showing. The Vietnam War and more specifically the My Lai massacre and the brutality of American Soldier in Vietnam, towards unarmed civilians- especially that of the early, woman and children assisted in many Americans forming their own opinion in regards to the war.(Source …show more content…
This later enraged and the public and created tension amongst the rest of the World as many demand transparency. It was known that exposure of massacre and the cover up would further fuel anti-war sentiment. Moreover, each side, The American and the South Vietnamese and motives or the cover up. The Americans perspective was that after the Tet Offensive, confidence, Self-esteem and moral amongst the soldiers were was low and anti-war sentiment was higher than ever before. The My Lai massacre, which happened less than 2 months after the Tet Offensive, would have just added fire to fire and therefore they proceeded to cover it up. However The South Vietnam Perspective was that by 1968, the South Vietnamese military had grown reliant on American aid. And in order to maintain stable relations with the U.S., South Vietnam also aided the cover-up. (Source
The group arrived in one of the village’s four villages, My Lai 4, on a search-and-destroy mission on the morning of March 16. Instead of guerrilla fighters, they found unarmed villagers, most of them women, children and old men.
The soldiers had been instructed before the attack by army command that everyone who were found in My Lai could be either considered VC or active VC sympathizers, and were given instruction to destroy the village. They acted with extraordinary brutality, raping and torturing villagers before killing them and dragging dozens of people, including young children and babies, into a ditch and executing them with automatic weapons. (Source B)
Unlike many other Wars before the Vietnam War, Many people could see what was happening in the world around them through the News and various media platforms. Americans along with everyone else could own their own opinions based off what the media was depicting and showing. The Vietnam War and more specifically the My Lai massacre and the brutality of American Soldier in Vietnam, towards unarmed civilians- especially that of the early, woman and children assisted in many Americans forming their own opinion in regards to the war.(Source …show more content…
This later enraged and the public and created tension amongst the rest of the World as many demand transparency. It was known that exposure of massacre and the cover up would further fuel anti-war sentiment. Moreover, each side, The American and the South Vietnamese and motives or the cover up. The Americans perspective was that after the Tet Offensive, confidence, Self-esteem and moral amongst the soldiers were was low and anti-war sentiment was higher than ever before. The My Lai massacre, which happened less than 2 months after the Tet Offensive, would have just added fire to fire and therefore they proceeded to cover it up. However The South Vietnam Perspective was that by 1968, the South Vietnamese military had grown reliant on American aid. And in order to maintain stable relations with the U.S., South Vietnam also aided the cover-up. (Source