US troops killed 128 enemy fighters at My Lai
| US troops killed 128 enemy fighters at My Lai | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "US soldiers who entered the hamlet of My Lai on March 16, 1968, fought and killed 128 Viet Cong fighters." | |
| Domain | War, Conflict & Geopolitics |
| Tactic | Fabrication |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1968 |
| Origin | US Army reports and a military press release after the operation |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-01 |
| Further reading: books on War, Conflict & Geopolitics | |
On March 16, 1968, soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, entered the village of Son My in South Vietnam, including the hamlet of My Lai. Army reports described a successful battle in which 128 enemy fighters were killed. Only a handful of weapons were recovered.
In fact, the soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed villagers, mostly women, children and elderly men.
What the evidence shows
- Death toll. Estimates of civilians killed range from about 347 to 504.
- Exposure. Former soldier Ron Ridenhour wrote to Congress and the Pentagon in March 1969. Journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story in November 1969, and photographs by Army photographer Ronald Haeberle were published.
- Peers Commission. The Army's investigation, led by Lt. Gen. William Peers, found in 1970 that the killings had been covered up at several levels of command.
- Accountability. Charges were brought against more than two dozen officers and soldiers, but only Lt. William Calley was convicted, in 1971. His sentence was reduced, and he served about three and a half years, mostly under house arrest.
Why it matters
My Lai shows how routine reporting systems can turn a massacre into a battlefield success, and how long it can take for whistleblowers and reporters to correct the record.
Sources
- US Department of the Army, Report of the Department of the Army Review of the Preliminary Investigations into the My Lai Incident (Peers Report), March 1970.
- Seymour M. Hersh, My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath, Random House, 1970.
- Library of Congress, Military Legal Resources, "My Lai" collection.