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How Did The My Lai Massacre Dbq

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The United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War that was now escalating with the Vietcong before the My Lai Massacre occurred. They had the intention of going to My Lai to find and attack the Vietcong. On the morning of March 16, 1968, US soldiers flew in helicopters into My Lai 4 with the mission of clearing the area of Communists and to only fight the enemy, not civilians. The soldiers landed and started to move through My Lai 4 expecting to battle with the Vietcong, but the area was only occupied by civilians. Despite the mission to not kill any civilians, and seeing no traces of the enemy, Lieutenant Calley “ordered his men to kill the unarmed civilians” (My Lai: A Brief History with Documents, 22). Many of the soldiers said they had no desire to participate in the innocent killings but were just following orders, while others refused to disobey orders and not kill any civilians. …show more content…

Immediately after the massacre, everyone involved in the My Lai Massacre was completely silent and did not report what had just occurred. Thompson, a helicopter pilot, would report what he witnessed that morning, only for it to be covered up by every official and higher-up power it came across. The story would not be exposed to the American people until April 2nd, 1969, when Ronald Ridenhour, a US soldier in the Vietnam War, heard about the massacre from other soldiers who had participated in it. He was appalled by this and that it was completely unknown to the public. Ridenhour took matters into his own hands by writing a five-page letter to U.S. leaders, including the secretary of defense and members of Congress (My Lai: A Brief History with Documents, 147). His determination to expose the truth played a significant role in informing the public and holding accountable those

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