My Lai: A Brief History With Documents By Randy Roberts

What triggered a unit of young, male American soldiers from across the country to commit one of the most brutal, massacres in American military history? Were they simply following orders? Perhaps, these soldiers simply broke under the pressure of a malicious war. Perhaps, their moral line between enemy and civilian had been deliberately distorted. While the question is still widely debated among countless historians, word of the My Lai tragedy did not actually reach the American public until late 1969, almost one year after it actually occurred: March 16th, 1968. James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, authors of the novel, “My Lai: A Brief History with Documents,” make reference that even after judicial action was taken, there were still various

For example, jurors on the case who deliberated Charlie Company’s fate were typically Vietnam War veterans. In other words, perhaps these veterans considered Vietnam an isolated world where different morals of civilization prevailed. Perhaps they as well had witnessed or partook in the atrocities during their tours. Additionally, the results of multiple investigations, trials, and testimonies were equally diverse and debated. “In the end, only William Calley [Army lieutenant] was found guilty and convicted of the pre-meditated murder of twenty-two civilians. . . Everyone else [including Captain Medina] was acquitted or had all charges dropped,” exclaimed Olson and Roberts. (24) In either case, it is relatively clear that the horrific, bloody massacre of between three and five hundred villagers illustrates the widespread failures of leadership, discipline and morale within the Charlie

Should soldiers question the idea of blind loyalty to military leadership and superiority? Should the military search for a more effective way to draft suitable recruits? In either case, James Olson and Randy Roberts clearly help the audience to see the U.S. soldiers more directly and clearly, as well as illustrate that the perception of a war’s success should never by measured by body counts. Sadly, nothing will ever prevent innocent non-combatants, the men, women, and children, from being murdered in the heart of a war. Nothing will ever prevent some soldiers from acts of barbarity. Nothing will ever restore the dead. The cruelty of Lieutenant Calley’s orders will forever remain a mystery. Perhaps, he simply broke under the pressure of a malicious war. Perhaps, his moral line between enemy and civilian had been deliberately distorted, and thus distorted other soldiers’ morals. All in all, the mystery lingers on, unseen, far into the shadows. However, we can still bear witness. And so we