Pod Insights American Scandal The Massacre at My Lai | Pinkville | 2 About this episode On the morning of March 16, 1968, Charlie Company lands in the village of My Lai expecting to face hardened Viet Cong fighters. Instead, they find unarmed civilians – and proceed to carry out one of the most infamous massacres in U. S. military history.
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0:00 Lindsay Graham? Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research. A listener note: This episode contains descriptions of violence and may not be suitable for all audiences.
0:27 Lindsay Graham? It's just before dawn on March 16, 1968, at Landing Zone Donny, a U.S. Army base in Quang Nai Province, South Vietnam. In his quarters, 24-year-old Lieutenant William Calley wakes up before his alarm. He's instantly alert. Last night, his unit was given new orders to search and destroy the village of Mela. It's a suspected Viet Cong stronghold in a dense pocket of Quang Nai known to American forces as Pinkville.
1:10 Lindsay Graham? The men of Charlie Company have been warned to expect heavy casualties. They will likely be meeting the 48th Battalion of the Viet Cong, one of the most feared of enemy units, and it's likely they will outnumber the American soldiers 2 to 1. Still, Calley has been itching for a real fight for months, and he's raring to go. He makes his way down to breakfast, then checks his weapons, fills up his water canteens, and grabs as many sea rations as he can carry. Then, just after 7:00 a.m., action on the base starts to pick up. Eleven helicopters arrive, a mix of troop carriers and gunships. Calley and around 80 other GIs climb onboard and strap themselves in. Then the helicopters take off just a few minutes before 7:30 a.m., bound for the village of Mela.
1:58 Lindsay Graham? As the choppers zip over a green patchwork of rice paddies, Callie feels a surge of adrenaline. He mutters quietly, pumping himself up, getting ready for whatever's waiting for him and his platoon on the ground. But his excitement is interrupted by one of his men, who sits across from him in the vibrating cabin. Sir, you really think Captain Medina meant it literally? And what literally? Destroy everything? I mean, in the briefing? He was just fired up, right? He said what he said. No restrictions. His words. But what about civilians? Farmers? Kids? I mean, come on. No, you heard the intel. They're all VC or helping the VC. It's not our job to second guess that. Well, it just doesn't sit right. Look, the VC is dug in down there. You want to get picky with orders when they start shooting back? No, sir.
2:43 Lindsay Graham? It just seems like, I don't know, slow down? Verify? We can't slow down. We execute the mission. If you want to stay alive, you follow the chain of command. The GI doesn't respond. He just stares out the open side door of the helicopter. Below them, the trees and fields start giving way to scattered houses. They've reached Meili. But there's no sign of the enemy. The soldier glances up at Callie. It looks cold to me, sir. Well, maybe they're just waiting to spring a trap. The helicopter banks sharply and begins its descent toward the village. Callie yells over the wind to the rest of his platoon. Okay, eyes up, everyone. This is it. As the Huey helicopter hovers over a field just outside the village, escorting gunships lay down suppressive fire. Callie gets to his feet.
3:28 Lindsay Graham? Remember, no restrictions, no hesitations. Let's go, let's go. Despite what they were led to believe, when these US forces enter Meili, they find no enemy fighters lying in wait for them, only villagers. The American troops could retreat, declare that the mission intel was wrong, and try to hunt down the Vietcong another day. But after weeks of mounting American casualties, William Callie and his men have come to the village looking for revenge. And one way or another, they're going to get it.
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5:10 Lindsay Graham? From Wondery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American Scam.
5:33 Lindsay Graham? Lieutenant William Callie and the other infantrymen of Charlie Company arrived in Vietnam in late 1967. Their commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, promised the young soldiers glory. But from the start, America's war in Southeast Asia looked nothing like what they'd imagined. Booby traps, sniper fire, and ambushes left the men bitter and paranoid, rarely even getting the chance to shoot back at their attackers. And soon, the unit's grief for the growing number of fallen comrades turned into a thirst for vengeance. On the morning of March 16, 1968, Charlie Company entered the village of Mela. They were told they'd be facing hardened Viet Cong fighters, so the men landed ready for battle. But their actions were something else entirely.
6:17 Lindsay Graham? This is Episode 2: Pinkville.
6:23 Lindsay Graham? After their helicopters land in the fields outside Mela, the men of Charlie Company begin their sweep through the village. Private First Class Michael Bernhardt trails near the edge of the hamlet, scanning for danger. The rifleman in the second platoon, Bernhardt, is 21 years old. But unlike many in his generation, he's always had faith in his government and its mission in Vietnam. He dropped out of his junior year at the University of Miami to volunteer for the Army, believing that being a soldier was a natural part of a young man's life. His father's generation fought in World War II, and now it's his turn. He keeps his rifle raised as he moves, his finger hovering over the trigger, waiting for the moment when the shooting starts.
7:04 Lindsay Graham? Back in February, on two separate missions, his fellow soldiers were flanked and attacked by the Vietcong from behind. Bernhardt and the other men of Charlie Company have no intention of letting that happen again. But as the minutes tick by and the platoons fan out through the hamlet, Bernhardt realizes something strange. As far as Bernhardt can tell, no one's been shot at since they've arrived. They haven't come across any booby traps. There haven't been any sudden screams of any ambushed American soldiers. All they've encountered is the usual morning stillness of a tiny farming village: chickens clucking in their pens, pots clattering in unseen kitchens, and smoke lazily rising from cooking fires. It's increasingly clear to Bernhardt that whatever intelligence they had about this place was wrong.
7:49 Lindsay Graham? If the 48th Battalion of the Vietcong was here, they're gone now, and there's no fighting to be done in Mela. So Bernhardt slings his rifle over his shoulder, its muzzle pointing at the ground. He walks along a path behind the village's huts. In the field beyond, he sees an elderly man waving his arms. It's hard for Bernhardt to tell whether he's saying hello or trying to shoo them off, but either way, he's clearly not holding a weapon. Bernhardt turns to tell the rest of the platoon that the man isn't a threat, but before he can say a word, he hears an order barked out to open fire. Bernhardt spins around. He thinks it was Lieutenant William Colley who gave that command, but there's no time to confirm before a shot rings out and the old man in the field falls to the ground dead.
8:34 Lindsay Graham? That single bullet seems to slice through whatever thin thread of restraint has been holding Charlie Company back, and now the men's fury is unleashed. Within minutes, the quiet morning in Mili unravels into chaos. Old men, teenagers, women holding children are gunned down, some as they flee, others as they're dragged from their homes and shot at close range. And each killing seems to fuel the next. Private Bernhardt doesn't move. He doesn't speak, he just watches, numb, as the slaughter committed by the American troops continues around him. And as the horrifying choir of gunfire, screams, and explosions echoes through Mili, some Charlie Company officers try to intervene. They shout out they're meant to stop and pull back, but it's too late.
9:18 Lindsay Graham? Months of frustration, grief, and anger have built up to this, and there's no controlling the soldiers now. Homes are torched, livestock are machine-gunned in their fields. Elsewhere, American troops begin assaulting and raping women and girls, some barely in their teens. The enemy the men are meant to be fighting is nowhere to be seen, but the momentum of violence keeps building. Lieutenant William Callie's first platoon is supposed to be completing a speedy sweep through the village before rendezvousing with the rest of Charlie Company on the other side. But by 8 a.m., 30 minutes after their deployment, Callie and his men have stalled in the village. While smoke fills the air from burning huts and gunfire erupts in the distance, Callie's
10:02 Lindsay Graham? soldiers have collected around 40 Vietnamese civilians, and they're marching them slowly down a dirt path on the outskirts of the village. They're mostly women, children, and old men clinging to each other as they walk. Some shout out that they're not Viet Cong, others are entirely silent. But all of them are terrified. They've heard about American soldiers swooping into villages before, but they've never known anything like this. Another group of civilians is pushed down the trail by a second platoon of Charlie Company, making the miserable line even longer. Some trip and fall but are shoved roughly back onto their feet. Then Callie orders his men to huddle the villagers together and keep them all under guard. That's when he gets a radio call from Charlie Company's captain, Ernest Medina, who's stationed
10:47 Lindsay Graham? at a command post just outside the village. Callie takes a few steps away from his men, then answers the squawking radio.
10:58 Lindsay Graham? Yes, sir. This is Callie. What's your status? Why aren't you at the rendezvous point? Sir, we're still sweeping the village, but progress is slow. We've come across multiple bunkers. Forget the bunkers, damn it. I didn't tell you to check them out. I told you to get your men in position. You're behind. Now move it. Yes, sir. It's just, we've got a large group of Vietnamese with us. Maybe forty, fifty people. I'm not seeing a problem here, Callie. Get rid of them. Captain Medina cuts the conversation short. Tightening his jaw, Callie strides back to his men. He calls out to Private First Class Paul Meedlow, the young G.I. from Indiana, who's the nearest man standing watch over the civilians. Meedlow, we gotta get this moving. You know what to do. But before Callie can explain any further, there's a commotion behind him.
11:41 Lindsay Graham? One of his men is grabbing a Vietnamese woman who's struggling to get away from him. Callie shakes his head. Ah, damn it. Hey, hey, hey, hey. What do you think you're playing at? We don't have time for this. Get her in line with the others. Callie yanks the soldier off the woman, then shoves her roughly toward the other villagers. She clutches her torn clothes as she stumbles into the crowd. Callie, give me an update. Callie grabs the radio. Sorry, sir. We're still dealing with these civilians. I have a lot of Vietnamese here. What part of my order wasn't clear? Are you disobeying me, Lieutenant? No, sir. I'm trying. I don't want excuses. Waste them and get your men in position. Copy? Yes, sir. Copy that, sir.
12:19 Lindsay Graham? Callie exhales slowly. Then he heads back to the civilians under guard. Meedlow, what the hell are you waiting for? Private Meedlow flinches, caught off guard. Callie scowls at him. Come on, come on. We need them dead. That's an order. Captain Medina's waiting. Meedlow still hesitates. He looks between Callie and the villagers. The civilians huddle together, some weeping, some whispering prayers, others staring blankly ahead. Meedlow doesn't move, so Callie raises his rifle. Don't make me say it again, soldier, or I'll shoot you instead.
12:53 Lindsay Graham? Paul Meedlow doesn't know how to say no to his commanding officer. So he raises his M16, and when Lieutenant Callie says "fire," Meedlow pulls the trigger. From ten feet away, Meedlow and Callie empty clip after clip into the villagers. As the morning goes on, more civilians are routed up and executed under Callie's orders. And through it all, not a single shot is fired at the men of Charlie Company.
13:21 Lindsay Graham? About seven miles away from Meili, back at the task force headquarters at Landing Zone Dottie, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker strides into the operations center. It's 8:40 a.m., just over an hour into the operation. He's just gotten word from Captain Ernest Medina that Charlie Company has eliminated eighty-four enemy fighters in Meili so far. At least four Vietcong have also been reported killed by helicopter gunships watching the trails outside the village. A clerk records the numbers in the official task force log. It should be a moment of triumph. On paper, almost ninety kills in just an hour of fighting is an overwhelming success. That kind of victory will delight all their superiors and make the newspapers back home as well.
14:03 Lindsay Graham? But there are no cheers or mutual congratulations in the operations center this morning. Colonel Barker scans the room, and everyone seems to feel it. Something is off. Charlie Company may have reported eighty-four kills, but there's no confirmation that the dead are Vietcong, just Captain Medina's word. So Barker orders the men of Charlie Company to make sure they recover any weapons or documents that can be found on the bodies. Anything that will prove the American troops really are killing the enemy and not innocent civilians. But despite these orders, Barker is still uneasy. The telltale signs of a true firefight are all missing. The radio messages flying back and forth, the medevac calls, the desperate request for air support, there's none of that.
14:46 Lindsay Graham? Instead, it's just eerily quiet. Finally, a report comes in of an American casualty. Colonel Barker perks up because maybe this is the sign of the battle they've all been expecting. But it's just a foot wound, and even the cause of that is unclear. From the sound of things, the soldier possibly shot himself just to get out of the battle or whatever's happening down there. Barker hopes it is a battle, that his men are engaging the enemy bravely with discipline and purpose, that every kill reported is one less Vietcong fighter and one more step towards victory, because the alternative is unthinkable.
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16:36 Lindsay Graham? The Mili operation has been underway for an hour and a half when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson circles over the village in his Raven Light Observation helicopter. He's a lanky 25-year-old pilot from Georgia, but despite his age, he's the most experienced man aboard. The two men squeezed in either side of him are barely more than kids. He's got a 20-year-old crew chief named Glenn Andriata and an 18-year-old door gunner named Lawrence Colburn. And since the operation in Mili began, they've been flying over the trails outside the village. Their job is to act as bait, to draw the fire of hidden Viet Cong fighters so the larger gunships can take them out. But no one has taken a shot at them so far, and now they're running low on fuel. Thompson radios to the gunships
17:19 Lindsay Graham? that he's headed back to Landing Zone 9 to refuel, then steers his helicopter away, passing over the village. As they fly overhead, they can see dead civilians scattered in the fields and among the houses below. Some of them he recognizes, groups of women and children he saw earlier that morning heading down the road toward the market, carrying empty baskets. But now they're here and all dead. Thompson doesn't understand. There hasn't been a battle, yet something terrible seems to have happened. He puzzles over it all the way back to base. And after a quick refueling, he's back in the air. At around 9:00 a.m., Thompson flies over a rice paddy just south of Mela and spots another group of Vietnamese civilians, again, all dead.
18:01 Lindsay Graham? Except when he sees one of them, a woman who's just wounded. So Thompson hovers over the field and drops green smoke grenades to mark her position. Then he relays a message to ground troops requesting immediate medical assistance. Thompson stays on the scene and watches from the air as Charlie Company's commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, approaches the wounded woman. Thompson assumes Medina will help her, but instead Medina casually prods her with his foot and without a word, shoots her. Thompson and his crew shout in outrage from the cockpit. They can't believe what they just saw. Thompson starts running through justifications in his head, trying to make sense of it. Maybe the woman was too far gone. This was a mercy killing.
18:43 Lindsay Graham? Or perhaps she had some sort of concealed weapon that he couldn't see from his vantage point. But something in Thompson's gut tells him it was neither of those things. And that what he actually witnessed was nothing more than a murder. If that's the case, then perhaps the same thing happened to all the other dead people they've seen this morning. Thompson maneuvers his chopper over to the eastern side of the village where American soldiers are standing beside an irrigation ditch. It's filled with bodies of Vietnamese civilians, and even from the air, Thompson can see that some are still moving. He swings his chopper around, gaining himself just a moment to think, then decides he has to intervene. He should ask permission from command to attempt a landing, but there's no time for that. He turns to his crew members and asks if they're with him.
19:27 Lindsay Graham? They immediately say yes. So Thompson lands near the ditch and hops out of his pilot seat. He storms over to the soldiers and confronts a sergeant who doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. Then Lieutenant William Callie himself walks over to see what Thompson wants. Thompson implores Callie to stop whatever is happening here. The moment is tense, but by the time he heads back to his helicopter, Thompson believes he's put an end to the killing, that Callie has heard him loud and clear. But as soon as Thompson is airborne, he sees Callie immediately order his men to shoot the survivors in the ditch. Thompson's intervention has done nothing. So furious, he veers away, seeing if there are other villagers who can be helped.
20:08 Lindsay Graham? By 9:45 a.m., Thompson is over the northeast corner of the village, and there he spots an elderly couple with a young child, scurrying toward a rudimentary earth and bomb shelter at the edge of a field. They're being pursued by soldiers from Charlie Company's 2nd Platoon, and Thompson knows he has to do something. Over the radio, he calls for immediate support from nearby gunships, and without a second thought, he once again lands his helicopter, this time putting it between the advancing men of the 2nd Platoon and the group of terrified civilians. Then he gets out and issues his crewmates Glenn Antriata and Lawrence Colburn an order: "If the GIs open fire on the civilians, they are to shoot." The two young men nod and train their guns on their fellow Americans.
20:51 Lindsay Graham? Thompson then confronts the commander of the 2nd Platoon. It's another tense standoff. Thompson asks for help to evacuate the civilians from the bomb shelter, but only gets sneers from a soldier saying they could use a hand grenade to get them out. Thompson warns the commander to keep his men back, and then with no one else willing to help, Thompson holsters his gun and steps into the bomb shelter himself. As his eyes adjust to the dark of the moss-covered shelter, Thompson sees that there are nine terrified civilians huddled inside. Extending a hand, he tries to coax them out. It's not easy. The Vietnamese have little reason to trust Thompson, who looks like every other American soldier who's terrorized them that morning. But one by one, Thompson manages to convince them to follow him outside.
21:35 Lindsay Graham? Two of the heavily armed gunships have answered Thompson's call for backup, and despite the extreme risk of landing in a free fire zone, one pilot touches down twice to ferry the civilians to safety, while the other pilots circle overhead, offering cover from 500 feet above. All the while, Thompson stays on the ground, positioned directly between the Vietnamese civilians and the armed American troops, using his own body as a human shield. If he has to die to save these villagers' lives, then that's what he's willing to do. Then, once all the villagers are safely evacuated, Thompson returns to his helicopter, which by now, at 11 a.m., is again running low on fuel. Soon, he'll have to fly back to Landing Zone Dottie. But before then, he wants to make sure that there's no one else in Milai that he can help.
22:21 Lindsay Graham? Circling low over the village, Thompson scans beneath him. Many of the huts are still burning, and through the smoke, he can see dead bodies sprawled everywhere. There are no signs of life, so he moves on. He then flies out over the drainage ditch on the edge of the village. The American troops who were there earlier have now gone, leaving behind a scene of devastation. The bodies in the ditch are too many to count. But not everyone down there is dead. Thompson and his crew spot a flicker of movement. A small boy, maybe five or six years old, half-buried under the other villagers. Thompson once again lands his helicopter without Command's permission. Dust kicks up in the rotor wash as the chopper touches ground. Crew Chief Glenn Andriata on buckles grabs his rifle and jumps out.
23:07 Lindsay Graham? He then scrambles down the steep edge of the ditch, boots sliding in the mud and gore. He does his best not to step on the dead, but there are so many, it's impossible to avoid them all. So he tries not to think too much about it, and just focuses on the boy. He's not crying, just in shock, silently shaking. Reaching him, Andriata gently pries the boy's hands from his dead mother's blouse and lifts him into his arms. The child weighs next to nothing, but still, to climb back out of the ditch is difficult, and Andriata is in danger of slipping back down until Gunner Lawrence Colburn jumps out of the helicopter to lend a hand. With Colburn's help, Andriata gets on board the helicopter, and moments later, they're airborne again, racing toward the hospital in Kwangnai City.
23:50 Lindsay Graham? The boy is safe, but no one really knows what his future will look like. Everything he knew has just been erased by the very people who said they were there to protect it. Thompson can't bear it, so from the hospital, he flies his helicopter back to Landing Zone Dottie, so he can speak directly to his superiors. After touching down, Thompson rushes to his platoon leader and tells him what he's just seen. But the man doesn't know what to do with the information, so he tells Thompson to go talk to their commander.
24:21 Lindsay Graham? Thompson storms across the tarmac, toward the aviation operations van. Throws open the door and immediately confronts the major in charge of the battalion. Sir, I need to talk to you right now. Thompson, what's going on? What's going on, sir? I just saw our own soldiers gun down civilians. Women, children, just executing them in cold blood. The major squints at Thompson like he's not sure he's heard right. You're telling me there were casualties? No, sir, I'm saying it was a massacre. This was not collateral damage. This was like something out of Nazi Germany. Watch yourself, Thompson. I know what I saw. They were rounding them up and herding them in ditches and then just shooting them. If this is what they're doing, if this is the mission, you can take these wings right off me. They're just sewn on with thread and I don't want them. Now, now, you're making some serious accusations.
25:05 Lindsay Graham? I watched it happen, sir. I landed in that village three times trying to stop it. We airlifted out a handful of them, everyone else was slaughtered. You confronted ground troops directly? Yes, sir. I put my crew between the civilians and our men. That's an unsanctioned landing in a hot zone. You put your crew and your aircraft at serious risk. Sir, I was not worried about protocol while our guys were out there slaughtering children. Are you listening to what I'm saying? I'm listening just fine, but we don't have the full picture yet. It could have been crossfire. It sounds like a chaotic scene. Sir, you are not hearing me. There were no enemy fighters in the village. It was only our men out there doing the shooting. The major takes a deep breath. Look, perhaps there's been some misjudgment. You're saying twenty, thirty civilians, maybe? That, that's tragic, but sometimes things go wrong.
25:50 Lindsay Graham? This is war. This wasn't war, sir. This was murder. And if you don't report it to the higher-ups, I will.
25:58 Lindsay Graham? The major agrees to pass the report up the chain of command to Lieutenant Colonel Barker. But as Hugh Thompson walks back out into the heat and dust of Landing Zone Donny, he worries that his account may be softened, or worse, outright ignored. So he makes a vow to himself that he won't let this get swept under the rug. He'll do everything in his power to make sure that justice is done and that the soldiers he saw out there in Meleai get the punishment they deserve.
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28:09 Lindsay Graham? By early afternoon on March 16, 1968, the operation in Meli has recorded a total of 128 enemy kills. Of those, 84 are claimed by Charlie Company. That's the same number Captain Ernest Medina gave Lieutenant Colonel Barker earlier in the morning. According to him, the body count hasn't gone up since then. But he does claim his company has recovered documents, a radio, some ammunition, and medical supplies from the fallen enemy. And if indeed 128 Vietcong fighters had been killed, it would be an undeniable military success for the task force. The cracks in the story begin to appear almost immediately. By 3:30 that afternoon, Colonel Orin Henderson of the 11th Infantry Brigade receives two
28:51 Lindsay Graham? separate reports of mass civilian casualties in Mele. He wants to get to the bottom of what really happened, so he orders Charlie Company to return to the village and get an accurate body count. Captain Medina immediately objects. He argues that his men are exhausted and running low on supplies. They're already near their designated defensive position for the night, so sending them back into a potentially mined and hostile area would be reckless and unnecessary. Medina's objections are run all the way up the chain of command to Major General Samuel Coster, the officer in charge of the entire division. After weighing the risks, Coster sides with Medina and tells Colonel Henderson that there's no reason to send anyone back into Mele, and that decision is final. The village will remain undisturbed.
29:36 Lindsay Graham? It's a relief for Medina. He knows that a proper body count would raise questions about his claim that there were minimal civilian casualties. For Medina and the rest of Charlie Company, there's no point looking back now. They still have a mission to complete. They just need to keep pushing forward. So the next morning, their operation in Pinkville continues. Lieutenant William Callie and his first platoon sweep the countryside, pushing deeper into enemy territory. They climb up a hill, but on their way back down, Callie decides that they'll take a different path. It's rougher terrain, but it should be faster. Private First Class Paul Meedlow is walking point. He's uneasy with Callie's decision to take this path. The way up had already been cleared with a minesweeper.
30:19 Lindsay Graham? They know it's safe, but anything could be waiting for them on the way down on this new path. But Meedlow followed orders yesterday at the ditch, and he follows orders now, too. So he starts off down the hill, leading the rest of the platoon. But midway down, Meedlow steps on a mine. The explosion rips through his leg, blowing his foot off. Cali is hit too with shrapnel ripping into his face. Soldiers scramble for cover as Miedlo screams in agony clutching at his leg. The radioman calls in for immediate medevac and within minutes a chopper is lowering through the smoke toward their position. As Miedlo is lifted onto a stretcher, he points at Cali and shouts through his pain, screaming out that God came for him for what he did at Myli and he'll be coming for Cali next.
31:04 Lindsay Graham? Cali doesn't let Miedlo's words affect him. He doesn't regret what he did yesterday. As far as he's concerned, he was simply following orders.
31:16 Lindsay Graham? If Charlie Company had doubled back to get an accurate body count in Myli, the number of recorded casualties from March 16th, 1968 would have been very different. 504 Vietnamese civilians were killed in the village. These victims included 182 women and 173 children. Seventeen of those women were pregnant and 56 of the children were infants. But officers in the Army chain of command all downplay the carnage. Some may truly believe everything was above board. Others know the truth, or at least can guess at it. But they all know that even the suggestion of a massacre could explode into a scandal none of them need. So little mention of civilian casualties makes it into the official Army reports and
32:00 Lindsay Graham? the US Joint Service Command in Saigon even issues a glowing communique praising the operation. This whitewash leaves two reporters who were on the ground with the troops in Myli with a decision to make.
32:15 Lindsay Graham? Army Combat Correspondent Jay Roberts hurries breathlessly through a US Army camp, a piece of paper clutched in his hand. A sergeant with the 11th Brigade's Public Information Department, Roberts has spent months embedded with the troops filing stories that have filled the pages of newspapers like Stars and Stripes. He ducks into a tent. Military photographer Ronald Haverly is lying on his bunk, but he sits up fast as Roberts barges in and thrusts a crumpled dispatch at him. You seen this? What is it? New chaos in Saigon just came down the wire. Major victory in Myli. Says we wiped out an enemy force, but not a word about the civilians. Haberly reads the dispatch. "128 VC dead, three weapons recovered." "That's it?" "That's it." "That's the story now."
33:00 Lindsay Graham? Robert starts pacing, agitated, while Haberly continues staring at the paper. "There's nothing here about the women or the kid? Nothing about the ditch?" Robert shakes his head. He jabs a finger at the press release. "I bet my stripes Colonel Parker pushed this. He's been riding me to clean my copy. Cut anything that mentions civilians. Just talk about enemy gear and tactical success." "What are we gonna do? You saw what I saw. I've got the photos to back it up." "I know." "Then we tell the truth, right?" Robert stops pacing. He glances toward the tent flap. "Maybe, maybe you hold on to those slides, just for now." "You're kidding." "Well, you've got what, two, three weeks left? Then you're outta here, stateside." "I've got another year, Ron. If I cross the wrong people..." "Jay, we can't lie about this."
33:45 Lindsay Graham? "I'm not saying we lie. I'm just saying we wait until we're both home alive." Roberts leans in, lowering his voice. "I mean, you've heard the stories. You know how this place works. Guys who speak up get reassigned to hot zones, and they don't come back. So we just wait." "But for what? Someone else to blow the whistle? If someone else steps up, then we back them with everything we've got. Photos, testimony, whatever." "But I don't think we should go first, Ron. Not alone." "No, no, this isn't right." "I know it's not right, but I don't think we have a choice."
34:17 Lindsay Graham? Jay Roberts leaves the tent and then writes a news release that follows the official line. Within a week, the report is picked up across the world. Headlines celebrate a major American victory, and the US Army Chief of Staff, General William "West" Moreland himself, commends the men of Charlie Company for their outstanding action. But in that tent in Vietnam, photographer Ronald Haberly sits on his bunk, holding pictures the world hasn't seen. Pictures which tell a very different story.
34:47 Lindsay Graham? Ever since helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson put himself between American forces and Vietnamese villagers in My Lai, he's been waiting for the higher-ups to take action. But with every passing day, he grows less confident that his superiors will do the right thing. By now, his account of what happened in My Lai has made it all the way to the commander of the division, Major General Samuel Koster. He instructs Colonel Orrin Henderson to conduct an informal investigation into the claims, and Henderson comes back a little over a month later with a clean report. He says that while there were some casualties at My Lai, it was a total of 20 civilians, nothing like the mass murder Thompson has suggested. But Koster doesn't entirely buy Henderson's findings, and he's worried how a misleading body count might reflect on his own leadership.
35:31 Lindsay Graham? So he tells Henderson to go back and conduct a more thorough, formal inquiry. The unsaid implication is clear: get it right this time. But somehow, it is not Henderson who takes charge of this second investigation. Even though it's his task force that is under the microscope, it's Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker himself who ends up taking over. And he comes back with the same findings as Henderson, assuring Koster that there are no merits to Hugh Thompson's claims. Still, no one wants Thompson repeating the accusations to anyone else. In the past, inconvenient witnesses have been persuaded to stay quiet with promotions or medals. So it's decided that Warrant Officer Thompson will be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
36:13 Lindsay Graham? The citation praises him for taking the Vietnamese boy to the hospital and says it was done during intense crossfire. But if the Army hopes to buy Thompson's silence, Thompson isn't willing to sell. He throws away the citation, wanting no part in the lie. Besides, by now, Thompson feels more like he's being punished for not falling in line and keeping his mouth shut. Whether it's by coincidence, or because the Army brass feel he's now expendable, since My Lai, Thompson's being sent out on increasingly dangerous missions. Over the summer of 1968, his helicopter is hit by enemy fire seven times, and eventually, his luck runs out. In August, his chopper is struck by machine gun fire, plummets 600 feet to the ground.
36:55 Lindsay Graham? Crash landing is so hard that Thompson suffers a severe compression fracture in his back, ending his combat career in Vietnam. And with Thompson out of the way, recovering in a hospital in Japan, the events at My Lai are effectively swept under the rug. U.S. commanders insist that the operation was a complete success, and internal Army inquiries continue to deny that there was any wrongdoing. Some mistakes may have been made, but American soldiers aren't callous murderers. Whatever people said they saw, it didn't happen because it couldn't happen. From Wondery, this is episode two of The Massacre at My Lai for American Scandal. In our next episode, the truth begins to surface, not from military authorities,
37:40 Lindsay Graham? but from a lone whistleblower desperate to be heard. And as the Army scrambles to contain the fallout, an investigative reporter picks up the trail and uncovers one of the most explosive stories in modern American history. American Scandal is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American Scandal on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. And Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com.
38:24 Lindsay Graham? That's historyishuman.com. If you'd like to learn more about the massacre at My Lai, we recommend the books My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and The Descent into Darkness by Howard Jones, Cover Up by Seymour Hersh, and The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story by Trent Andrews. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound design by Gabriel Ghul. Supervising sound designer Matthew Filler. Music by Throm. This episode is written and researched by Alex Burns. Fact checking by Alyssa Jung Perry.
39:09 Lindsay Graham? Managing producer Emily Burke. Development by Stephanie Jens. Senior producer Andy Beckerman. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marshall Louie, and Aaron O'Flaherty for Wondery.
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40:13 Speaker 05 It's a world of wonderful words, big imaginations, and plenty of heart for the whole family. Listen to the Cat in the Hat podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all 20 episodes early and ad-free right now.
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