Marine in Vietnam
courtesy of PBS
“American Experience: My Lai” (PBS)

It has been over forty two years since the tragedy of My Lai occurred. Very little has been written or shown about this dark day in America’s history that took place on March 16, 1968. It was during the height of the Vietnam War when an atrocity of enormous proportions happened and scarred our nation in a terrible way. Now PBS’ “American Experience: My Lai” shines a harsh light on this event.

In this hour and a half program audiences are shown the step by step buildup to this tragedy. You get to meet some of the members of “Charlie Company” and learn from their own mouths what it was like to be in Vietnam at this time and how their minds were molded to find the enemy and to kill that enemy. As one man states it, they were taught to kill and taught to follow orders. When they were in Vietnam they were also concentrating on staying alive and doing what they were told to do helped keep them as safe as possible.

Charlie Company also suffered numerous losses from sniper fire and land mines. These occurrences helped change the young men from nice guys to bad guys. When they were sent to the area known as Pinkville and to My Lai in particular they were ready to take on their enemy and to do it with violence, which is what they did. The tragedy was they punished the innocent as well as the guilty.

Seeing the horror of what they did and hearing the testimony of some of the Vietnamese survivors is particularly grueling. Ordinary humans did inhumane things and they were later covered up. That is the second tragedy of My Lair – the cover up.

If you are a student of history you will want to watch this extraordinary program. It introduces you to some of the participants in the massacre, as well as to some of the victims. It also lets you hear from the man who prosecuted William Calley for his crimes. These are words you have not heard before and they have a sobering impact on those who think they know what happened.

This is not a smear piece on America, nor is it even a hate filled rage against those who committed the crimes. Instead it is a clear look at a piece of America’s history when soldiers did not do the right thing and a large number of innocent people paid the price.

“American Experience: My Lai” airs on PBS, Monday, April 26 at 9PM.
 

 

 

 

 

©2010 Jackie K. Cooper

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