cut off their hands, cut out their tongues, scalped them. I did it. A lot of people were doing it and I just followed. I just lost all sense of direction.(The My Lia Massacre) Even after they killed them they even went a step further by mutilating their bodies by carving “C Company” into their chests (Patrick).In the end the body count was no less than 300 villagers. It would have been more if it weren’t for Hugh Thompson who flew over in his helicopter and reported the massacre to his officer. The officer then told the Charlie Company to abort their mission. Many view Thompson as a hero because he rescued many villagers from the massacre with his helicopter.After all this happened it took more than a year for the facts of this massacre to come out. There were military investigations but they didn’t find any wrongdoing. To make sure that it would be nearly impossible to know the truth U.S. Army files were deliberately misfiled or destroyed (Heroes & Massacres).After the military found nothing wrong Ron Ridenhour, a veteran of Vietnam, wrote letters to congressmen exposing that “something dark and bloody” had taken place. This made it public and the U.S. Army had to deal with it. Some soldiers even omitted to murdering the villagers but received no charge. The only charge ever given was to William Calley the officer of the Charlie Company, he was charged with murder of 22 civilians. After charged with murder he was to have life in prison, but after 3 days in prison he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia and held under house arrest. In house arrest he led a normal life except he couldn’t leave but people could visit him which is quite a bit different then having to spend the rest of his life in prison. (The My Lai Massacre).The My Lai massacre shouldn’t have ever occurred but unfortunately 100’s of massacres just like this one have happened just never been reported or put ou...
