Lee Kim Lai

inefficient and impulsive leader of the company allowed for the justification of the cruelties at My Lai. While the direct orders for the search and destroy came from those higher in the chain of command than Calley, his characterization as a poor leader allowed for the American public to believe he was solely responsible. The predetermined image of Calley caused the American public to support…

be inferred that O’Brien is trying to describe the horrors that he saw in both the My Lai area and Vietnam in his tour of duty there. The way the events that transpired in Vietnam are described in the book is there is a section of narrative,…

On the morning of March 16, 1968 in a small village called My Lai in the Quang Nai province of Vietnam, small families of mothers, young children, and elderly were naively enjoying their breakfasts and chattering amongst themselves. Not long after, soldiers of the Charlie Company commanded by Lieutenant William Calley Jr. invaded the hamlet in a search and destroy mission (Robertson 465). American soldiers relentlessly and mercilessly attacked unarmed, unresisting Vietnamese families. The air…

The events that occurred at My Lai on the morning of March 16, 1968 were tragic. Hundreds of men, women, and children fell victim to the massacre. There were many situations where obedience came into play, and the inexperiences of the soldiers made these factors stand out. The uncertainty of the situation, time pressure, routinization, and dehumanization were all factors that contributed to the obedience at My Lai. Uncertainty in the situation, in my opinion, is the biggest factor that…

When is Enough? Both articles “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” written by Theodore Dalrymple and “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience” written by Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton are linked together by the movie A Few Good Men. The article “My Lai Massacre” is about the My Lai Massacre that occurred during the Vietnam War in 1968. The article also includes the author's viewpoints on the military’s stance on the following order. The article “Just Do What the Pilot Tells…

national interest and security in committing itself to the Vietnam War. The opinion polls taken during 1965 to 1968 clearly show that most Australian’s were in favour of the war, with the opinion polls only starting to change after the horrifying My Lai massacre, the invasion of Cambodia and later the Kent State…

internal tensions, the crippling and terrifying environment, drug use, unwillingness to fight, and the sense that the war was for nothing. Also, there was no doubt that battlefield atrocities were being committed by Americans, especially after the Mai Lai massacre. Finally, even more chilling and demoralizing was the practice of fragging. Fragging is military slang for the killing or wounding of a soldier or officer deliberately. Debate about their seriousness and frequency of incidents…

Wilhelm likens her village to the My Lai massacre in order to essentially bring the war back home to America by comparing what happened to the Vietnamese citizens in real life to that of the American civilians in the village. “The Village”, being written in 1969, is during the Vietnam War in which American citizens are protesting against being involved with a war related to Vietnamese independence. For example, Wilhelm uses Mildred Carry as a writing strategy to show that Americans soldiers are…

became an international battle. The My Lai Massacre, one result of American intervention in the Vietnam War, caused immediate tension between the American soldiers and devastation for the Vietnamese, leading to escalating opposition on the home front, and ultimately the shattering trust in the United States’ government policy. The change of support for the War, particularly in America, affected it in the Vietnamese’s favour. The Son My area, specifically My Lai 4, was suspect to being a…

Vietnam by early 1968, devastating the country by following the orders given to them by their superiors. For example, soldiers were directed to conduct the My Lai massacre by Lieutenant Calley. In the small village of My Lai, American soldiers rounded up the inhabitants and ordered them into a ditch, where they were shot to death. In his book My Lai 4, journalist Seymour Hersh wrote, “‘It was estimated that between 450 and 500 people- most of them women, children and old men- had been slain and…