They stormed, scared, into My Lai

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 15

They stormed, scared, into My Lai

(N.Z. Frets Assn.—Copyright) FORT BENNING (Georgia), Nov. 22. Their endless search-and-destroy mission had drawn sniper -fire. They had encountered landmines and booby traps. But on March 16, 1968, “C” Company, with Lieutenant William Calley leading its Ist Platoon, had yet to taste battle.

So they stormed, scared, into My Lai that day, trigger fingers heavy, .expecting to meet the crack Viet Cong 48th Battalion. It proved to be a phantom mission, hilt out of it grew the so-called My Lai massacrfe ' Estimates of the number of unarmed Vietnamese who died in the. hamlet that day have ranged as high as 527: A reconstruction of the initial entry of "C”. Company into My Lai was afforded in the first four days of prosecution evidence at Galley’s court-martial. Calley is charged with the premeditated murder of 102 civilians during his sweep through My Lai at the head of his platoon. The maximum penalty, if he is convicted, is death. The first soldier to be tried in connection with the alleged massacre, Staff-Ser-geant David Mitchell, was found not guilty yesterday at Fort Hood, Texas, by a military jury which deliberated for six hours and 50 minutes. Mitchell had been charged

with assault with intent to murder. Calley’s court martial is in recess until Monday. The My Lai assault was designated a search-and-de-stroy mission in a ftee-fire zone. That meant there need be no limit on the preparatory bombardment, no hut need be spared search and, if deemed necessary, destruction.

All Vietnamese were to be taken into custody for interrogation; any resistance was to bring death on the spot. “Do you know what the mission of your platoon was?” Mr Frank Beardslee, aged 23, was asked. A 3rd Platoon rifleman, he replied: “To find the Viet Cong’s 48th Battalion and destroy it.” My Lai was the known base of the Viet Cong battalion. , . Helicopter gunships laid down suppressive fire—a standard procedure in advance of such an assault — and there were red flashes that the G.Ls attributed, in evidence, to rocket fire. The helicopters that airlifted "C” Company to My Lai took off from a rearlanding zone about 7.30 a.m. It was only a 15-minute flight to the edge of the hamlet, where the first helicopter landed at 7.45 a.m., with Calley and his men aboard. Mr David Hein, aged 23, a farm worker from Janesville, Wisconsin, said that, based on his conversation with the door-gunner of his helicopter, he believed that the landing zone was “hot,” that enemy fire could be expected the moment they touched the ground., The witness admitted that he was scared. “It was just

like stepping into the middle of the war,” he told the jury. Mr John Paul, aged 23, a radio operator from Florida, also said that he feared for his life; and Mr Gene Oliver, aged 24, of Cincinnati, Ohio, testified: “If you weren’t scared, you were crazy. I was scared. I got my tail down and set up security for the choppers.” Mr Oliver said that the men carried triple their basic load of ammuftition into My Lai, and that hitherto optional flak jacket's to protect the men against shell fragments, were compulsory equipment on this mission.

“For what reason? Do you know?” he was asked, and he replied: “Yes, sir, I do—a combat assault on a hot L.Z.”

All the testimony thus far in the court-martial has come from members of the 3rd Platoon, initially held in reserve to protect the troop-carrying helicopters in the My Lai landing zone. Almost to a man, these infantrymen agreed that they encountered no enemy fire as they came in. With helicopter gunships still stuttering above them, the Ist and 2nd platoons headed into the village. And they went in firing. Mr Paul testified that the company commander. Captain Ernest Medina, had always stressed the establishing of fire superiority to force the enemy to seek cover

But he. apparently found this too much and Mr Paul said, by radio Captain Medina inquired what all the shooting was about and requested that it be stopped so

that ammunition could be saved. The first two platoons vanished into the village, and about 10 or 15 minutes later the 3rd platoon left its rice paddy and followed. Mr Beardslee recalled coming upon a group of 15 to 20 Vietnamese civilians being guarded by G.l.s on a village trail. Returning later, Mr Beardslee said, he saw the bodies of the captives strewn along the trail. Most of the other witnesses also told of seeing these bodies.

Calley is accused of ordering, and participating in, the trail-side execution of these Vietnamese.

But members of the 3rd Platoon who have testified have said that they did not see him in the vicinity as they moved through. Mr Ronald Haeberle, aged 28, Los Angeles, California, then a combat photographer with "C” Company, worked his way south of the village to Highway No. 521. There, he said, he saw a G.I. put three bullets into an alreadywounded Vietnamese child, killing him. Mr Joe Grimes, aged 19, of Texas, led his squad into the village. Among his men was Mr Richard Pendleton, aged 23, a rifleman, who testified: “We burned houses and shot livestock and poured out rice.” “Did you burn all the hootches (huts) in the villages?” another rifleman, Mr Fred Dustin, aged 23, was asked. “We burnt most of them,” he replied. Guided by smoke drops from a helicopter, Mr Grimes said that he and his men found the body of a Viet Cong with his weapon still

beside him. Aside from the six enemy bunkers that Sergeant Calvin Hawkins, aged 27, a demolition man, said he blew up, it was the only evidence produced by the 3rd Platoon that day, according to Courtroom testimony, that the enemy had ever set foot in the village.

To the east of My Lai, towards the South China Sea, lay a ditch about 10 feet deep and 10 to 15 feet wide. Calley is accused of ordering 70 unresisting Vietnamese civilians to be herded into the ditch, then assisting, with his Ml 6 automatic rifle, in their methodical execution.

Only a few members of the 3rd Platoon got as far as the ditch as they moved about the village. Mr Pendleton was one of them. He estimated there were no more than 50 bodies in the ditch, "on top of each other.” He saw no sign of Calley and his men.

Time wore on and the men of the 3rd Platoon became disoriented. As Mr Oliver put it: “I had no conception of time that day . . . you combine fear with mass confusion, and it’s pretty hard to tell where you go.” As the platoon moved about, Mr Oliver testified, they found Vietnamese bodies scattered all over the village. The helicopter gunships continued to fire, but for “C” Company the battle had ended before it ever began. Far from coming to grips with the Viet Cong 48th Battalion, no-one had had to duck to avoid a bullet that

day. And “C” Company’s only casualty at My Lai was a G.I. who shot himself in the foot