On March 16, 1968, Lieutenant William Calley Jr., led twenty-five American soldiers into a small hamlet in South Vietnam on a routine search-and-destroy mission. There the platoon forced hundreds of Vietnamese villagers into a common ditch and shot them. The My Lai Massacre did not come to light until later, but, in March of 1971, all were acquitted except Calley who was first sentenced to life, then to three year’s house arrest.

My Lai has come to symbolize the terrible brutality of the Vietnam War and the degree to which soldiers could be convinced that such an action was acceptable, even under the conditions of war.