The Vietnam War: The My Lai Massacre

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A large area was coated white. After a couple of days the leaves in the forest and the gardens turned yellow and fell off. Dead bodies were strewn across the areas - bodies without skins as they had been melted off. Some became the fire itself, their arms and legs flailing to live. Ribs were shown, bones were shown, the water and the soil were contaminated, and cancer and other deadly diseases were spread around easily; like passing food to other people. The whole world stared in shock, especially the United States. This wasn't their intention, they had only intervened to protect the row of dominos (Southeastern Asian countries) from falling under communist rule. But seeing babies wailing and being helpless on the streets, seeing American soldiers …show more content…
According to the domino theory, announced by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Vietnam was the first “domino” in all of the Southeastern countries. If Vietnam fell to communism, the other Southeastern countries will promptly follow after; just like the array of dominos falling after the first domino falls. As much as Vietnam mattered to both sides, the fighting was the most brutalist, to the point until the soldiers created atrocities, rather than peace, because of the mental stress and exhaustion. The My Lai massacre was one prominent example. The My Lai massacre took place in a small village, called My Lai. Despite the fact that the village was small, the impacts and casualties were huge. The leader, William Laws Calley, ordered his troops to kill all the people, mostly men and women, to be killed. Without hesitation, the majority of the lives were killed on spot. Bullets were raining upon the people, Agent Orange, as well as other bombs and chemicals, rained upon them as well (citation). This massacre marked one of the first, major war crimes in …show more content…
Despite its first, pure intentions, the inhumane actions the American soldiers performed in the Vietnam War did not back it up. The American support decreased from one hundred to zero, until they were supporting North Vietnam, the communists, instead of their own soldiers. The Vietnam War was not just a war in which America lost or in which American morale decreased significantly. It showed the mental stress the soldiers were going though and the secrecies the American public kept from the public. It revealed the loose strings in the Vietnam war plan, which was once believed to be
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