#mailai

[mikeo56]

“And the Rockets Red Glare, Gave Proof Through the Night” ...that America Slaughters Children and Lies about it...

US Media has No SOUL and NO CLUE and should be shut down.

[michaelderosa24-blog]

Mai Lai and Champa

Saturday, September 27

  Today we visited the village of My Lai to learn about what happened at the famous site and to explore the area. Upon arriving, I was not sure what to expect. From what I knew, this was a place where hundreds of people had been brutally murdered during the Vietnam War by American soldiers, so I was preparing myself for the worse. As we arrived, we watched a film to give us some insight about the occurrence that affected so many lives. The film showed Vietnamese survivors and told their stories of how their family members were viciously murdered by the American Army. The film focused on an American soldier who had been involved with the massacre and his return to Vietnam.

Throughout the film, the interviewer asked the veteran about his time in the army and how that day, March 16, 1968, had affected his life, what he remembered, and why it occurred. The veteran did not seem to remember a whole lot about the incident, most likely because he blocked it out or did not want to admit to himself of what happened. At one point during the movie, the veteran who had participated in the massacre sat down with a man whose family had been killed. When the victim of the massacre asked the veteran why he did what he did, all he could say was that he was taking orders and had no choice. The veteran did not have an answer to why the massacre occurred and barely showed any emotion throughout the film. It was clear that the interviewer was trying to get something out of him, trying to make him cry, or create a moment between the veteran and the Vietnamese victim; however, none of those things happened. At the end, the host of the movie did say that the soldier had broken down in tears when the cameras were not rolling.

Overall, the film did not effectively tell the story of My Lai and was too focused on a veteran’s story and his interaction with a Vietnamese victim. In my opinion, the film represented the American soldiers in an unfavorable manner; which is understandable, they caused this massacre. However, as we later learned, there were some American soldiers who fought against what was happening that day and actually saved people instead of leaving them to die; that was never mentioned in the film. The film had some historical content, but it did not fully explain what had happened, the personal stories took up majority of the storyline.

After the film, we walked through the museum that further showcased the massacre through pictures, diagrams, and artifacts. As we walked in, there was a wall listing the names of everyone who had died and their ages in the massacre. There were helmets and articles of clothing of American soldiers from that day that were left behind on display. Pictures of terrified women and children, dead bodies, and tortured men were plastered throughout the museum. One thing that stuck out to me as being a questionable artifact, were documents said to be the plans for the massacre of My Lai by the United States. I am questioning the documents legitimacy because all of the documents were in Vietnamese, not English, and it seems very unlikely that if the United States were planning this massacre that they would handwrite it on paper and it would fall into the hands of the Vietnamese. However, for all I know, the documents could very well be what the museum is making them out to be. For the most part, the museum was very emotional and everyone was silent walking and looking around. No matter what the truth is or how it happened, a massacre did happen and innocent people did die and by looking through the museum it was heart wrenching.

Around the museum was a layout of what used to be the village. As we walked along on the paths leading to nothing but stilts in the ground of where a house used to be before being burnt down by soldiers, were boot prints in the cement paved paths made to look like those of the American soldiers. Some replicas were built to resemble a typical household in the village during the time. Along the village was a ditch, which is said to be where many bodies were thrown and executed in during the massacre. The entire My Lai experience was very informational and really made me think about how things like these can occur, how war changes people, and what really is the truth. It is not an easy thing to explain or to understand, but in every war there seems to be a similar incident. These unfortunate events just show how war is hell and are at the expense of innocent people affected by the betterment of the government, not the people.

After My Lai, we ventured to My Son to visit the Champa ruins. The Cham kingdom was located in central and Southern Vietnam from the seventh century up until the mid nineteenth century when they were conquered by Vietnam. The ruins at My Son are a cluster of Hindu temples that were constructed by Champa kings between the fourth and fourteenth century. The temples were dedicated to worship the god Shiva. Today, many have been severely damaged or destroyed by bombs during the war. However, some have been partially restored and continue to be an important site rich with history and culture. Walking around the ruins and taking pictures allowed us to see a different side of Vietnam. We have mostly visited Buddhist temples and museums, while these temples were of an ancient culture and time.