Lawrence Massacre

Vietnam - Anniversary of My Lai massacre

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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T/I: 10:00:30 Two American war veterans led a sombre memorial service on Monday (16/3) for victims of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The commemoration marked the 30th anniversary of one of the US military's darkest days. On March 16, 1968, American soldiers massacred more than 500 civilians in a dusty hamlet in central Vietnam. Hugh Thompson, 55, and Lawrence Colburn, 48, who saved innocent Vietnamese civilians from further slaughter, were visibly moved at Monday's ceremony. Colburn is credited with saving the lives of nearly 20 villagers by threatening to kill the men of "Charlie Company" who had their guns trained on the Vietnamese. In all, 347 people were slaughtered by the US troops of the company, while more than 150 were killed in a nearby hamlet. Only one man among more than 100 soldiers was ever found guilty. Former helicopter pilot Thompson and Colburn, then a young door gunner, had teamed up with another soldier, Glen Andreotta, to avert further tragedy when US troops marched into the village and began rounding up Vietnamese. Many they saved were women and children. One survivor, Truong Thi Le, says she will not forget. The My Lai massacre was kept under wraps for nearly two years. When the shocking details were exposed, it brought disgrace on the US Army and became perhaps the blackest chapter of America's long involvement in Vietnam. SHOWS: MY LAI, VIETNAM, 15 MARCH: Massacre victims memorial stone, PAN to field with workers; WS field at site of massacre; workers harvesting grain; Massacre survivor Truong Thi Le drawing water from well outside home; MS set-up shot for Truong Thi Le; SOT (in Vietnamese) Truong Thi Le, My Lai massacre survivor: "Oh God - I keep thinking about this every day that the anniversary comes. here is terrible hurt in my heart, like my heart being cut. I do not even sleep at night after I make a visit to the memorial place; CA to hands; Rruong Thi Le, SOT continues: "If they (who committed massacre) come back over here and acknowledge their guilt of killing over 500 inncocent people and they make apologies to the Vietnamese to the Son Me (My Lai) villagers to the survivors I will forgive them;" CA to people in fields, PULL-OUT to gravesite; Pictures at My Lai memorial, PAN to Truong Thi Le looking at pictures; Truong Thi Le breaks down while looking at pictures of her dead family; 16 MARCH: TILT-UP to My Lai statue; Vietnamese Army soldiers in uniform holding flags arriving at site of memorial ceremony; ws people walking past large statue; CU two Vietnamese soldiers; PAN from press to helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson next to Lawrence Colburn; Vietnamese honour guard; wreath moved to memorial; children looking on; SOT, (English), Lawrence Colburn, former American helicopter door gunner: "May we never forget the brutality and heartbreak of war;" SOT Hugh Thompson, American helicopter pilot, "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago on this date and I am sorry that it happened. I cannot explain why it happened. I just wish our crew that day could have helped more people than we did and I thank you all very much." CA two girls; Distraught Thompson leaves crowd; SOT (English) Mike Boehm, Chairman of the My Lai Peace Park Project and former US soldier, "My first thought and my thought for years was 'you bastards.' What I had done was I had separated myself from them. That was them, I never could have done that. But as I've matured, I've realized that it could have been me, because every human being is capable of evil. I just thank God I wasn't there. I hope I could have done the right thing like Hugh Thompson, but I don't know. Nobody knows." Tombstone with Vietnamese woman singing a song about the massacre; CU singer, pan to tombstone. 4.00 You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2abdbc6b634b45cbebebb7d01a387d38 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork