Word: william
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...would be better left untold. After a G.I. witness described on television what he had seen at My Lai, Colorado Senator Peter Dominick asked: "What kind of country do we have when that kind of garbage gets put on the air?" A more pertinent question was raised by William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This incident can cause grave concern all over the world," he said, "as to what kind of country we are." Countless U.S. citizens, whether foes or critics...
...province had produced and harbored some of the Viet Minh's most effective fighters against the French. It had even been the target of the very first U.S. assault in the war. That was Operation Starlight, in which Marines claimed to have killed 700 Communist soldiers, leading General William Westmoreland to boast that the Marines "could meet and defeat any force they might encounter." But despite repeated similar sweeps, in which more than 3,000 Communist deaths were reported, the province remained a stronghold of the Viet Cong's 48th Local Force Battalion?an outfit with an un-nerving ability...
Private Michael Terry reported how he and Private William Doherty found few animals or people alive when they got to the village about noon. "Billy and I started to get out our chow, but close to us was a bunch of Vietnamese in a heap and some of them were moaning. Calley ['s platoon] had been through before us, and all of them had been shot, but many weren't dead. It was obvious that they weren't going to get any medical attention, so Billy and I got up and went over to where they were. I guess...
...good of having officers if they've nobody to obey them?" More thoughtfully, he explains: "It just seemed like it was the natural thing to do at the time. My buddies had been getting killed or wounded. What it really was?it was just mostly revenge." Contends Corporal William Kern, who says he walked through My Lai when it was all over: "You can't just blame Calley's platoon; you've got to blame everyone. It was a tree-fire zone. And you know, if you can shoot artillery and bombs in there every night, how can the people...
...been me out there, I would have swung my rifle around and shot Calley instead ? right between the goddam eyes. Then there would have been only one death." Others prefer not to face up to the implications of the affair. Says the company's Corporal William Kern: "I can't figure out why everybody is so upset. Especially Ridenhour, who wasn't even there. How can it bother you if you're not even there...