members were involved in widespread killing of Vietnamese inhabitants (comprised
almost exclusively of old men, women, and children)," (LTG (R) W. R. Peers, The My
Lai Inquiry).
d. The Government's investigation revealed that while this carnage was taking
place, CWO Hugh Thompson, assigned to an aero-scout unit of the 123rd Aviation
Battalion, observed a large number of wounded civilians. Ironically, he radioed back so
that Charlie Company would send medical assistance. When he returned to the scene
a short time later, however, he found that the civilians were all now dead. Continuing
on, he found a ditch containing the bodies of numerous murdered civilians. Shortly
thereafter, he observed a group of 8-12 women and children running for a bunker, being
chased by a group of US soldiers. Having seen the ditch filled with bodies, he landed
his helicopter between the fleeing civilians and the US soldiers. As he left his helicopter
to talk with the lieutenant who appeared to be leading the soldiers, Mr. Thompson told
his gunner to "cover him real close." The end result is that Mr. Thompson radioed back
and had other aircraft arrive to evacuate the civilians to safety. Mr. Thompson later
testified that he told his gunners to cover him, and to fire if the soldiers continued their
attack on the civilians while he was trying to get them to safety.
e. Suppose the American soldiers had continued their attack on the civilians-
what steps would the gunners have been entitled take to stop the Americans? The
answer is whatever steps were necessary. By international law and treaty, we are
obligated to prevent grave breaches of international law.
f. The events mentioned above are known today as the "My Lai Massacre."
Keep them in mind as we discuss the subject of the law of war, and our obligations
under it. Some people look at what happened at My Lai and say there is no law of war,
and that to fight wars by rules makes no sense; that is, that the only rule is that there
are no rules. Such people claim that a soldier's duty is to kill, and cause death and
destruction and suffering to the enemy, by any and all means available.
g. Military leaders, who have witnessed first-hand the horrors of war, know that
rampant violence, looting, pillage, killing and destruction accomplish no military
objective and are wasteful and counter-productive. During combat, things like honor,
duty, compassion, and reason are not to be discarded, to be replaced by the horrors of
places like My Lai. Words like Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald still bring back
horrible images more than 50 years later, reminding all mankind of a period when
humanity abandoned its morality, its conscience and its very humanity. To say those
horrors happened in the name of warfare does not depreciate their enormity; that was
the lesson from Nuremberg as history judged those responsible for the atrocities,
h. We don't prohibit things like that just because we're nice guys; war isn't "nice and
a lot more is involved here than simply how we wish ourselves to be regarded by the
rest of the world. There are very important reasons why we follow these rules, and we
will look at them today. In doing so, we will pay particular attention to the 1949 Geneva
Convention that granted special status to medical personnel. When captured, they are
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