A post submitted by CGI member Morgan.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvY2ZBHxuIw

From 1965 to 1973, the United States waged a grueling war against the Communist forces of North Vietnam. The conflict was a brutal guerrilla war where young American soldiers were sent far from home to fight an enemy that fought unlike anything the US military had seen before.

The Vietnam War remains controversial to this day. Some argue it was a justified defense of South Vietnam against Northern Communist aggression, while others argue it was an unjustified war of US imperialism driven by Cold War anti-communist hysteria. What all can agree upon is that the war resulted in the deaths of millions of people, a large portion of them civilians killed by the United States.

By 1968, the Vietnam War was going badly for the Americans. The Tet Offensive launched by the North in January 1968 had strained America’s military might and shattered US morale at home and abroad. Desperate to reclaim the initiative, the US launched a series of counter-offensives to push back the Communist enemy.

One target of this counter-offensive was Quang Ngai province, specifically the village of Son My. Son My was made up of several smaller hamlets including My Lai. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll stick to the more famous name for the whole village. My Lai, nicknamed Pinkville by the Americans because of its Communist sympathies, was believed to be a hotspot for Viet Cong (VC). US Intelligence claimed that the VC was active in the area and the village was essentially a Communist outpost.

In March 1968, Task Force Barker was assembled to deal with My Lai. The Task Force was made up of soldiers drawn from two companies: Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment and Company B, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division. For simplicity’s sake, we will call them B Company and C Company. There was also an A Company but their role in events was relatively minimal.