33 Photos Of The U.S. War Crime That Went Unpunished
Rachel Young
Updated on May 19, 2026
Is the My Lai Massacre the greatest shame in the history of the U.S. military?
Women huddle together during the massacre, desperately trying to keep their children safe.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons An officer feeds the fire that he had set on a villager's home.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons Two Vietnamese children lie on the ground as they're about to be shot.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons A soldier opens fire on a group of fleeing civilians.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
My Lai Collection/The Vietnam Center and Archive/Texas Tech University Vietnamese civilians lie on the ground after the massacre.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Ronald S. Haeberle/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images Some of the villagers huddle together with black bags covering their heads.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A dead body lies at the bottom of a well.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons A father pleads for his son's life.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress The road out of My Lai, littered with dead bodies.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons A Vietnamese man puts down his head and cries.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress An American soldier talks to a child, his rifle casually pointed at the boy's head.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress Dead bodies lie by a home, set on fire by American troops.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons U.S. soldiers relax by the side of the village, just before carrying out the massacre.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A soldier barks into a Vietnamese home, forcing the people out.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress My Lai burning, as seen from overhead in a military helicopter.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A woman and her child lie dead on the ground.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons A Vietnamese man, knelt down on the ground, watches with horror as the massacre unfolds.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress Prisoners sit on the ground during the massacre, waiting and knowing that they, too, will soon die.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress Before the start of the killings, the villagers are gathered together in the center of My Lai.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A man and his son lie dead in the dirt.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons Mothers try to protect their children from the American soldiers who, for reasons they don't understand, have turned on them and attacked.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress John Smail, an army photographer who took photos during the massacre.Photographs in this gallery were taken by John Smail and Ron Haeberle, the latter of which would later admit that he destroyed every photo of an officer actively killing civilians.
Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress American helicopters in flight during the My Lai massacre.Ronald S. Haeberle/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images Hugh Thompson.1966.
Wikimedia Commons A man lies dead on the ground.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons Private Herbert Carter, the only American soldier who was injured in the massacre. Carter shot himself in the foot.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress Carter would later claim that he deliberately shot himself to get out of the massacre.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A hut burns in My Lai.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress A woman, murdered by U.S. soldiers, lies dead on the ground.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Wikimedia Commons The soldiers dig graves.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress The aftermath of the My Lai Massacre: ashes and burned huts.Son My, South Vietnam. March 16, 1968.
Library of Congress Lt. William Calley arrives at a pre-trial hearing prior to his court martial for his involvement in the My Lai massacre.February 11, 1970.
Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images Captain Ernest Medina (center), his wife, and his attorney share a laugh during a recess in Medina's court-martial.McPherson, Georgia. August 26, 1971.
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On March 16, 1968, U.S. Army soldiers acting on orders from their commanding officers massacred several hundred innocent Vietnamese civilians. The men were killed, while many of the women were also raped, their bodies mutilated, and their children slaughtered right in front of them. And only one of the men behind this atrocity, the My Lai Massacre, was ever punished.
In the months before the massacre, the American soldiers at fault had been repeatedly attacked by Viet Cong troops. They lost more than 40 men in three months, and they were sure that the guerrillas who'd made their lives hell were hiding in a small village called Son My.
The villagers were South Vietnamese, nominally allies of the Americans in the Vietnam War, and none had any association with the Viet Cong. But the American unit's paranoia was running rampant, and they had convinced themselves that the only way to safety was to wipe out every last person in Son My.
"Go in there aggressively," Col. Oran Henderson ordered his men. "Wipe them out for good."
The My Lai Massacre Begins
At first, the soldiers were only holding the villagers hostage. They herded people into the center of a small hamlet called My Lai and held them at gunpoint, ordering them to produce the hidden Viet Cong forces that the Americans imagined they were hiding.
The massacre began when one soldier — whose name has never been confirmed — suddenly stuck a Vietnamese man with his bayonet. After killing one, he dragged another from where he was sitting, threw the civilian in a well, and tossed a grenade in after him.
This wasn't exactly against orders. Before they entered the town, one of the soldiers had asked if they were to kill the women and the children. "They're all VC," his commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, had replied. They were to kill, he told them, anything "walking, crawling or growing."
The Murdered Children
The other soldiers then followed that first man's lead. Within seconds, they were gunning down a group of 15 to 20 women who'd been praying along with their children. Then they moved through the village, throwing the villagers into ditches and putting bullets in their head while they lay face-down in blood and dirt.
"A lot of women had thrown themselves on top of the children to protect them," a witness, Private Dennis Knoti, said afterward, testifying against William Calley, the only soldier who was ever convicted for the My Lai Massacre. "Then, the children who were old enough to walk got up and Calley began to shoot the children."
Calley wasn't the only one killing children, though. Several witnesses revealed the names of other soldiers who, they said, had massacred women and babies alike. In the end, hundreds of innocent civilians were dead — 347 according to the U.S. Army, 504 according to the Vietnamese government.
Meanwhile, only one American soldier was injured: Private Herbert Carter, who, in the confusion, accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Not a single Viet Cong combatant was found in the village. "As a matter of fact," Private First Class Michael Bernhardt, one of the men who revealed the massacre to the world, would later testify, "I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive."
The End Of The My Lai Massacre
Ultimately, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson Jr. put an end to the killings. After helplessly watching the carnage from above and attempting to rescue the wounded, he landed his helicopter directly in the line of fire, all but daring his brothers in arms to shoot through him if they were going to keep the slaughter going.
When the killings were over, he reported what had happened. His superior, however, gave him a polite and quiet commendation, offering him a medal and a citation that falsified the events of the massacre. They expected Thompson to go along with the falsified citation. Thompson instead threw the citation away.
Even then, it took a full year before the truth came out.
At first, newspapers were reporting that 128 Viet Cong had been tracked down and killed in My Lai. Eventually, following reports from infantryman Tom Glen to his superiors, aviator Ronald Ridenhour contacted some 30 members of Congress and demanded that they blow the whistle on what actually happened. By the fall of 1969, the story was making headlines across the country.
The Trial of William Calley
Even after the truth came out, though, virtually no one was punished — except for platoon leader William Calley, who alone was given the full blame for the entire My Lai Massacre.
For the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, Calley was sentenced to nothing more than house arrest (he was originally sentenced to prison, but President Richard Nixon himself ordered the transfer). He only served three years before a federal judge granted his release.
Of the other soldiers charged in the massacre, all but Calley were either acquitted or had their charges dropped. In the case of the My Lai Massacre, justice never came.
After this look at the My Lai Massacre, discover the surprising story behind the iconic Saigon execution photo and read up on the horrific effects of Agent Orange on its Vietnamese victims.
