Charlie Company's Responsibility In The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was not short of its share of controversies and opposition; However, March 16, 1968 marked a particularly dark moment for both Vietnam and the U.S. military. The barbaric torture, rape, and murder of around 400 unarmed civilians by Charlie Company in ‘Pinkville’, though initially covered up, left an extensive paper trail gathered at length and compiled by James S. Olson and Randy Roberts in My Lai: A Brief History with Documents. Olson and Roberts include testimonies from the tardy investigation of key participants as well as survivors to paint an accurate image of the events leading up to, during, and after the massacre, and attempts to objectively examine the question of culpability. Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim do not veil
Olson and Randy Roberts confront the difficult question of who was ultimately to blame for the complete destruction of the villages of Son My. The military named the village of Son My containing My Lai, My Khe, and Co Luy ‘Pinkville’ in reference to the color designated to the region by combat maps. Pinkville resided in the Quang Ngai province; an area known to the military to be largely occupied with Viet Cong and Viet Cong sympathizers. U.S. military and civilian leaders were beginning “to view the war in terms of territorial conquests, not the attainment of the villagers’ support”. Charlie Company 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry under Captain Ernest “Mad Dog” Medina and Lieutenant William Calley arrived in Quang Ngai in 1967. Olson and Roberts immediately point out the emphasis the company’s training had made regarding obeying orders at all costs. Right away they raise the question of whether or not there is a conflict between following the orders of superiors and following one’s conscience. Paul Meadlo, a rifleman in C Company, recalls what he took from his training: “…you’re trained to take orders from the first day you go to that damned service, and you come back and, all right, you want to try some people that had to take orders”. To make matters worse, C Company’s leader of the 1st Platoon, William Calley was incompetent. All four sources agree on the fact that Calley was painfully ordinary and demonstrated the bare minimum of what was necessary of an officer. He could hardly even read the military maps. His promotion to Lieutenant came at a time when there was a shortage of second lieutenants, but most certainly not because he was well qualified. As the platoon moved throughout Quang Ngai, his poor leadership was evident. He constantly got his men lost and Captain Medina often referred to him as “Lieutenant Shithead”. Aside from being an evident poor leader, the company was becoming discouraged and frustrated by the guerilla-style warfare the VC