The My Lai massacre was a war crime committed by United States Army personnel on 16 March 1968, involving the mass murder of unarmed civilians in Sơn Tịnh district, South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Between 347 and 504 civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment and Company B, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12. It is the largest massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century.
William Laws Calley Jr. is a former United States Army officer and mass murderer who was convicted by court-martial for the murder of 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Calley was released to house arrest under orders by President Richard Nixon three days after his conviction. A new trial was ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but that ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court. Calley served three years of house arrest for the murders. Public opinion at the time about Calley was divided. Since his dismissal from the U.S. Army and release from prison, Calley has avoided public attention.
The Americal Division was an infantry division of the United States Army during World War II and the Vietnam War.
Tiger Force was the name of a long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) unit of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade (Separate), 101st Airborne Division, which fought in the Vietnam War from November 1965 to November 1967. The unit gained notoriety after investigations during the course of the war and decades afterwards revealed extensive war crimes against civilians, which numbered into the hundreds.
Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was a United States Army officer, serving as a warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division. He is credited with ending the Mỹ Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sơn Mỹ on March 16, 1968, alongside Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn.
Plantation Records was a country music record label of the 1960s and 1970s helmed by Shelby Singleton. The label is best known for Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 hit "Harper Valley PTA", which topped both the country and Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Jeannie C. Riley is an American country music and gospel singer. She is best known for her 1968 country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA", which missed by one week simultaneously becoming the Billboard Country and Pop number-one hit.
"Harper Valley PTA" is a country song written by Tom T. Hall, which in 1968 became a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley. Riley's record, her debut, sold over six million copies as a single, and it made her the first woman to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Hot Country Singles charts with the same song, a feat that would not be repeated until Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" 13 years later in 1981. It was also Riley's only Top 40 pop hit.
Varnado Simpson was an U.S. Army soldier who participated in the My Lai Massacre, torturing, murdering, and mutilating multiple South Vietnamese civilians. He committed suicide nearly 30 years later.
Ernest Lou Medina was a captain of infantry in the United States Army. He served during the Vietnam War. He was the commanding officer of Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry of the 11th Brigade, Americal Division, the unit responsible for the My Lai massacre of 16 March 1968. He was court-martialed in 1971 for his role in that massacre, but acquitted the same year.
Samuel William Koster was a career officer in the United States Army. He attained the rank of major general, and was most notable for his service as commander of the Americal Division and Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. A veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, Koster was slated for promotion to lieutenant general before receiving a reduction in rank to brigadier general and retiring as a result of his efforts to minimize the details of the My Lai Massacre.
Margaret Louise Ebey, known professionally as Margie Singleton, is an American country music singer and songwriter. In the 1960s, she was a popular duet and solo recording artist, working with country stars George Jones and Faron Young. Singleton had her biggest hit with Young called "Keeping Up with the Joneses" in 1964. She managed a successful solo career in the 1960s.
Shelby Sumpter Singleton, Jr. was an American record producer and record label owner.
Terry Nelson Skinner is an American former disc jockey from Russellville, Alabama, United States. Together with a group of studio musicians, Nelson released a single in 1971 under the name C. Company featuring Terry Nelson. The single, entitled "Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley", was a spoken-word recording with a musical background which defended William Calley and the massacre at My Lai, for which Calley was court-martialed in 1970–71. Originally issued on a small local label, Quickit Records, it was reissued nationally on Plantation Records in April 1971. The single reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and No. 49 on Hot Country Songs.
"Color Him Father" is a song written by Richard Lewis Spencer and recorded by American rhythm and blues group the Winstons. It was released in 1969 as their debut single for Metromedia and was a No. 7 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, representing the Winstons' highest entry there. A cover by American singer Linda Martell on Plantation Records also charted in the same year, reaching No. 22 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
The 20th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment. Currently only the 5th Battalion of the 20th Infantry still exists. Stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and part of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, 5-20 Infantry was one of the original battalions selected to take part in the testing and fielding of the U.S. Army's then-new Stryker vehicle. During the Vietnam War, elements of the regiment carried out the My Lai massacre.
And babies is an iconic anti-Vietnam War poster. It is a famous example of "propaganda art" from the Vietnam War, that uses a color photograph of the My Lai Massacre taken by U.S. combat photographer Ronald L. Haeberle on March 16, 1968. It shows about a dozen dead and partly naked South Vietnamese women and babies in contorted positions stacked together on a dirt road, killed by U.S. forces. The picture is overlaid in semi-transparent blood-red lettering that asks along the top "Q. And babies?", and at the bottom answers "A. And babies." The quote is from a Mike Wallace CBS News television interview with U.S. soldier Paul Meadlo, who participated in the massacre. The lettering was sourced from The New York Times, which printed a transcript of the Meadlo interview the day after.
"Kay" is a song written by Hank Mills and recorded by American country music artist John Wesley Ryles. It was released in late 1968 by Columbia Records as Ryles' debut single. "Kay," recorded and released while Ryles was still a teenager, began a string of country music hits for him that would continue into the 1980s.
Đức Phổ Base Camp is a former U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army base in the Đức Phổ District, Quảng Ngãi Province Vietnam.
The Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) is an archive and interpretive examination of over 6000 Vietnam War songs identified. It was founded in 2007 by its current editor, Justin A. Brummer, a historian with a PhD in contemporary Anglo-American relations from University College London. The project analyses the lyrics, and collects data on the genre, location, ethnicity, nationality, language, and time period of the recordings. It also involves the preservation of the original physical vinyl records. Additional items collected include cassette tapes, CDs, MP3s, record label scans, and sheet music.
