US photographer of My Lai massacre returns to Vietnam
US army photographer Ronald Haeberle, who had taken photos of the My Lai massacre in 1968, returned to the site in Son My in Tinh Khe commune of Son Tuong district in the central province of Quang Ngai on Oct. 24.
US army photographer Ronald Haeberle, who had taken photos of the My Lai massacre in 1968, returned to the site in Son My in Tinh Khe commune of Son Tuong district in the central
province
of
Quang Ngai
on Oct. 24.
Ronald Haeberle visits My Lai in Oct 24, 2011. (photo:Thanhnien)
The detailed and very visual photographs of the massacre served as undeniable evidence of the mass killings in Son My, which forced the White House to open an investigation into the gruesome incident.
Forty-three years later, Haeberle has returned to the scene of the incident, being a firsthand witness to the massacre. He visited the Son My Museum and suggested corrections in the captions on the photo exhibits there.
The mass killings occurred on 16 March 1968 in the small hamlet of
My Lai
in Son Tich district of Quang Ngai Province. More than 500 Vietnamese were massacred when US soldiers under the command of Lieutenant William Calley opened fire on civilians during a "search and destroy" mission of
My Lai
and the neighboring villages.
The random shootings targeted mainly unarmed old men, women and children, during the daytime, as most of the younger males from
My Lai
hamlet were working in their fields.
