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The My Lai Massacre - History in 5 minutes
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3 replies
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and then there's this incident that is not very well known:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_on_Hill_192
The incident on Hill 192 refers to the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a young Vietnamese woman,[1] on November 19, 1966,[2] by an American squad during the Vietnam War.[1] Although news of the incident reached the U.S. shortly after the soldiers' trials,[3] the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New Yorker[4] and his subsequent book.[5] In 1970, Michael Verhoeven made the film o.k., based on the incident. The Visitors is a 1972 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan also based on the incident. In 1989, Brian De Palma directed the film Casualties of War, which was based on Lang's book.[1]
Incident
On November 17, 1966, Sergeant David Edward Gervase (aged 20) and Private First Class Steven Cabbot Thomas (21)—both members of C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airmobile), 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division—talked to three other squad members (Privates First Class Robert M. Storeby, 22; cousins Cipriano S. Garcia, 21, and Joseph C. Garcia, 20)[3] about plans to kidnap a "pretty girl" during their reconnaissance mission planned for the next day,[6] and "at the end of five days we would kill her." Storeby also recalled that Gervase claimed it would be "good for the morale of the squad."[7]
At approximately 05:00 on the morning of 18 November, the squad entered the tiny village of Cat Tuong, in the Phu My District, looking for a woman.[8] After finding Phan Thi Mao (21), they bound her wrists with rope, gagged her, and kidnapped her. Later, after setting up camp in an abandoned hooch, four of the soldiers (excluding Storeby) took turns raping Mao. The following day, in the midst of a firefight with the Viet Cong, Thomas and Gervase became worried that the woman would be seen with the squad. Thomas took Mao into a brushy area, and although he stabbed her three times with his hunting knife, he failed to kill her. When she tried to flee, three of the soldiers chased after her. Thomas caught her and shot her in the head with his M16 rifle.[6]
The incident on Hill 192 refers to the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a young Vietnamese woman,[1] on November 19, 1966,[2] by an American squad during the Vietnam War.[1] Although news of the incident reached the U.S. shortly after the soldiers' trials,[3] the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New Yorker[4] and his subsequent book.[5] In 1970, Michael Verhoeven made the film o.k., based on the incident. The Visitors is a 1972 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan also based on the incident. In 1989, Brian De Palma directed the film Casualties of War, which was based on Lang's book.[1]
Incident
On November 17, 1966, Sergeant David Edward Gervase (aged 20) and Private First Class Steven Cabbot Thomas (21)—both members of C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airmobile), 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division—talked to three other squad members (Privates First Class Robert M. Storeby, 22; cousins Cipriano S. Garcia, 21, and Joseph C. Garcia, 20)[3] about plans to kidnap a "pretty girl" during their reconnaissance mission planned for the next day,[6] and "at the end of five days we would kill her." Storeby also recalled that Gervase claimed it would be "good for the morale of the squad."[7]
At approximately 05:00 on the morning of 18 November, the squad entered the tiny village of Cat Tuong, in the Phu My District, looking for a woman.[8] After finding Phan Thi Mao (21), they bound her wrists with rope, gagged her, and kidnapped her. Later, after setting up camp in an abandoned hooch, four of the soldiers (excluding Storeby) took turns raping Mao. The following day, in the midst of a firefight with the Viet Cong, Thomas and Gervase became worried that the woman would be seen with the squad. Thomas took Mao into a brushy area, and although he stabbed her three times with his hunting knife, he failed to kill her. When she tried to flee, three of the soldiers chased after her. Thomas caught her and shot her in the head with his M16 rifle.[6]
This happened a year before my 1st "tour" in Nam.
I didn't even learn about it until the movie, Casualties of War came out in '89, another atrocity committed by US soldiers and in the end, justice was not served.
