The My Lai Massacre refers to a mass-murder of Vietnamese civilians. American soldiers methodically executed more than 500 women, children, and old men in the village of My Lai 4 on March 16, 1968, one year before O’Brien entered the Vietnam War. U.S. Army officers covered the massacre up for a full year before American journalists learned of it and wrote about it, prompting international outrage and a full military investigation.
The My Lai Massacre Quotes in If I Die in a Combat Zone
The If I Die in a Combat Zone quotes below are all either spoken by The My Lai Massacre or refer to The My Lai Massacre. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 16
Quotes
I was not at My Lai when the massacre occurred. I was in the paddies and sleeping in the clay, with Johansen and Arizona and Alpha Company, a year and more later. But if a man can squirm in the meadow, he can shoot children. Neither are examples of courage.
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Chapter 22
Quotes
“When you go into My Lai you assume the worst. When you go into My Lai, shit, you know—you assume—that they’re all VC [Viet Cong]. Ol’ Charlie with big tits and nice innocent, childlike eyes. Damn it, they’re all VC, you should know that.”
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The My Lai Massacre Term Timeline in If I Die in a Combat Zone
The timeline below shows where the term The My Lai Massacre appears in If I Die in a Combat Zone. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13: My Lai in May
...Pinkville in January, a month before O’Brien arrived and less than a year after the My Lai Massacre in My Lai 4. Alpha Company took heavy losses then and developed a strong hatred...
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Chapter 16: Wise Endurance
...school, but that doesn’t seem brave to him. O’Brien wasn’t with Alpha Company during the My Lai Massacre , but he is now. He fetches a beer for Captain Johansen, and Johansen tells...
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Chapter 22: Courage Is a Certain Kind of Preserving
...preaching that “the army needs guts.” However, when American journalists finally get wind of the My Lai Massacre that occurred a year and a half before, Major Callicles’s new priority becomes defending the...
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First, Major Callicles insists that the My Lai Massacre was fabricated by the “liberal” press to sell newspapers. When journalists fly into Vietnam to...
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