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LTG Peers led the My Lai Inquiry
Episode 3173 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the My Lai Massacre. The featured story is titled: MY LAI, AND ITS OMENS. It appeared on the Substack website and was submitted by Seymour Hersh.
Hersh reported that The account recounts the tragic events surrounding the massacres at My Lai 4 and My Khe 4 in March 1968, while also revealing broader failures in military leadership and training during the Vietnam War. On that morning, elements of Task Force Barker’s Charlie and Bravo Companies entered Vietnamese hamlets expecting enemy forces but instead encountered civilians. In two separate locations, unarmed women, children, and elderly men were killed, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths. Subsequent investigations led to secret testimony, limited prosecutions, and ultimately the conviction of only one officer, William Calley, while most senior commanders escaped serious punishment.
The Army’s Peers Panel acknowledged that troops involved were poorly trained in the Geneva Conventions and unclear about how to report war crimes. A deeper problem, however, had already been identified months earlier in a suppressed Pentagon report ordered by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. That study found that many young, inexperienced soldiers lacked realistic instruction about the laws of war and did not fully understand their responsibilities in the brutal conditions of counterinsurgency combat. Crucially, the report also emphasized that the great majority of American troops in Vietnam were humane, restrained, and did not mistreat prisoners or civilians, even when exposed to intense danger.
This contrast is central to understanding the war. The atrocities were real and devastating, but they were not representative of most American soldiers, many of whom served honorably under extreme stress with inadequate guidance from higher authorities. The failures at My Lai and My Khe reflected breakdowns in leadership, training, and accountability—not the character of the average U.S. serviceman. Overall, the story underscores both the moral cost of war and the fundamental decency shown by most American troops who fought in Vietnam.
Listen to Episode 3173 and discover more about the My Lai Massacre.
