The Vietnam War: The Pacification Of My Lai,16th March 1968 Poem by Sheena Blackhall

(based on soldiers' testimony)

Some of the huts were torched
Some of the younger soldiers were killing kids
It was hard to tell men from women
Both wore black pyjamas and conical hats

I saw a ditch filled with dead and dying
I saw a GI kill a wounded boy

Everyone had a mind to kill
It was a VC stronghold
I shot a woman and a little child

We herded them into the middle of the village
Just like a little island

‘How come you ain’t killed them yet? ’ Lieutenant Calley asked
‘I want them dead, ’ he ordered.

We put seven or eight in a hut
Dropped a hand grenade right there amongst them

We gathered seventy-five by a ravine
Pushed them off. Shot them with automatics

A pile of bodies lay outside the village
A little toddler wearing only a shirt
Came across to hold the hands of the dead
A GI killed him with a single shot

I watched a troop assault a shivering girl
Thirteen, she was. They started stripping her

‘Let’s see what she’s made of’ said one soldier
‘VC boom boom, ’ a second soldier laughed
‘I’m horny, ’ said a third. She looked bewildered.

All around were bodies, burning huts
The mother scratched and clawed the girl’s attackers

One of us kicked the woman
Another slapped her around a little bit
Haeberle the photographer snapped it

The photo shows the girl behind her mother
Trying to button up her top pyjama
We saw that Ron had photographed the scene

‘What’ll we do with them now? ’ a GI asked
‘Kill them, ’ a soldier answered

A light machine gun fired
The group fell dead