Four Hours in My Lai by Michael Bilton

by Michael Bilton

Uncovering the secrets behind the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, this is “a brutal, cautionary tale that serves as a painful reminder of the worst that can happen in war.”—Chicago Tribune.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Military Fiction, Politics, Asia, True Crime

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Michael Bilton is a British investigative journalist and Emmy award winning documentary filmmaker. He has also taught journalism at universities in Great Britain, the United States, and Denmark.

Reviews

[Stefania Dzhanamova · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare for me to study a particular topic and not change my mind about the first work on this topic that read in the course of my studies. Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim's book is such a rare case. It is as good in retrospect as it was when it introduced me to the My Lai massacre. It is the thoughts that their work is interspersed with that make it superior to all others, in my opinion.

Besides their meticulous, engaging recounting of the different perspectives of those who were directly or indirectly involved in the event, I was most impressed with the authors' take on the idea of war as hell. The historians and journalists that I have read so far can be divided into two categories: the ones in the first category have embraced the fatalistic view that since war is inherently brutal, nothing can be done to avoid atrocities like My Lai and the ones in the second category are tempted by the idea that modern war can be something other than what war has always been – hell. Bilton and Sim understand that both sides err to a certain extent.

Those who maintain the stance that war can be humane, such as legislators who make up rules of war built around the ideas of using minimum force and protecting civilians, demonstrate that they have a lot of humanity but not enough experience. As the great military strategist Carl von Clausewitz observed: "it is to no purpose, it is even against one's own interest, to turn away from the consideration of the real nature of the affair because the horror of its elements excites repugnance." Instead of heeding Clausewitz's advice, the military and civilian officials at every level flooded the Vietnam conflict with measures designed to somehow obscure the true nature of this war and paid a bitter price. As the authors point out, it was useless for generals to complain afterwards that the Vietnam conflict had not been any more horrible than the Korean War and the Second World War, that the American people should have known atrocities are an inseparable part of a military conflict, that the pictures of children turned into human torches by napalm represented the reality of war, because Americans had not been prepared for this reality. "An army with its head in the clouds had been sent to war by a nation with its head in the sand." It was natural that when Americans finally pulled their heads out of the metaphorical sand, many turned against the war. The American soldiers in Vietnam did the same when they found out that fighting was something strikingly different from what they had been led to believe by Hollywood, that they were losing blood and comrades for the lies that the government and the media were telling the home front. Their disillusionment was well-expressed by one ex-infantryman: "Fuck you, John Wayne [star of many Western and war movies during Hollywood's Golden Age]."

However, as the authors emphasize, that war is hell is neither a sufficient explanation nor a justification for My Lai and similar atrocities. Such thinking only provides the tempting but corrupting logic that war itself is somehow to blame for the massacre – that there is nothing that can be done to stop it and therefore it is unjust to blame individual soldiers or officers, or a particular strategy or policy. However, although by the time of Lieutenant Calley's trial this thinking had been impressed on the general public, the American Army itself refused to accept such a justification of what happened in My Lai. Soldiers went to war to become heroes, not villains. The Army could not leave the idea that the soldiers' daily activities involved massacre unchallenged.

The My Lai massacre was a disaster for the American Army. In the military's view, it was not an inevitable aspect of a brutal war. It was an aberration. "Your dismay could be no greater than mine," Army Secretary Resor told the press. "It is an appalling story." He went on to insist that My Lai was not representative of how the Americans in Vietnam conducted the war. Interestingly, although this statement rejected the idea that war is hell, the result was again an attempt to justify the actions of the Army. Resor essentially isolated My Lai from the war as a whole. Charlie Company, in his story, was a freak unit and Calley was an incompetent officer, so there was no reason to blame anyone up the chain of command. This is another misleading theory. My Lai was not an exception, but a culmination of the policy the American government was pursuing in Vietnam.

The irony of Vietnam is that those who controlled the course of the war were too far away from the action to make a distinction between the Viet Cong and the Vietnamese civilians, and the burden of exercising restraint and humanity fell to the common soldier. The war was fought not by strategy-makers, but by eighteen-year-old boys. There is little in the history of past military conflicts that suggests that people can practice moral behavior in combat situations. Resor insisted that the Americans operated "under detailed directives which prohibit in unambiguous terms the killing of civilian noncombatants." It is true that at any point of the Vietnam conflict there were piles of such "detailed directives", but these directives did little beyond demonstrating the good intentions of those military officials who were responsible for good intentions. On the ground, there were only enraged soldiers and vain commands. No effort was made to get the "detailed directives" through to the lower levels of the American Army. The medical personnel who served in voluntary hospitals in the province where Pinkville was located were shocked but not surprised when they heard that American soldiers had murdered five hundred civilians. If Resor's "detailed directives" had any authority over the Americans, as he insisted, why were the doctors and nurses not surprised?

I like that Bilton and Sim acknowledge that the question if the men of Charlie Company received an explicit order to kill everyone in the village is unresolved instead of assuming the answer. According to them, Charlie's men's testimonies diverged. Many remembered hearing the order clearly and explicitly. Other said that the order to kill everyone including the old men, women, and children was only implied. The answer to this question is not that vital, though. The authors raise a far more important question: what had happened that had led the majority of men in Charlie Company to believe that American officers could ever consider murdering a whole village of civilians? Why weren't Charlie Company's members surprised?

One disturbing explanation the authors offer is that the generals, although they refused to admit it, spoke with two voices. They demanded aggression and restraint, high body counts and benevolence, victory and respectability. Throughout the My Lai investigation and subsequent trials, the Army used its "detailed directives" as a shield that successfully prevented a closer examination of the search-and-destroy strategy, high body counts, and free fire zones because it would have taken the responsibility too high up the chain of command. However, their attempt to dump the blame for My Lai only on Calley and the alleged degradation of discipline of Charlie Company is a distortion of facts. Philip Caputo, a marine lieutenant who spoke for the many American men who understood that there was something more than the inherent brutality of My Lai that made American boys to kill civilians, moved the blame high up the chain of command, to MACV Commander General Westmoreland's strategy of attrition that, according to Caputo, affected the behavior of the American soldiers. "Our mission was not to win terrain or seize positions, but simply to kill: to kill Communists and kill as many of them as possible. [Here the blame goes further up, to Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and his numbers.] Stack 'em up like cordwood. Victory was a high body count, defeat a low kill ratio, war a matter of arithmetic. The pressure on unit commanders to produce enemy corpses was intense, and they in turn communicated it to their troops . . . It is not surprising, therefore, that some men acquired a contempt for human life and a predilection for taking it." 

FOUR HOURS IN MY LAI is a work that I can go on and on about. Its value lies in the impressive depth of its analysis. Bilton and Sim give the reader so much food for thought. This book engages and forces you to think and analyze yourself. An outstanding achievement. I highly recommend it. 

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unarmed men, women and children lined up in a ditch and machine-gunned. Women raped in their homes which were then set on fire. A whole village annihilated, over 500 people in four hours. German Nazi's in Russia in 1942? No. American GI's in Vietnam in 1968. Under orders, with the chain of command intact, with all communications operating, and senior officers circling above in helicopters. There was no provocation, no enemy in sight, no shots fired at our boys, no weapons anywhere except ours. After action reports full of obvious inconsistencies and outright lies were accepted without question by senior officers.

The Congress gave immunity to key participants so they couldn't be prosecuted or pressured to testify. The Army asked two generals to resign, one who commanded the division responsible for the atrocities and the other who investigated the crimes. Only one LT was convicted of war crimes and he was pardoned by the President. The helicopter pilot who tried to stop the massacre was sidelined by the Army and only recognized for his courage many years later due to outside pressure. By that time other members of his crew were no longer alive to receive their awards.

If I were king, this book would be required reading in every high school in the country.

PBS - American Experience
http://tinyurl.com/4xn3czr

BBC - MyLai Tapes
http://tinyurl.com/5gqsx5

[Shere · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a horrible book that everyone should read.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you know much about the morbid history of warfare, you'll be aware of moments in that dark tapestry that are somehow darker still than most, and depending on how you look at it, perhaps very little to do with warfare at all. Is war inherently this inhuman? This book, chronicling one such moment in American history and its political fallout, spends its final chapter ruminating sublimely on that question. The rest of the book is equally impressive; a fantastically well-researched and presented account of the circumstances, the massacre of innocent civilians in My Lai, the attempted coverup and ultimately unsatisfactory courts-martial levelled at individuals in the service. I can't fault it really, it's extremely information-dense but very readable, a certain degree of familiarity with military structure and jargon is assumed at points but it's nothing that can't be picked up in context. Finally, the way the subject matter is addressed is about as appropriate and sensitive as you could hope for while stating the actual, awful facts of the case. Eschewing an emotive editorial in favour of an earnest, epic and devastating report, Bilton and Sim let the genuine horridness of what transpired catch up with you. And it will.

[Betsy Boo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than write my own review I will quote the blurb by Tim O'Brien on the back:

"This book should be required reading for every American who enters a voting booth, for every young man or woman who contemplates military service, for every politician or general or admiral who rattles a saber or waves a flag."

Amen.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most emotionally exhausting books I've read in a long time. The graphic details that pile up in passage after passage are overwhelming, yet they are necessary to record and remember. Indeed, Bilton devotes the final chapter to explaining just why the act of forgetting, or shrugging off the events as another example of a "war is hell" mentality, only perpetuates these types of atrocities, which have "been as much a part of the American experience of war as of any other nation."

The strength of this book is the way in which voice is given not only to the Americans involved--the soldiers who raped children, slaughtered the elderly, and leveled the village, as well as the commanders, generals, and politicians who covered up the crimes--but also to the survivors. We find out the names, ages, and occupations of some of the hundreds of villagers who were massacred, including those in the famous photographs by Haeberle.

By the end of the book, we are (sadly) not surprised that the only "justice" handed down was a three day prison sentence and brief house arrest for one soldier. We understand that the United States has always lived (in the words of Bilton) "a national myth in which moral superiority is taken for granted, and war crimes, like famine, leprosy, and plague, were something visited upon, and perpetuated by, uncivilized foreigners." We always gloss over the reality, or chalk it up to one or two bad apples. As a result, we are never able to properly face (much less properly respond to) atrocities like My Lai or, more recently, Abu Ghraib. Maybe one day we will acknowledge the truth behind our national delusion as a "just" nation, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I thought I already knew the entire story of the My Lai massacre, I soon came to understand how much more there was to events leading up to those tragic murders, the massive efforts to the highest levels to cover up the events, the eventual investigations, and trails. I was on active duty at nineteen years of age as the My Lai Massacre became public knowledge and I just couldn’t imagine that the story being told was true. I can’t over recommend reading this book to virtually everyone!

Tim O’Brien’s review on the back cover states many of my recommendations perfectly: “This book should be required reading for every American who enters a voting booth, for every young man or woman who contemplates military service, for every politician or general or admiral who rattles a saber or waves a flag. Surely, this must be one of the most significant and compelling books in many, many years. I was stunned and horrified; I knew but I didn’t know.”

[Rhuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

English journalists Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim have written the best reconstruction of the military atrocity of My Lai. A quarter century on their book (and their UK TV documentary) remains so, impeccably thorough in plumbing the men and the motives for the deed, its initial coverup, subsequent exposure, and irresolute conclusion. The national division over its revelation further ruptured fissures over the war and in American society. A young generation, already disillusioned over civil rights and the draft, found ready confirmation of their worst beliefs about their society and its leaders and followers. Reactionaries and officials alike defensively blew it off as anti-American propaganda, designed to attack American ideals, prestige, resolve. (And even if it did happen, they “deserved” it – much like postwar reactions in Germany).

The truth was that no propaganda was needed.

Bilton and Sim demonstrate that more was at work than “the fog of war.” By making everyone and everything responsible, Lt. “Rusty” Calley’s enemies and defenders alike reduce him to pawn and scapegoat, rather than a conscious individual accountable for his own behavior. Yet it’s also true that focusing only on Calley outside of his context absolves the larger players, from his field commanders up to the commanding heights in DC, of their role in making things happen. Bilton and Sim have done the most credible job possible in walking this plank.

One of their most salient points is the American demand for wiping the historical slate clean of its own misdeeds. The United States will host Holocaust Memorials, and rattle swords in the Balkans and Libya, but memories of cavalry charges against Indian camps or skulls shipped home from Europe to sweethearts are carefully expunged from the record with Orwellian skill. This is why the My Lai whistleblowers repeatedly used Nazi analogies in accounting their experience: thanks to this expungement of their own past in media and the schools they had no domestic reference, despite the lingering ghosts of native atrocity. From the Paxton Boys murdering “friendly” Indians in frontier Pennsylvania, to domestic racial My Lais of the early 20th century in Atlanta, East St. Louis, and Tulsa, these repressed memories ensured that young American men would fall into the same trap once historical opportunity availed itself.

My Lai has itself become one more repressed memory. (Even supplanted by new ones like Abu Ghraib). While the dark side of humanity knows no barriers of class, race, nation, place or time, and it's never good to stare into its abyss too long, one can never forget it's always there, lurking in the shadows of work, home, and church pew, waiting its chance.

[Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you fight an enemy you can't see? The Viet Congs were indistinguishable from the civilians that were unarmed and vulnerable, so we killed them all!

This is a horrifying book that made me ponder about the matter of our moral compasses - acute ethical judgement and to remain steadfast in a senseless crisis.

I disliked the photographer who thinks he's innocent because he was shooting pictures instead of bullets, but he is just as confused as the killers. Choosing to do nothing about the senselessness leads to a consequence of an indecisive action. I quote the wise words of Paul Hawken, "You can blame people who knock things over in the dark or you can begin to light candles. You're only at fault if you know about the problem and choose to do nothing."

Up the hierarchy, immunity was granted to the important appointments so they couldn't be prosecuted to preserve the perception of the army.

Morality is clear when the waves are calm, and the skies are blue. But when we've lost a comrade, and the negative emotions overcome us; we feel the hands of time stop ticking, our heartbeat racing and our moral compasses start to deflect aimlessly. We fall into a state of lawlessness. What was unacceptable at the beginning becomes fair, and our judgements impaired.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stomach-churning but an important read. The chapters on the lead-up and the massacre itself are extremely powerful, and the authors make a convincing case that blaming individuals or blaming "the war" or war in general are inadequate and self-serving explanations for why the atrocity took place. The details of the cover-up and trials made me want to throw the book across the room. On the other hand, I struggled a bit to keep track of the story in the chapters on the investigations and wish these chapters had been edited for clarity and conciseness. I would also have liked to read more about Vietnamese memory around the massacre, which is mentioned only briefly. Finally, I was turned off by the polemical tone that infects the portraits of figures like Calley; it's enough to simply recount what they did and how they explained or excused their actions.

[Andy.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very disturbing look at the true face of war and the politics surrounding it. A very well reasearched and written book, however it is hard to take in the facts of the atrocities commited by American soldiers and the subsequent cover that followed. This book will shock you and will also make you question how you would have reacted to the situation. We would all like to believe we would take the moral high ground, but faced with the conditioning of the military and the hell that war really is these boys without any true leadership became little more than savages. The blame for this massacre lies at the highest level of government. A must read book.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncover the brutality of war at its most horrific. The only question you will have after reading this is how many more My Lai's have been covered up by the US military during the history of warfare? Absolute injustice that no one at the top of the chain of command was ever tried in relation to William Calley and Charlie Company's massacre of 500 innocent, unarmed civilians at My Lai in South Vietnam.
You will hate humanity after reading this, but that's all the more reason you should read it.

[Anthony Frobisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few books I have read that have moved me to anger. Four Hours in My Lai is one. Not only the brutal and senseless massacre of innocent villagers in My Lai, but the way the massacre was covered up through to the highest levels of government. And the sham of the subsequent investigation and trial.
A thorough and unflinching account of one of the darkest episodes in American military history.

[Frederic · Rating 5 out of 5]

People of a certain age know most,if not all,of the material contained herein,but it's good to have it between hardcovers so that our children and grandchildren may learn of both the depravity of men like Calley and Medina and the incredible heroism of Colburn,Andreotta and especially Hugh Thompson, one of the bravest and most righteous of American soldiers in that Hellish place...

[Nissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating in its conclusions, this impeccably researched book is a must-read for anyone interested in war and peace.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I wanna be an Airborne Ranger, Live a life of sex and danger, I wanna go to Vietnam, I wanna kill a Charlie Cong" so went the 'ditty' we sang as we ran in formation at Harmony Church, Ft Benning, Ga at 0330 hours during the city phase of Ranger School, Aug '79...a full decade after the war atrocities chronicled by Michael Bolton and Kevin Sim in 'Four Hours in My Lai'. They report on a complex story at the center of which is the question...Why? Why did US Army soldiers murder unarmed Vietnamese citizens, none of whom were armed and many of whom were babies, infants, Mothers, the aged? Why did US Army soldiers rape young girls, Mothers and elderly women and then murder them? Why did just a handful attempt to end the slaughter? Why did the chain of command cover it up? Why did the slaughter escape justice? Why did the highest levels of government forsake their sacred duty to the electorate and cover for murderers? The strength of this book is that the authors make these questions inevitable to the reader yet never really answer them because at the heart of the answer is the recognition that evil exists within the very nature of Man...as does Good. This story at all levels puts this fundamental Human matter at the forefront and is worth, for that reason alone, to read and consider deeply.

[Carrie Kellenberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pushing through a lot of history right now. I have a lot of war books on my shelves, but I didn't buy this one. I'm assuming this one was buried in one of a few boxes of books that people have sent to me because they know I like to read.

On March 16, 1968, American troops massacred villagers living in a small South Vietnamese village called Mỹ Lai. The villagers were unarmed, but they massacred everyone anyways.

It's a very detailed book, but I didn't enjoy how it was written and that's saying something because I read history textbooks for fun.

[Ronald Martorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book lays open an event from the Vietnam War that is a cautionary tale of toll of war on the young people thrown into its chaos. It is as relevant a look back as it is a look at worldwide events since. Readers learn of the lead up to the massacre, failures of leadership, the disconnect between those who start wars (politicians), those who run the war machine (generals), and those who fight (soldiers). The book is detailed and sometimes repetitive, and overall a fascinating read that will one contemplating bigger questions.

[Calum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only a well written account of the crimes committed by an American infantry Company in Vietnam and the criminal trials that followed, but it also asks questions that remain valid to this day about how perceptions of morality change with circumstances. Probably the most dispiriting thing about reading this book is seeing how far civilians were willing to go to excuse the actions of the soldiers - and realising that things haven't changed since the 1970s.

[bedheaded · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly harrowing. The writing overall felt amateurish (lots of typos, odd digressions, quotes from Shakespeare as examples of past perspectives on war), but when it really mattered--in the chapter about the titular four hours in My Lai--Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim were faultless. This book and the massacre it describes should be far more ingrained in our cultural consciousness than they currently are.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally well researched look into the events surrounding the My Lai massacre. Of a broader theme in the book, while an attempt was made to highlight one, I was not able to pin point it. Nonetheless, for straight historical fact on the incident, this book cannot be surpassed.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrowing, graphic, and horribly sad, Bilton paints a no-holds-barred picture of the events leading up to My Lai, the massacre itself, and the fallout, political maneuvering, and ultimate lack of justice that came about afterward.

Descriptions of the massacre are not for the faint of heart.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

four hours in My Lai

four weeks in Bucha

[Dhruv · Rating 4 out of 5]

A horrifying book, but worth the read - if only to realise how normal people can turn into monsters without adequate discipline and leadership.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be required reading across the board

[Wangeshi Maina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a heavy read for me . The author clearly depicts the horrors of the Vietnam war, most of which were swept under the rug. War's hell and there's no moral ground in hell. You'll see how cruel war turns GI's and the aftermath that leaves almost an entire village massacred.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

War is hell. The events in this book support that saying. It shows you that not all soldiers are heroes. And the "good guys" ain't always good. The book is well written and researched. I may have been a little tough on the rating but honestly the book kind of pissed me off. Well, the story did, so that may have effected my judgement. I'd say this book will depend a lot on your personal taste. I don't consider it one of those books almost anyone could enjoy. If you're into the darker side of war history, this book would be right up your alley. If you're not, you may have mixed feelings.

[Rhett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good but it did turn into a slog at times. There was a lot of the political and social consequences that were discussed and there was a tremendous amount of detail about the chain of command prosecution of the My Lai massacre. It was well written and well researched and a good look at the My Lai massacare, what it meant in the context of the time and what it means in the context of larger history. It is a little graphic so if that is bothersome to you then it is best if this one is avoided. All-in-all, 400 pages dedicated to this event ended up being a bit much for me.

[Luke White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recall watching the documentary on the My Lai massacre, which had a profund effect on me at the time. It was the first time I think I realised that soldiers are often just scared kids who are often too easily led by peer pressure and herd instinct to commit atrocities. Painstakingly researched it gives an insight into the minds of those involved in the lead up to the incident. A shocking book which deserves to be read.

[Kasey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very sad read helped me understand why the massacre in My Lai happened. At the same time, it didn't make excuses for the American soldiers' behavior. I couldn't put it down. It was the first book I read on the Vietnam conflict, at the suggestion of a war historian. It is one of the best books I've read about the Vietnam conflict.