VIETNAM: VIETNAM WAR MY LAI MASSACRE REMEMBERED UPDATE скачать в хорошем качестве

VIETNAM: VIETNAM WAR MY LAI MASSACRE REMEMBERED UPDATE

(16 Mar 1998) Eng/Viet/Nat Thirty years after one of the bloodiest massacres of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese and Americans stood shoulder-to-shoulder on Monday to mark the anniversary of the My Lai massacre. Thousands of people turned up for the commemorative ceremony which featured two U-S servicemen who kept the tragedy from being even worse by landing their helicopter between marauding American troops and a small group of villagers. Around 500 people were killed during the massacre in the southern Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai. In My Lai, farmers go about their daily business as they have for generations, cultivating rice in vast paddy fields while motorbikes vie for space on the roads. It is difficult to imagine that thirty years ago this area was devastated by conflict and the scene of one of the darkest days of the Vietnam War. Everywhere you turn in My Lai there are reminders of the massacre of 1968, in which 500 villagers were killed by American troops. In this museum, photos taken during the war, teach local children about one of the saddest moments in their history. Meanwhile other locals would just as soon forget. Pham Cong lost his father, mother and two sons when U-S troops descended on My Lai and burnt down the village huts. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) "I saw bodies and bodies and I searched and searched through the pile. Me and my brother helped pull put the bodies and we put the bodies on our shoulders and went to another place to bury them." SUPER CAPTION: Pham Cong, survivor This memorial is to the victims of the massacre and it was the focus of Monday's commemorations. Surrounded by 25 tombstones with the names of those families killed, around one-thousand people gathered here to mark the 30th anniversary of the massacre. But at the centre of Monday's ceremony were two American heroes. They were helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and gunner Lawrence Colburn who tried to stopped U-S soldiers from killing My Lai villagers. Before the ceremony, they had an emotional reunion with one of the survivors. She was 60-year-old Phan Thi Thuan the woman whose face made magazine covers around the world in a photo which featured a U-S soldier pointing a gun to her head. It has taken the U-S three decades to admit the tragedy was more than just a military offensive gone wrong. And just a few days ago in Washington D-C, Thompson and Colburn's efforts were finally recognised along with crew chief Glenn Andreotta - who was killed three weeks after My Lai. The trio were belatedly honored with the Soldier's Medal, the highest military award for bravery not involving conflict with the enemy. As an honour guard carried red-and-green wreaths to the memorial statue, loudspeakers blared a commentary which said that in two hours American invaders killed around 500 people, leaving behind blood and fire and mass graves. The crowd of one-thousand people then urged forward to catch a glimpse of the men. SOUNDBITE: (English) "May we never forget again. May we never forget the brutality and the heartbreak of war. To everyone in the world if we could practise patience, understanding, cultural understanding and love." SUPER CAPTION: Lawrence Colburn, Gunner SOUNDBITE: (English) "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago on this day and I feel sorry that it happened. I cannot explain why it happened. I wish that our crew that day could've helped more people than it did and I thank you all very much." SUPER CAPTION: Hugh Thompson, pilot It was an emotional but brief service. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...