prevent republican wars

On March 16, 1968, the men of Charlie Company entered the hamlet of My Lai in central Quang Ngai province of Vietnam and killed 504 civilians, mostly women and children.

My Lai came to symbolize in the United States all that was wrong with the Vietnam conflict, which ended in 1975 when communist North Vietnam took over U.S.-backed South Vietnam, unifying the country.

Truong Thi Le, who survived the massacre near the village's observation tower, where 102 people were killed that morning, said she stills suffers horrific memories.

"I got some rice tree to cover myself and lay down on dead people," Le said. "There were five bodies on the ground who were seriously wounded and the blood poured all around."

The massacre is marked every year by residents and the government. This year, villagers organized a Buddhist ritual ceremony for the souls of the dead before local officials laid wreaths to show their respect to the victims.

Wreaths were placed in front of the My Lai Memorial and included foreign guests such as former American helicopter door gunner, Lawrence Colburn, who together with pilot Hugh Thompson rescued some Vietnamese during the massacre.

"No one wins in war and civilians always suffer," Colburn said. "The only way to prevent tragedy in war is to prevent war," said Colburn, who also referred to the U.S. war in Iraq, calling for it to end as soon as possible.