Stray - Bai Xep to Hoi An

The waves' meditative hush echoed in the our minds as we turned away from peaceful Bai Xep and continued our coastal drive northward. Our destination, Hoi An, was anticipated as a town of reputable beauty and UNESCO World Heritage status. However, as with Laos and Cambodia, the country's beauty is intertwined with a tragic modern history and we stopped at the My Lai Memorial, where the 16th March 1968, American GIs (General Infantry), with orders to 'kill anything that moved', murdered, raped and maimed 504 Vietnamese men, women and children.

The reflection of tilting palms shimmered on the still water of an irrigation ditch, where many were thrown in and shot. The midday sun hammered down upon the preserved ruins of family homes as the heavy silence was broken by a braying buffalo. The waves long forgotten, the anguished faces of the cubist statues and graphic photographs of the brutally slaughtered filled our vision.

The U.S. Army sought to cover up what happened and when it became undeniable public knowledge, only fourteen soldiers were brought to trial. Even then only one, Lieutenant William Calley, was convicted and served little time in prison.

We were shown an Al Jazeera produced documentary (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4OQc0mQNU) but unfortunately this was as sensationalist as it was informative. It was also ethically unsound as it put a survivor and a perpetrator, both clearly traumatised individuals, together without preparing them for such an encounter. It was Jeremy Kyle on war crimes.

However before faith in humanity was lost completely, we learnt of helicopter pilot, Hugh Thompson, who landed his helicopter between a group of fleeing civilians and advancing GIs and ordered his crew to open fire on the GIs if they refused to retreat before flying the civilians to safety. Whilst many reported in subsequent interviews that they were 'just following orders', this man followed his conscience.Read more