One of the most infamous actions during the American Vietnam War took place in the tiny villages of My Khe & My Lai. The My Lai Massacre as it came to be known took place on the 16th march 1968. On that fateful day in the space of a few hours 504 unarmed farming villagers including babies, children, women and elderly people were rounded up and slaughtered by US soldiers using firearms, grenades and bayonets. The soldiers then burnt the village to the ground.

A US helicopter crew who landed towards the end of the massacre located and rescued some of the surviving villagers near a bomb shelter before advancing soldiers could shoot them.

These men were denounced by several US Congressmen in a vain attempt to help cover up the massacre. The men were later decorated for their heroic actions in saving the lives of innocent villagers.

When the incident became public knowledge by whistle-blowers in 1969, it prompted global outrage with the US soldiers involved being labeled as baby killers. After a seemingly massive military cover-up around 2 dozen US soldiers were finally charged several years later with criminal offenses for their actions at My Lai.

Of the men charged only platoon leader Lieutenant William Calley went to trial and was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was given a life sentence, but he only served three and a half years under house arrest before he was set free. None of the other men ever went to trial.

The US military originally bombed and ploughed the ground where the villages stood to destroy the evidence of their crimes, but a memorial park has since been built on the original village site which depicts the aftermath of that fateful day in My Lai.

The recreated burnt out remnants of homes today stand where they originally stood, each marked with a plaque listing the details of the family that once lived there.

The concrete pathway throughout the memorial village is coloured brown to imitate a dirt path and indented with boot prints depicting the US soldiers and bare footprints depicting the fleeing villagers.

Remarkably, some of the original survivors still live nearby.

A small museum has been built at the memorial site which houses many displays including a collection of photos actually taken by a US military photographer on that fateful day in 1968 at My Lai.